Wipe users of steroids from books

[Junkyard Dog]

Wipe users of steroids from books

By RICHARD JUSTICE

Bud Selig's investigation of steroids isn't just about Barry Bonds. It's about Frank Robinson, too. And Henry Aaron and Willie Mays.

It's about protecting their place in history, about making sure that when fans look in the record books years from now, they can still understand their greatness.

It's really about all the guys who didn't cheat.

For Selig, Aaron's legacy seems personal. Selig loves Aaron. He has known him for 40 years. He believes his legacy should be secure.

Selig doesn't want a steroid user passing Aaron on the all-time home run list. If the investigation turns up compelling evidence of steroid use by Bonds, Selig is almost certain to suspend him.

But suspensions can be debated and overturned and looked upon a dozen different ways. Suspensions usually aren't permanent.

What Selig is thinking of doing is something permanent, something more damning. He might remove the accomplishments of the steroid users from the record books.


Kiss 73, 708 goodbye
Remember 73 home runs in 2001? Gone!

Remember 708 home runs? Gone!

Until now, Selig had dismissed suggestions to erase records. No commissioner has done such a thing, and he believed there had to be a better way.

Maybe not. Maybe this is exactly the way to punish the cheaters.

Selig cautioned this week he hasn't decided what he's going to do. He's going to wait until George Mitchell finishes his work and go from there.

Selig knows, though. He has to. He wouldn't have ordered an investigation if he didn't have a plan.


True immortals
Once upon a time, we looked at the all-time home run list and used it to measure the game's greatest players:

1. Hank Aaron, 755.

2. Babe Ruth, 714.

3. Willie Mays, 660.

4. Frank Robinson, 586.

5. Harmon Killebrew, 573.

They were baseball's top five for more than a quarter of a century. Close behind were Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams and others.

Home runs weren't the only measuring stick for greatness, but they were one of the best.

And then along came steroids.

Four players from that era — Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro — are in the top 10 in home runs. For the time being.

Of those four players, only Bonds approached Aaron, Mays and Robinson in terms of greatness. Now his legacy is tarnished.

To me, Robinson defined greatness more than any other player of my lifetime. He was one of the driving forces in transforming the Baltimore Orioles into one of baseball's best franchises.

The Orioles won the American League pennant four times in his six seasons with them. Robinson won the Triple Crown in 1966, but beyond the numbers was his approach. I can't imagine any player who cared more about winning.

''If you made a mistake on the field, you didn't want to come in the dugout and face Frank," said one of his former teammates, the late Elrod Hendricks.

During one World Series, Robinson's elbow was so sore he couldn't swing the bat. Could he still have an impact? Yes. He bunted for hits.

Did I mention he was a nice guy? He wasn't.

His one-on-one duels with Don Drysdale should be mandatory study for every baseball player. They were two raging bulls, each refusing to give in to the other.

Robinson, now manager of the Washington Nationals, has slipped from fourth to sixth on the all-time home run list during the steroid era. If you watch television, you'll hear him spoken of in the same breath as Sosa and McGwire.

Of all the ridiculous things said on television and talk radio, this might be the grand prize winner. They're not even close to Frank Robinson. He won games, not just with his bat, but with his arm, his legs and his brain.

Robinson — and Aaron and others — surely have to be offended that their legacies have been diminished by steroids. Robinson won't say so, but he chooses his words carefully. He won't address Bonds or any other player by name.

''I support the commissioner in whatever he's trying to do on this subject," Robinson said.

He knows Selig is on his side. He knows Selig wants safeguards for the guys who did things right.

And so does Robinson.

''If someone is proven to have used performance-enhancing drugs, if it's proven they did, their records should be wiped out of the books," he said. ''It's not just home runs. It's batting average, RBIs. All that stuff is involved in this. There are records people pay no attention to.

''It's distorting everything. All the numbers."

Mitchell could be months from finishing his report. Bonds might even have time to pass Aaron. We may never know the whole story of steroids. Some guys simply aren't going to cooperate. Some general managers and managers might have selective memories.

Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield made the mistake of getting involved with a lab that became part of a federal investigation. The noose around them has tightened as reporters have obtained evidence and testimony.

The tarnish of steroids never will disappear no matter what Selig does. Removing the numbers tainted by steroids would be nothing more than a start. A good one.