Steroids double standard?

Yes, I am going to talk a little bit about steroids and baseball but no I promise I won't talk about you know who in San Francisco. That topic has been beaten to death by the national media and you don't read this blog to read about things everyone else is talking about. The player I do want to talk about is Ken Caminiti. Ken last played in 2001 and died in 2004 so some younger readers might not be all that familiar with him. Ken broke in with the Astros in 87 and played most of his career with the Astros and Padres. Why am I bringing him up? While listening to Craig Biggio's speech before the Brewer v. Astros game yesterday he talked a little about Caminiti and Darryl Kile. Caminiti and Biggio were very good friends while they played together and the Houston Chronicle had a great article this year about the pair. When Biggio mentioned them the crowd gave a huge cheer.

Caminiti certainly sounds like a great teammate and a pretty good friend. The problem is Caminiti was also a drug addict. Worse, here is a quote from an SI article a few years back from Caminiti on his steroid use, "I've made a ton of mistakes, I don't think using steroids is one of them." He followed that up with this quote, "If a young player were to ask me what to do, I'm not going to tell him it's bad." Caminiti explains that players have an opportunity to set their families up for life and if steroids can help then the player should take them.

To me this is a very dangerous comment. It has always been interesting to me how fondly Caminiti has been remembered. Maybe part of that is because he has passed away. Maybe some of that was he sounded like he was a very good teammate. Maybe some of that was because he was a great player to interview. Whatever the reason Caminiti seems to have gotten more or less of a free pass in all of this. You might say that Caminiti really only hurt himself while others who broke cherished records hurt the game.

To that I say what about his 1996 MVP award? Caminiti has admitted to taking steroids that year and that year he beat out Mike Piazza for NL MVP. Piazza will now end his career without ever having been a league MVP. Piazza is a sure hall of famer but what if he was a boarder line case? A lot of people have suggested adding asterisks or doing other silly things to the record book. If you are going to do that you should start with the 1996 NL MVP award.

ps. No this is not the special treat I commented about Saturday. Things have gotten pushed back a bit here so I won't be able to write about that until last next week. But it is coming so stay tuned.