A Federal violation of our pastime

Last week, San Francisco’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the infamous list of 100 Major League Baseball players believed to have tested positive for performance enhancing drugs was seized illegally.

The court ruled that the federal agents acted outside the limitations of the warrant, which listed only 10 names.

The decision came too late for players like Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, as their presence on the list was leaked in violation of federal law. This unfairly and unequally punished them for participating in what was promised to be a confidential list, and still is for the others named, at least for now. While MLB has taken major steps to correct the problem, the Feds still are wrongly trying to seek justice six years later.

There is no doubt the steroid era is a stain on the history of the game. It betrays the very premise by which professional sports are played, i.e. that the absurdly high salaries are justified because these athletes are at the absolute top of this planet’s talent pool.

The high level of competition should represent the very best of what humans can do athletically. But when the athletes are enhancing themselves pharmaceutically, the game is no longer a true test of skills, rather a test of chemistry.

In 2003, years after steroids ran rampant, MLB began efforts to curtail the problem by asking for confidential tests to find out what percentage of the players were using, with the promise that testing positive would not bring punishment. The Feds are fighting to break this promise between the players and their union, MLBPA.

A year later in ‘04, the list of names gathered from the confidential testing was seized by federal agents in a raid of labs linked to performance enhancing drugs. For the next five years, lawyers of baseballs players union fought to have the seizure ruled illegal and protect the leagues’ promise of confidentiality. This past week’s ruling validated their work.

There is no doubt that MLB deserves blame for the severity of steroid use in its sport. In 1986, when mandatory testing for performance enhancing drugs was introduced, baseball decided not to support it. Two years ago, MLB began handing out 50 game suspensions for a first-time failed test.

Baseball is finally on board. It has taken significant steps to protect the integrity of the sport. However, the Feds are now punishing baseball’s athletes for six-year-old issues that have since been corrected.

Professional sports are slowly transitioning away from this empty promise of an era and the Feds need to move forward too. Seeking justice for six-year-old issues that have since been resolved reeks of revenge and punishment.