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By David O. Williams
Headline RSS FeedRed Sox 2007 title tainted by Ramirez drug suspension; Rockies should be awarded Series win
May 7, 2009 —
In light of LA Dodgers’ outfielder Manny Ramirez being suspended 50 games for using a performance-enhancing drug, the Colorado Rockies should be awarded the 2007 World Series championship won by the Boston Red Sox.
Because Ramirez has put up such ridiculous numbers at such an advanced stage of his Major League Baseball career, one has to assume he’s been part of the Steroid Era of the national pastime that dates back to the early to mid-1990s. That includes his years (and two World Series titles) with the Sox.
Reports are that he was taking a female fertility drug used to come down after a regimen of steroids, although Ramirez says he was prescribed the drugs by a doctor for another medical condition.
Whatever, no one in the game was clean, apparently, as revelations of steroid use have now caught up to nearly all the biggest stars and heaviest hitters from that era, including Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who was in Vail this spring to have his hip repaired by Steadman-Hawkins surgeon Marc Philippon.
If you recall, the Rockies in 2007 went on one of the most improbable winning streaks of all-time, taking 20 of 21 down the stretch just to reach the playoffs, then taking down the 2008 World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies in the division series and sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks in the ALCS en route to the World Series. There they were unceremoniously swept by Ramirez and the rest of the big, bad Sox.
At the time, Johnny Come Lately Sox fans told me it was because the Rockies were a Triple-A team and the Sox were the real deal. Now I wonder just how real. Take a look at David Ortiz this season. The other big slugger in the lineup that swept the Rox is a shadow of his former self. Age catching up to him? Or maybe he’s just off the juice
Regardless, Red Sox nation can laugh at the Dodgers (and suddenly the NL West looks a little more attainable even for the lowly Rockies this season) and all the salary and marketing money they’ve dumped on Manny, but to me his suspension also taints the titles that ended the curse of the Bambino.
8 Comments on "Red Sox 2007 title tainted by Ramirez drug suspension; Rockies should be awarded Series win"
paul35mm — May 7, 2009
The only reason New York players and California players figured prominently in the steroids issue is because that's the dealers that got busted. Not by baseball, remember, but by the FEDS. If it were up to baseball, Roger the Roid Clemens, Baroid, A-Roid, Ramiroid, etc. would still be shooting needles into their abscessed buttocks and the frenzy of 98 mph fastballs and 50 home run seasons would be making a mockery of performance records of the truly great.
The New York pusher got busted (Radomski) and the main Cali pusher got busted (Conte and Balco) Every major league city had a Radomski. Boston, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta... all of them. That list of 100 plus names is the tip of the iceberg. You want real numbers on steroid use? Go back and read the article SI did on Caminetti some years ago.
At the time, baseball closed ranks and accused him of every kind of lie and slander. Turns out, he was telling the truth. Caminetti said 75-80% of players in his era were using some king of dope to gain an edge. so many players were using, that not using had a derogatory name; "playing naked" Drug use was so prevalent, that pitchers would go ape if a player who was playing naked made an error or allowed a run.
No titles are tainted, because every team was and remains chock full of dopers, steroid cheats, pill heads, and HGH abusers. You want to clean up pro sports? (no one really does, least of all the fans) It would be simple. Negotiate an amnesty. Every player comes clean. Anyone who does, and admits drug use gets a pass for everything they admit. Any drug use proven by test or other evidence not covered by the player's amnesty disclosure means a five year, automatic, no-appeal suspension. Blood and urine would be taken from every player three times a season and once in the off season, and stored. As new tests get developed, the old blood and pee gets tested. you get busted, you're gone. No outs for doctor's notes, no my dog put the andro in my cornflakes, no I took my wife's birth control pills by mistake... Sports would be drug free in one season. 50 games is dog doo. Manny will be back for the post season, the Dodgers won't suffer, and Manny will still be obscenely rich.
I'll give the Rockies the title if they'll sign up, to a man, for my drug contract. But they won't. All those lovable scrappers were just as doped to the eyeballs as everyone else, or they wouldn't have made it to the post season.
The stuff works. We all know it does. Anyone who believes these guys are shooting thousands of dollars of dope into their own butts without real proof of efficacy is delusional. So how did the Rockies beat the teams with rosters chock full of dopers if they were clean? Easy question; they didn't. They had their own, as yet undetected chemist brewing up their own version of a Rocky Mountain high.
It's the Lance Armstrong problem. Lance beat Jan ulrich easily. Jan was on epo and roids. He admitted it. We know the stuff works. EPO is worth a 10% improvement in performance for cyclists. The roids are worth another 10%. So an elite cyclist, who won the Tour de France, who we know was getting a 20% performance boost from dope, got his elite touchie spanked by a guy riding clean? Stop drinkin' the cool aid boys and girls, and get real.
I wish sports were clean. I wish the Sox were clean, the bonds home run record was pure, that the bloody sock meant what we all wanted it to mean. That the Rockies are lovable scrappers, and Roger was really better at 40 than he was at 35. They weren't. And the fans as much as anyone are responsible.
Stop going to games for one season unless baseball adopts a transparent, no secrecy policy that really punishes cheats and takes the testing and regulatory authority out of the hands of the owners, and you'll get clean. Until it happens, don't throw mud at other teams; your guys are just as filthy.
Jason Sumner — May 7, 2009
Dude, seriously? There's no taint. Just dopers whooping up on other dopers. Don't be such a homer.
David O. — May 7, 2009
Yeah, but our dopers haven't been caught yet, so they need to give us the title.
Reid — May 8, 2009
Here's the fix. When a college athlete signs' his contract to go pro, first thing they receive is a steroid drug cabinet. That's right, you want em' you got em'. A smorgesborg of juice, what ever you want you got it. Make the playing field truly even. A mandatory test to make sure every player in the league (choose league here...) tests positive for steroid use. If you want to stay clean, tough luck, you're getting paid big money now. Your health is no longer in your hands, it belongs to the G.M. Besides he's paying for it. And the fans don't care if you're juicing. So your nuts shrivel into raisins and your "Johnson" becomes a wall flower, as long as you bring me the Ring I don't care. What an easy way to level the playing field? There you have it!
David O. — May 8, 2009
Look, I wasn't serious about the Rockies deserving the title; I just hate the Sox. And I'll admit that Todd Helton's numbers dropped off precipitously after drug testing became part of the collective bargaining agreement in '03. I know they're all on the juice and I recognize the accuracy of the Bode Miller suggestion that the only real way to level the playing field is to legalize everything, but that doesn't make me any less of a fan (just a more cynical one). What really killed the Rocks that year was an eight-game layoff waiting for Boston to get out of the ALCS.
c.w. cool — May 8, 2009
Hey Dude: I agree totally that the Rockies should be awarded the World
Series title. If one is juiced, it applies to the entire team and disqualification is the only valid solution. My G.M. agrees.
cj — May 23, 2009
Isn't it kind of sad that if we truly knew all the steroid users, there would not be an MLB team left untainted?
I have a feeling if we were magically exposed to the full truth of the matter and wanted to strip games & titles away based on individual use and only wanted to give these awards to truly clean teams of people who have never used PEDs in their lives, we may end up having to give a decade or two's worth of World Series rings to teams of Little Leaguers.
louise — May 28, 2009
Colorado Rockies should be always competitive enough to keep pace with the others. I really like them; they’ve always been my favourite teams in MLB. Just read about them here:
http://www.rockieshome.com
