Chicago Tribune Editorial - Sammy and steroids

Chicago Tribune Editorial - Sammy and steroids
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
June 17, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/chi-0617edit2jun17,0,7954292.story


The New York Times reported Tuesday that former Chicago Cubs star Sammy Sosa tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.

You're not going to find many Chicagoans who express surprise.

This is what we've come to expect from Major League Baseball. For a certain era,

its best were its best because they were juiced. We can write off that era. It was a fraud.

And for some time, this is what we've come to suspect about Sosa. That, despite his frequent denials, he was part of the fraud.

To be fair, the Times report on Sosa is based on anonymous sources, attorneys who have knowledge of what was supposed to be anonymous testing. But, if this report were wrong, you'd expect Sosa to be screaming about a lawsuit. No screaming yet.

That chest-thumping, heaven-pointing, air-kissing act of 1998, when Sosa battled the St. Louis Cardinals' Mark McGwire for the single-season home run record, had already been diminished by the revelations that McGwire was taking steroids. Since then, plenty of other ballplayers, from the churlish Barry Bonds to the affable Andy Pettitte, have been tainted.

You're not going to hear: "Say it ain't so, Sammy." Not from Chicagoans. Because we figure it is.