Digital Ink Los Angeles

Steroids have been a part of professional sports longer than anyone would care to admit. Ask Governor Schwarzenegger, he’ll give you some details about his experience with “Pumping Iron.”

Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Jason Giambi, Manny Ramirez, Jose Canseco, and on and on…

The question remains, do these guys get into the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Do they merit the same accolades and awards of players like Willie Mays, Lou Gehrig, Bob Gibson, Roberto Clemente, or Ted Williams?

What is in question is not the issue of whether they used supplements or performance-enhancing drugs to increase their stats and achievements, but whether they’ll ever admit to it.

It’s a classic catch-22 conundrum — admit to it, and face a ban from Cooperstown, or lie and take their chances. Barry Bonds will be the first put to this test when a Federal prosecutor brings his perjury case to trial.

The Los Angeles Times‘ sportswriter Bill Shaikin wrote an article recently that discusses in detail the subject of steroids as it currently rests, and the policy of partial-disclosure that Major League Baseball is wrestling with.

View the August 22, 2009, piece: “Book Still Open on Steroid Era.”

Manny Ramirez is one of the most dominant right-handed hitters of all-time, period. His numbers for the last third of the 2008 Major League Baseball season are simply astounding, and that’s as meaningful a hyperbolic introduction as one needs.

Judge for yourself: In 53 games with the Dodgers, he amassed a .396 Batting Average, 17 Home Runs, 53 RBIs, 139 Total Bases, and an astounding .743 Slugging Percentage. Again, astounding. See the numbers for yourself at MLB’s Player Page for Manny Ramirez. Factored into a complete, 162-game Major League Baseball season, those numbers add up to — are you ready? — 51 HRs, 160 RBIs, and 420 Total Bases. That’s absolute domination.

Here’s something more astounding. In the age we live in, where using “performance-enhancing” drugs is tantamount to getting caught with your pants down, Manny got caught with his pants down.

His words: “[Manny's Doctor] gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me,” Ramirez said in the statement. “Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy, that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now.” Like what? I’m an idiot?

The medication in question was human chorionic gonadotropin, or HCG, according to the LA Times website, who cite “a source familiar with the situation not authorized to publicly discuss the issue.” HCG, according to experts, is used to stimulate testosterone production in a deficient pair of testicles. Maybe Manny needs a “performance-enhancing” drug to stimulate his brain?

Astounding. Let me write it again, astounding. More astounding than one might believe. What now? We shall see, but he’s been the subject of scrutiny before. At least he’ll have ’til July 3 to think about it. All is not well in Mannywood.

Once again, astounding. And plain stupid. In a time when we need heroes, we’ve lost one candidate.