Evidence, Innocence, and Baseball

Thats right...hang your head in shame...

The "breaking news" of St. Louis Cardinals pitcher-turned-outfielder Rick Ankiel's "HGH" use is dominating todays sports headlines. There is one problem with that. The story is that Ankiel was receiving shipments of HGH to his Florida home from January to December 2004. Major League Baseball (for better or for worse) did not outlaw HGH use by its players until the 2005 season. In fact, there is no evidence thus far that Ankiel has used HGH since the league banned it. So why is this such a story?

This story, while different in many respects, represents a serious problem with our nations media outlets. It applies to your "traditional outlets" (i.e. CNN, ABC, etc.) as much as it does to your "specialized outlets" (i.e. ESPN, Fox Sports, etc.) or even your "alternative outlets" (i.e. the internet). Even in the absence of hard evidence, the media was prepared to crucify the entire Duke Lacrosse team. Hell, if the ratings were there, they'd have probably put Coach K up there too. The result of the media frenzy? A prosecutor feeds off the blood, fame, and attention and presses a case that had no business being brought.

While there is not legal action being mentioned in regards to Rick Anikel, this entire story is linked to the investigation of a Florida pharmacy that is rumored to have been supplying these steroids to baseball players. The relevance? Every single fact in this story falls with in the bounds of "well, it wasn't banned at the time...but shame on you anyways!" The media is violating one of the cardinal principles (no pun intended, of course) of the Constitution. The prohibition on ex post facto laws. The government cannot charge Ankiel in court. The league cannot suspend him from playing. The press should focus on real stories and stop feeding the frenzy. We just end up with irresponsible prosecutors seeking glory.

Ankiel has been one of the best stories of the 2007 season. I say that while fully acknowledging the carnal pleasure I took in his meltdown, being a Braves fan and all. The Cardinals have overcome so much this season to find themselves only 1 game-back of the division leading Brewers and Cubs. Why do we have to drag that team through the mud now? Like Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty said, "If it's true, obviously it would be very tragic, along with everything else we've had happen to us this year." Is that true? Would it be tragic to find out that before it was banned and over three years ago a minor league pitcher/outfielder was using a supplement? What effect would that really have on the 2007 St. Louis Cardinals. What effect would that have on the record of the 2004 Class A "fill-in-the-blank's"? The answer should be "zero, zip, zilch, none, nada" because it is irrelevant. Ankiel has still overcome so much. He has still hit .358 with 9 HRs and 29 RBIs and almost single-handedly changed the fortunes of that baseball team. And that is in 2007.

Stay Tuned...