Read the debate intro, Loyal Homer’s argument, and Bleacher Fan’s argument about the importance of a coach’s ethics when an organization hires a former player as a new coach.
Readers, please tell me where else you can find an insightful sports commentary website that quotes Friedrich Nietzsche. If you can, The Sports Debates will retire right now. Since I am confident a search would yield zero results, I shall continue on to the verdict on a topic that is sure to ruffle some feathers.
Bleacher Fan used a great, borderline brilliant quote… but it is not the quote from Nietzsche. Bleacher Fan wrote, “Once a cheater, always a cheater.” Accuracy does not matter in the court of public opinion. It has rendered its verdict, and the results are not good for Mark McGwire – or Loyal Homer.
Bleacher Fan wins this debate because truth is not always slogged away in the minute facts. Sometimes truth is found in perception. Bleacher Fan’s quote accurately depicts public perception of Mark McGwire and any player implicated as a factor in the so-called Steroids Era in Major League Baseball.
Public perception matters a great deal in this case. St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols has more at risk in this new arrangement than any other hitter on the team because he is doomed if he succeeds, and doomed if he fails… and his fate is now tied to McGwire’s. If Pujols has a poor season at the plate in 2010, Cardinals fans and management will be very frustrated. If Pujols has a banner season at the plate fans and media will berate him and his coach with questions about how – EXACTLY – he improved his performance. It is unlikely that answers from Pujols like, “I was dipping my shoulder and McGwire fixed that” or “I now hold my front arm higher to create more force through the zone” will satisfy skeptics.
A few, select players are not the only ones affected, either. The entire world of baseball is impacted when a coach of questionable ethical background is hired. The taint of that coach’s reputation permeates not just the players directly under his influence, but any interactions he has throughout baseball.
For the integrity of the record book – and the integrity of the Cardinals’ hitters – McGwire should not be the hitting coach.
Loyal Homer made some interesting points, though I respectfully disagree with them. Loyal Homer said that a player’s past does not matter. A player’s past does matter – a lot. The past is the composition of the present and the forecast of the future. The past cannot matter for McGwire as a means to inform coaching best practices but not impact the way he coaches the team. It is an inescapable, unacceptable paradox.
If the Cardinals begin to make dramatic improvements in hitting next season the general fan will care about McGwire’s past. The media will ask a relentless barrage of skeptical questions, and any success that comes as a result of McGwire’s coaching influence is forever shrouded in doubt.
I think it was harder to prove that his past doesn’t matter so in that sense I guess I do agree. However, personally, I don’t have any problem with McGwire being a hitting coach. It’s amazing to me how far he has fallen by just essentially not talking about something. And I don’t think Pujols will be questioned. He’s already having career years every year anyway.
Let’s say the Cards do improve. What are the critics going to say? “Oh several of the players are taking steroids now.” That’s ridiculous because obviously players are tested more in 2000 than they were in McGwire’s prime. But if McGwire fails as hitting coach, what will they say? “Oh, he’s a terrible hitting coach because he didn’t hit for average.”
Whatever was or wasn’t injected into McGwire’s body will have no influence on the 2010 Cardinals.
So much for innocent until proven guilty huh? Though, I must admit, I am guilty of not abiding by that with that guy in San Francisco!
In McGwire’s case, silence speaks volumes. Like in the case of taxes, evasion proves guilt. If there is nothing to hide, address the issue in a forthright manner. A golden rule of public relations crisis management is to stop speculation before it begins. Therefore, McGwire’s evasion has perpetuated the problem and created a stigma that will always follow him around. Look at A-Rod’s approach. He admitted guilt. Even though his explanation was horrible and awkward and contrived, no one is talking about it anymore.
It is not black and white where Cardinals’ players may all be implicated as steroid users now. Rather, the specter of the issue now exists, and it detracts from any of the player’s accomplishments, real or perceived.
It is not about the act of taking steroids. It is about the decision and willingness to take steroids. That decision-making has never been called into question in a meaningful way, therefore no reason to reform behavior exists.
I’m not sure the “specter of the issue” would legitimately detract from any possible accomplishments that happen in 2010 for the Cardinals.
If the 2010 Cardinals lead the league in hitting, are people going to put an asterik beside it because their hitting coach may or may not have used PED’s?
I think fans and the media will rightly question the accomplishments. It is the legacy of the choices made by those in charge in baseball and the players who decided allow steroids to infect their sport. Actions have consequences, and this is one of them.