MLB insider explains logic for withholding to vote for players accused of steroid use
Major League Baseball stars Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez were both suspended from baseball for violating MLB’s PED policy in the 2000s. An MLB insider has spilled the beans about not voting for PED-affected players on the ballot for the Hall of Fame. As per The Post, the insider said:
"I voted for neither of the biggest achievers, Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez, which is what makes this such a mess. A-Rod was handed the biggest suspension by games in MLB history (not counting the indefinite ban for Jenrry Mejia), which was shortened by an arbitrator to what was still the biggest suspension by games in MLB history. And Manny is one of only a handful of players to fail two PED tests."
A-Rod had the longest suspension in MLB with 162 games.
Alex Rodriguez’s suspension will be stayed until the completion of his appeal if Rodriguez files a grievance challenging his discipline.
Alex Rodriguez’s suspension will be stayed until the completion of his appeal if Rodriguez files a grievance challenging his discipline. – MLB
The insider also stated that he doesn’t exclude PED users because of morals.
"I simply don’t want to bestow baseball’s biggest honors on guys — talented though they were — who already enhanced their stats and résumés and bank accounts via illicit means by who knows how much."
A-Rod and Ramirez were star baseball players in majors.
MLB’s dark history of PEDs includes Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez
Ramirez was one of the names leaked from a list of players who allegedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 while Rodriguez was found guilty of using PEDs in 2013.
BREAKING: Manny Ramirez officially reinstated from voluntary retirement list, can return if he first serves 50-game suspension.
BREAKING: Manny Ramirez officially reinstated from voluntary retirement list, can return if he first serves 50-game suspension. – MLB
In 2009, Ramirez was suspended from Major League Baseball for violating the league's drug policy. Ramirez was found to have high levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), a female reproductive medicine commonly used by steroid users to reactivate their bodies' natural testosterone production after ceasing use.
A-Rod has expressed regret for his part in the PED issue and has spoken out about it. He once discussed it in an interview with ESPN in 2009.
"I'm guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions. And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using."
Ramirez made his last MLB appearance in 2011.