Editorial: A sullied reputation

Monday, Aug. 15, 2005 | 10:21 a.m.

On Sunday the Baltimore Orioles' Rafael Palmeiro played for the first time since he completed a 10-game suspension for steroid use. Palmeiro, who recently collected his 3,000th hit and has been considered a lock for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, is the biggest baseball star to have tested positive for steroid use. Many fans and sportswriters believe Palmeiro and other players suspected of using steroids, including the San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds and former St. Louis Cardinals' slugger Mark McGwire, have such tarnished reputations that they shouldn't be inducted into the Hall of Fame. But there is a much larger issue that baseball has to deal with immediately.

Baseball's reputation itself, not just the reputations of past and current stars, is in serious jeopardy. The fact that Palmeiro served only a 10-game suspension is a joke. Major League Baseball adopted a new steroids policy in March, but it is anemic. Commissioner Bud Selig, after the Palmeiro suspension, called for the adoption of harsher penalties. Selig says the players' union should agree to suspensions of 50 games for a first offense (instead of the current policy of 10 games), 100 games for a second offense (instead of the current 30 games) and a lifetime ban for a third offense (instead of the current 60 games). A fourth violation under the existing policy only nets a one-year suspension and the commissioner sets additional penalties for subsequent violations.

Selig is moving in the right direction, but he still isn't going far enough. A player should lose an entire season if he violates the policy a first time and there should be a lifetime ban if there is a second offense. If team owners and the players really want to clean up the league and restore the game's reputation, they have to show that they mean it.