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Throw the book at 'em

Now we are faced with the absolute truth of steroid use in baseball.

I'm glad it is finally getting out and everybody can't hide behind lies and tales of witch-hunting. Everyone from the owners to the beat writers who cover the teams has a pretty good idea who has used steroids over the years. Until now, steroid use has fallen under the guise of no talk, no harm.

Now baseball is forced to meet it head on, and let me say, as a former pitcher who was on the receiving end of my share of juiced offense: It's about time.

What should be done with athletes who admit to having taken steroids? Is it as detrimental to the game as Pete Rose's gambling, for which he was banned?

This is substance abuse, but it should not fall under the substance abuse clauses. Steroids are drugs, but this isn't, "Oh, poor so and so, he has a problem. Let's send him to rehab to get him better."

This is flat-out cheating, which taints the game in the historical vein and also indirectly hurts those players who have stayed clean.

How many "clean" players have lost jobs to "juicers" over the years? How many pitchers have given up hits and runs they wouldn't have if it was a level playing field?

I chuckled this week when my name was added to this year's Hall of Fame ballot. It was an honor, but not at all realistic. But I did wonder what might have been if I hadn't competed against juiced hitters and compared numbers with juiced pitchers. This whole thing is a damn mess and everyone is to blame.

If anyone thinks that the owners, GM's and coaching staffs of teams don't know or strongly suspect which of their players are on the juice, then you're naive. If you don't believe that these same people haven't directly or indirectly turned players toward steroids, then you're crazy.

And then there's the players themselves. We all can wash our hands and say, "How can anyone resist, with all that money out there, and the pressure to compete at that level?" There are many ways to cheat. ALL OF THEM ARE ILLEGAL.

In deciding what to do with all this, Major League Baseball needs to look at the damage this behavior has done to the game. In my humble opinion, it far outweighs the damage Pete Rose caused the great name of baseball.