A Plea to the Baseball Gods

Saturday's bombshell that Alex Rodriguez, arguably the best player in baseball today, had tested positive for steroids back in 2003, and today's subsequent confession on the part of the Big Apple bomber, is bound to put in motion a chain of events that will leave the charred baseball landscape with no steroid stone left unturned.

Many journalists have pontificated their opinions about how Rodriguez has completely destroyed any shred of dignity that remained of the once proud and sacred game of baseball, and since I am inclined to agree, I won't repeat their cynical sentiments.

The real issue on everybody's minds now, since Rodriguez's confession will assuage at least a part of the furor headed his way, are the names of the other 103 Major Leaguers who failed their drug tests along with A-Rod.

I refuse to even speculate which names could be on the list because in today's media world of instant gratification and a blogger to blogger rumor mill that can spread faster than the Black Death, even the mere mention of a suspected name, no matter the context, can open a Pandora's Box that could unleash a whirlwind of untruths into the blogosphere.

Instead, I'm going to make a plea.

Not to the media, or the Commissioner's office, or the players, or the organizations, or the player's union, or the player's agents, but to the gods of baseball whomever they may be.

Please, let this be the end of it.

Release the final 103 names on the list of players who tested positive back in 2003 and allow the players, organizations, and fans to put the Steroid Era in the rearview mirror, back over it a few times, and speed away, never looking back.

With the steroid testing in place right now, this list should be the last gasp from the stranglehold performance-enhancing drugs have had on the game over the last fifteen years.

With the public release of these names, it would allow the players implicated to either fight the accusations until they're up against a grand jury (see Bonds, Barry and Clemens, Roger), or to simply acquiesce and admit their wrongdoings, exonerating themselves in the court of public opinion like Andy Pettitte, Jason Giambi, and now Alex Rodriguez have done.

If A-Rod's name never would have been released, the general public would never have known of the list's existence, much less the names written on it.

Now that one name, albeit one of the top superstars in the game, has been leaked, it triggers the natural human instinct to not rest until we know the identities of the other 103 culprits.

If the rest of the list never sees the light of day, I can't say that I would be too broken up about it. I don't want the possibility of some of my favorite players, athletes I have looked up to, being forced to explain to the entire baseball world how a moment of weakness or insecurity will forever tarnish the legacy they have built in the game and in their communities.

But if we must pull the curtain back on the supposedly confidential list, all I have is this one final plea.

Please, let this be the end of it.