is the 25th anniversary of the Lights in Wrigley.
And I was there.*
Fay Vincent, the former Commissioner of Baseball, is right. Kick the druggies out for life.
Clearly, the deterrent for use of these drugs at the professional level must be tougher. In Major League Baseball, a violation of the gambling prohibition results in permanent expulsion from the game. As a result, there is no gambling problem in baseball. The same punishment for a first-time drug violation is now warranted--one drug violation and a player is gone from the game, forever.
Current MLB policy calls for a 50-game suspension for a first violation, a 100-game suspension for a second violation and a lifetime ban for a third violation. That policy has failed. When a player is being paid tens of millions of dollars in a multiyear contact that rewards his feats on the field, sacrificing his pay for a portion of one season--if he's caught--may just seem like the cost of doing business. Perhaps there can be a transition period before a new policy comes into effect, but the need for much more severe sanctions is now clear.
While the national "war on drugs" has failed abysmally and needs to come to an end, that doesn't mean we need to put up with drug abuse of any kind -- recreational or performance-enhancing -- in America's Game.
Make a stand, Mr. Commissioner Selig. As that multi-billion-dollar sports attire manufacturer says, "Just Do It."
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* In another two years, it will have been half my life ago. Scary, that.
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