Say It Ain't So, Andy

The Babe was an asshole. Mickey was a drunk. Andy is a cheater. So it goes. Sooner or later, each generation of Yankee fans gets to know their heroes and finds out the sad truths beneath the pinstripes. Yesterday George Mitchell revealed that my favorite player of all time, Andy Pettitte, used human growth hormone to rebound from two arm injuries in the later stage of his career. While his use was limited and his intentions seem less sinister than those of Roger Clemens, Pettitte is still a cheater. There's really no way around that. Andy Pettitte cheated. And once again a new generation of Yankee fans must face the truths that their fathers once faced: The Yankees are immortal, but their players are only men.

An inordinate number of Yankee players were named in the Mitchell Report, due to the fact that a Yankee trainer, Brian McNamee, was one of Mitchell's prime sources. Yankees fans today are throwing around the fact that Mitchell is a director for the Red Sox and suggesting that he fixed the report so no Sox were named. That's ridiculous. The players who were named had the bad luck of using the drug dealers who happened to be Mitchell's sources and since one of those sources worked for the Yankees, the Bronx burned again. The truth is, however, that the players named in this report represent only a small fraction of Major League Baseball's steroid users. Most players got lucky. A vast number of players, some of them probably Red Sox, used steroids and weren't exposed. But that's life, isn't it? We always hear stories about criminals who spend their lives breaking the law and watch with befuddled amusement when first-time offenders are caught. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and Raphael Palmeiro escaped mention. Andy Pettitte didn't. That's life.

The real star of the Mitchell Report is Roger Clemens, whose long and extensive steroid use was chronicled in the report. His use of steroids and conversations with suppliers are revealed in stark detail and his secret life as a drug addict is now a matter of public record. For all the talk about Barry Bonds all these years, Clemens managed to stay above the fray. He was never beyond the scope of suspicion, but he was never vilified in the way that Bonds was. I guess now is as good a time as any to ask why. Maybe it's because people liked him better. Maybe it's because he was nicer to the media. Maybe it's because he is white. I don't know. The truth remains, though, that he and Bonds can now be considered in the same group of players. They both would have been Hall of Famers had they never taken a steroid, but their illegal drives toward baseball immortality ultimately proved to be fatal to their careers.

Clemens is now denying his use of steroids, which I have a hard time believing considering the abundance of detail in the report. Pettitte will eventually have to speak and I believe he only has two choices of what he can say. If he chooses to deny the allegations, he must do so immediately and emphatically. If he chooses to admit to using HGH though, he must apologize directly to Yankee fans. He must admit it, make no excuses, and apologize for deceiving those of us who have rooted so loyally for him since he first came to the Bronx. He must give a speech that reminds us that we all make mistakes and that baseball players are no more than normal men with extraordinary abilities. I don't think Andy Pettitte is a bad guy. On the contrary, I think he's one of the good guys in baseball. But even good guys do bad things and Andy must be held accountable for his actions.

I wonder how Andy Pettitte will be received in New York now that he has been outed. If he handles it like a man and apologizes and admits his mistake, I suspect that he will be forgiven. There are certain Yankees who are too renowned to ever be hated. Clemens was never embraced as a Yankee and I suspect that no Yankee fan will take it personally that Clemens cheated. Andy, though, is one of us. We saw him come into the league and we embraced him as he became one of the top pitchers in the game. He gained hero status in Game Five of the 1996 World Series, when he outpitched John Smoltz and put the Yankees up three games to two. He became a legend as he led the Yanks to four World Series championships and six pennants. He is one of only a few players (Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, and Mariano Rivera are the others) who came up in the Yankee system to become the heroes of four championship teams. He messed up. He made a mistake. But if he plays it right, Yankee fans can and will forgive him. We love him too much not to.

For years, we heard how Pettitte and Clemens were inseparable and how Clemens turned Andy onto his training regimen. I suspect that Clemens also turned Andy onto the world of steroids. That, in my mind, is the Rocket's biggest crime. It is interesting to think about what happens when you add one big, bad steroid user to your clubhouse. Clemens brought the trainer who brought the drugs who injected a significant number of Yankees with steroids. I blame each one of those individual players for electing to use the stuff, but I place the most blame on Clemens for bringing it into the Bronx.

The Mitchell Report is not the end of the steroid story. It is only the beginning. The report offers an important glance into the world of steroids in baseball and is a great starting point for further inquiries and, more importantly, for further action. Bud Selig will need to institute a steroid policy with teeth and must take a strong stance against any player who violates whatever policy is instituted. I agree with George Mitchell that no disciplinary action should be taken against the players named in the report. The focus must be on the future and eradicating steroids from the sport is the highest priority. Commissioner Selig now has a daunting task in front of him and nothing he has done in his tenure as commissioner has given anyone any confidence that he is up to the task. The road ahead is a long one and a dark one, but it is still brighter than the the one that led us here. It is my hope that December 13, 2007 will be the climax of the history of steroids in baseball. From this day forward, MLB must act aggressively to end this dark chapter of its history. The Mitchell Report gives Bud Selig the appropriate ammo to attack the problem. It is up to him to pull the trigger.