The fifth batter in pinstripes steps up to the plate and is met with jeering. Boos rain down on his second at-bat, his third, and any time he makes a play from third base. Alex Rodriguez, otherwise known as A-Rod or A-Roid, has been associated with the acronym PEDs just as much as Lance Armstrong has. He has taken the summer's spotlight, and even though that's normally an impressive accomplishment, Rodriguez should show more guilt then he is now.
This year marks Mariano Rivera's final season of a long, successful career. Yasiel Puig made the best major league debut since Joe DiMaggio. However, none of these accomplishments have got as much light as Rodriguez's saga. Rodriguez proclaims his innocence and refuses to give in even though everyone else facing repercussions for the Biogenesis scandal has. A-Rod strikes me as arrogant, and egocentric. Doping isn't what was immoral about his actions, it's the dishonesty to himself and to the game. It's not fair that someone like Mariano Rivera, who literally started from the bottom, has been denied the respect and attention he deserves just because Alex Rodriguez is fighting allegations that everyone in the baseball world already knows are true.
Now, with A-Rod's appeal, there has to be a fair, but punishing, way of dealing with his disgrace to baseball. The solution is to implement a double-or-nothing process in which Rodriguez will have to question whether or not he wants to confirm his appeal. If the initial ruling is overturned, meaning that Alex wins, he will walk away without consequences. Of course, the only way to do so is to prove that he never did dope or participate with the Biogenesis Clinic. If the ruling is upheld, which won't be a surprise in the eyes of the majority in baseball, he will receive his two season suspension as was prescribed before the appeal, but he should also be barred from the Hall of Fame. If he has the nerve to dope and then lie about it. There's no way he should be allowed in the inner circle of baseball's finest.
Rodriguez has glorified himself and his heinous actions this summer. Many players have made impressive accomplishments but won't be recognized because A-Rod's stolen the spotlight and corroded the 2013 season as the year of A-Rod. Thus, there's no way he should be a Hall of Famer, especially not for someone who's undermined baseball.
