The complex case of Cameron 

When Mike Cameron stepped up to the plate against Jason Marquis on Tuesday, it was the end of a long and frustrating wait for his season to start. Watching him smoke a 1-1 fastball into left field for a double, you got the feeling that the Brewers’ new centre fielder was looking to make up for lost time.

Cameron spent the first twenty-five games of the season kicking his heels thanks to a suspension, handed down as a result of him failing two drug tests last year for a banned stimulant. The player has since blamed the positive tests on tainted supplements. The Brewers finalized their one-year deal with Cameron in January, fully aware of the positive drug tests and impending suspension. When the signing was announced, his new manager Ned Yost extolled Cameron’s virtues, stating that he “could not find one person, back from his [Cameron’s] high school coach to players who have played with him, that would even say he is a ‘good guy.’ A ‘great guy’ was the worst that I could get out of anybody”. Those sentiments, alongside the guaranteed $6m they will pay him this year, let you know that the Brewers don’t think any less of the player despite his transgressions.

The affair has created an uneasy position. By signing Cameron, the Brewers laid themselves open to the accusation that they were effectively trivialising the issue. MLB’s public stance that ‘taking drugs doesn’t pay off’ looks pretty hollow when convicted ‘cheaters’ have little trouble in finding a team willing to employ them (and for a not insignificant amount of money). This was exemplified by one of the few interesting sections in the Mitchell report. Internal correspondence between the Red Sox’s GM Theo Epstein and a scout showed they had reason to suspect that Eric Gagne had used performance-enhancing drugs (“steroids IS the issue”, so wrote the scout). Those suspicions didn’t stop Epstein from signing Gagne at the trading deadline last year.

A cynic would say that MLB teams don’t get any extra wins by taking the moral high ground. That’s true, but we should be grateful for it. The moral stance on drug use is not nearly as straightforward as some would have you believe. Labelling someone as a ‘drug cheat’ and treating them as a pariah is easy when you see things in black and white, but the issue of PEDs is a genuinely grey area. The positive reaction of some athletics fans towards British sprinter (and Rugby League winger?!) Dwain Chambers shows this to be true.

You could put an argument forward that the Brewers would have been in the wrong had they not signed Cameron. He ticked all of their boxes in terms of the player they wanted. Yes, Cameron was caught breaking the rules (knowingly or not), but he received his punishment and now he has served his time. That should be the end of the matter. While the thirty-five year old isn’t the player that he once was, Cameron can still hit and play a decent centre field. Why shouldn’t he continue to earn a living as a Major Leaguer?

If we look to the moral high ground, we have to accept that, whether fairly or not, each case is judged differently. Sometimes there are valid reasons for this; sometimes it is the product of personal bias. Cameron tested positive for banned stimulants rather than designer steroids and has a solid reputation as being a good person (as Yost attests), so the moral majority are on his side.

Compare that to a certain Mr B. Bonds. Strictly speaking, Bonds hasn’t even knowingly failed a drugs test, but with the circumstantial evidence, allegations of perjury over his head and a bad reputation with the media, no MLB team is willing to employ him regardless of the fact that he would still be a valuable addition to any line-up.

MLB teams may have an inconsistent approach towards people who fail drug tests, but that’s only a reflection on the complex nature of the issue. Cameron’s return highlights the fact that if you want to live by a drug-testing programme, you have to accept it for what it is. There will always be a black mark against his name, but that’s no reason why he shouldn’t continue his career with the full support of the fans in Milwaukee. MLB’s drug-testing policy doesn’t give a player a life-time ban for two failed tests, so baseball fans shouldn’t give him one either.

Week Five wrap-up

Eight games ago, the Dodgers were 9 and 13 on the season. Now they’re 17 and 13 and have climbed to second place in the NL West; however they still trail the Major League-leading D-Backs (21-9) by four games. The Cards (19-12) have a half game lead over the Cubs in the Central, while the Marlins’ run at the top of the East has come to an end. The Phillies (17-14) take over, spearheaded by second baseman Chase Utley whose 13 home runs lead the Majors with his nearest rivals four behind.

In the American League, the White Sox dropped from first place in the Central last night, as the Twins’ (15-14) take a half game lead thanks to a four-game winning streak. The Red Sox (19-3) have a two game lead over the Orioles and the Rays in the East, with the injury-plagued Yankees stuck in fourth place with a .500 record. In the West, the Rangers have won their last four to catch up with the Mariners who have lost their last four. They both sit on a 13-18 record, four and a half games behind the division-leading Angels (19-3) and three and a half behind the A’s.