Got that? Good.

While I am firmly entrenched that believe that Jose Canseco's steroid allegations have been greatly overhyped in the interest of selling a book, I am astounded by the collective apathy of the owners and the commissioner's office. This concern is founded on the fact that baseball has always established itself as holding a moral high ground because of its position that gambling is its unpardonable sin.

Steroid use is as bad as gambling, in many ways worse. With steroid use, a player is essentially cheating by placing themselves on an unlevel playing field with "clean" players. With gambling, on the other hand, all a player can truly control is their OWN performance. It may make them a lesser player, and it may be morally compromising, and is definitely not right in the context of gambling on a game in which they participated. But the stain has remained on the names of the 1919 "Black Sox" players over 85 years after their infraction and remains on Pete Rose over 15 years after his. It is a double standard that has robbed a few deserving players of their rightful place in Cooperstown while the steroid users will be shrugged off and even applauded as they hold their plaques.