DownSwinging.com

2 down, 102 to go. The New York Times is reporting that Sammy Sosa was on the list of 104 players listed for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs during the 2003 season. The report was originally confidential, but after Major League Baseball failed to shred the documentation, the information was seized by government officials. According to the Times, they were made aware of the information by lawyers familiar with the testing that season. Sosa is the second player from that year who’s name has been made public after Alex Rodriguez was named earlier this year.

Sosa’s name has been linked to steroids for some time, so this announcement certainly does not come as much of a shock to anyone. I think he made it quite clear to everyone after he was caught using a corked bat that he did not necessarily care about the purity of his performances.

What seems more likely now that the A-Rod is not the only one who’s name has been made public, is that the rest of these 104 names will slowly be announced to the sporting community through press leaks in Major League Baseball, law offices and government officials. Any player who failed the 2003 test will definitely now be on edge.

In some ways it’s a shame that these names are being leaked, because the agreement was clear that the tests were to be taken under the condition of anonymity. However, I don’t think that these players will find much remorse from the public, the measure taken in 2003 was one that should have been taken years earlier. Regardless of what is thought of these releases, it is clear that more players who tested positive that year will have their names in the papers with the test results.

On an interesting side note, it appears that Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sosa will all be eligible for the Hall of Fame ballot in the same year. This latest announcement will likely hurt all of their chances. While Sosa, even without the semi-official evidence linking him steroids, didn’t stand much chance, there are those that believe that Bonds or Clemens still deserve their spot in the Hall. However, with their names all on the list at the same time, it would be hard to argue that one deserves to be in the Hall without the other, or even without Sosa, as all three of them have the numbers to make it to Cooperstown if one ignores steroids.