DownSwinging.com

Several days before the start of the Tour de France, Dutch rider Thomas Dekker found out that he had tested positive for a banned substance and would be banned from taking part in the race. On the surface, not that surprising, cycling has had a serious doping problem for years. But what makes this case interesting is that he tested positive on a sample that he gave in 2007. A sample that at the time was tested and came back negative, in fact. However, the sample was saved so that retroactive testing could be done at a later date. The theory is that as technology improves, more and more substances will turn up in the test, so it doesn’t really matter if the dopers are a little ahead of the curve…as long as the regulators catch up eventually.

So what if baseball (or really any other sport, but we’ll use baseball as the example because its current turmoil) employed a similar method? Personally, I think it would work great. Even with the (sort of) steep penalties in place, I don’t think that there is any doubt there are still players using PEDs, and they know they can get away with it because there is no test for whatever substance they are using.

But if the MLB used retroactive testing, all that would change. I’m not suggesting using it simply to catch players from 2003-2009 (I highly doubt they keep old samples anyway), but rather, to make immediate change to the game’s present and future. Steroid allegations are damaging to a player’s character, and baseball players are pretty egotistical people. The second they realize that five years down the line they might get caught for something they’re doing now, they’ll stop, because when they get caught they’ll be even more embarrassed than this guy. Even if they don’t know for sure, odds are that a test will be developed before their Hall of Fame ballots are in, so it sure isn’t worth it. No matter what, doing it this way sure is a hell of a lot easier than whatever method (is there one) that the MLB is using to maintain (?) the prevention of PEDs taking over the game again.