Baseball and Cheating -- What's the real issue

No matter how you slice it, cheating plays a big role in major league baseball.  It is a conversation that MLB enthusiasts will happily argue over for eternity.  Not only is cheating prevalent in today's baseball society ( almost exclusively concerning PEDs) it has been around since the creation of the game. In the "Cambridge Companion to Baseball", David and Daniel Luban, discuss the great importance cheating has in baseball; their article opens up with a quote from Rogers Hornsby, "I've been in pro baseball since 1914 and I've cheated, or watched someone on my team cheat, in practically every game. You've got to cheat." In the past however cheating has not been as big of an issue with fans, of baseball, as is their concern with PEDs today.

Why is this?

Well as we discussed in class it must either be a moral or a records issue, meaning are the fans concerned with the morality behind PEDS or are they concerned with the possible advantage the drugs could have to breaking records, in particular the HR records.
If it is a concern of morality, we could construct a syllogism to attempt to prove it. (I found a very useful one in a paper by Sharon Ryan) it reads:

(1) Using PEDs is harmful to athletes and athletes are under enormous pressure to take
PEDs.
(2) All things that are harmful to athletes and that place athletes under enormous pressure
to do are morally wrong and that is why (it is such a big deal in baseball).
________________________________________________
(3) Using PEDs is morally wrong and that is why (it is such a big issue in baseball).

The problem with this argument is that premise one cannot be considered valid. There is not enough information to prove the harm that PEDs cause, in addition if PEDs were made legal and regulated, doctors could find a dosage that would actually be healthy for athletes.

So if morality is not the reason behind the fans outrage at PEDs, it must then be a concern for the value of MLB records. Fans must realize that this is what is important to them and need to stop blaming they're outrage at players on issues of morality.

Recently we have had two cases of PED use in the MLB, the Ryan Braun case.

And more recently the Erick Hortada case.

The main difference between the two being that Braun's allegations were eventually over turned. Although this may seem significant, will the fans actually look at the two players differently? Even though Braun's case was overturned he will still be labeled as a "cheater", and thrust into the same category as Horta

da. Are these two "cheaters" morally bad people? And will the fans ever be able to accept them if they break records or are in contention for the hall of fame, or will they simply be remembered as immoral cheaters?

Only time and myth will tell.