Garvey: Baseball’s Drug-Usage Image Unfair

CHANDLER, Ariz. —  San Diego veteran Steve Garvey says he is tired of baseball being society’s “whipping boy” for the drug problems that exist in the country.

Garvey says the drug testing controversy is more of an “image statement” than any real answer to the problems facing baseball or society in general.

“We can’t let the sport itself be singled out as an answer to some answers in society and have it used as a scapegoat,” Garvey said. “We can’t let the game not adhere to the basic principles of our society.”

Instead of drug testing, stricter rules must be laid down by the commissioner for players to follow. In that instance, Garvey said guidelines will be set and players must follow them or get out of the game.

“That is the deterrent. It’s like the capital punishment issue,” Garvey says. “Baseball has to set the rules. Testing is good for image, good for public relations, but there are fallacies in it. It goes back to the old saying, a person has to prove his innocence. You don’t do that in society.”

Garvey says drug usage in baseball has declined compared to society in general.

Garvey commented on the drug issue when asked to discuss what are the major perils in the game in the next decade and what shape baseball might be in in 1996.

“It’s always going to be the No. 1 sport,” he says. “If baseball fails, then a big part of society is in trouble because we are part of the atmosphere.”

Often mentioned as having political intentions, Garvey sees himself involved with baseball in some way 10 years from now, even as an owner.

“I’ll always hope to be a part of the game and have an effect to keep it America’s game and keep the stature and standards high,” he said. “It may be owning a club, politics, to have a political influence. Especially if the anti-trust laws are addressed in relationship to the sport.”

Garvey foresees a more contemporary sport relying more heavily on computers, superior conditioning and more uniformed look of ballparks.

“You may see a unilateral adjusting of the leagues as well,” Garvey says. “It should become the East, Midwest, West. That’s what I see down the road.”

What Garvey envisions and what he would like to see happen are pretty much one and the same.

“I’d like to see a oneness in baseball. As much as I am a conservative I would like to see one league, no American no National League,” Garvey says.

More players in their 40s will be playing the game in the 1990s as well, “not just because of the money involved but the physical conditioning.”

Looking back at the infancy of his career, Garvey admits the No. 1 change in the game over the past decade has been pitching.

“Pitching has improved so dramatically since I’ve gotten into this game,” Garvey notes. “That one thing has had the most profound impact.”

But he concedes Americans are in love with offense and baseball must be weary of falling into a pitcher’s dominated type of game as was the case in the late 1960s.

“You have to keep monitoring the situation where there is no imbalance,” he says. “If the runs start to decline, something will have to be done.”

Regardless of the product, Garvey is confident fans will continue to come to the ballpark.