The revelations of this past week about the use of steroids in major league baseball leave us feeling ...disgusted? Disappointed? Disillusioned? Certainly we feel a sense of loss regarding the honor and traditions that are so much a part of baseball and its history.
So, how can we frame this experience? Quite easily. If major league baseball is to be a legitimate sport (something more than professional wrestling) then we should hold it to the standards that Judaism sets for every single one of us in our businesses: absolute honesty.
Rabbinic literature teaches us that we are required to be absolutely honest in our business dealings. We may not mix two kinds of produce, even if the difference between their worth is only a penny (Tosefta Baba Metsia 3:26//Sifre Deuteronomy 295) ... not even if we sell them at the lower price. Indeed, the very first question each person (not just Jews) will be asked after they die and are facing judgment is, "Were you honest in business?" (Bavli Shabbat 31a). It doesn't get much more basic than that.
I understand the temptation on the part of the players to achieve better statistics. I understand the management¹s desire to put on a better "show" that leads to higher revenues. We always struggle with our urges to have more. But that¹s the point ... we struggle with these urges.
We need the Evil Inclination to urge us to achieve ... but it cannot rule us:
Once, the sages prayed for mercy, and the Evil Inclination was handed over to them. God said to the sages: If you kill the Evil Inclination, the world
will fail. They imprisoned the Evil Inclination for three days, then looked in the whole Land of Israel for a fresh egg and could not find one. Thereupon they said: What shall we do? If we kill him, the whole world would fail. They put out his eyes and let him go. (Bavli Yoma 69b)
Perhaps the Evil Inclination was simply
allowed to grow too strong. So here is the way back: we make ourselves
stronger than the Evil Inclination
again. We remember who the true hero is:
The true hero is the one who masters his or her Evil Impulse. (Pirkei Avot 4:1)
We remember the high level of honesty demanded of us and come back to it ... a feat of strength that can only be accomplished through strength of will and spirit, not drugs. And through this exercise of will, we will be able to repair this situation and baseball can return to its home in our hearts.