Life has taught me that many of the good things come with a price. Many professional baseball players seem have come across the same problem. Baseball has given us countless legendary players and personalities and yet sometimes it is exactly these players and/or personalities who seem to so often go off the boil, and get lost amidst a wave of controversies. Apparently they have all the good things in life, but only the athlete in their position can truly understand the price of their fame and the incredible pressures that come with it. With that in mind, in this baseball scoreboards article, I have taken a look at the most controversial figures in the MLB.
1. Roger Clemens – the 7 time Cy Young award winner tops the list for being the biggest disappointment and one of the most promising players to be lost to controversy of his own making. Clemens has a 6-count indictment against his name, 2 of which include perjury. He vehemently denies lying to the congress about using steroids or HGH (human growth hormones) even though the evidence is stacked against him. Even his personal trainer McNamee and teammate Andy Pettitte have given testimonies against him.
2. Alex Rodriguez – after establishing himself as one of the top most talked about figures a few years ago for signing the biggest contract in the history of baseball, he had to go and admit to using performance enhancing drugs. His admission was perhaps the most depressing controversy in baseball. A-Rod was, and grudgingly still is, one of the most admired players in MLB in terms of pure skill, and he has lit up the baseball scoreboards for years
3. George Mitchell – before Selig asked him to investigate his rumored (yet true) rampant steroid use/abuse and present a report to the commissioner’s office, nobody knew of Mitchell. However, now his name is synonymous with PED (performance enhancing drugs). Mitchell presented a 409 page report, naming 86 players connected with steroid use in one way or another. With time, these names have slowly seen the media lights, outing one player after another and casting lifelong doubts on others.
4. Fred Wilpon – the adage “innocent until proven guilty” applies to Fred Wilpon, and yet at the same time so does “guilty by association”. The former is precisely why Wilpon and the Mets are facing a $1 billion law suit. The plaintiffs lost a fortune in Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme and have accused Fred Wilpon of being aware of the ponzi scheme and yet not reporting it in an effort to protect the team. Of course, Wilpon strongly denies the accusation and is still visiting his lawyers.
5. Scott Boras – Players of the past decade, who have earned millions every year, should give their thanks to Scott Boras. He is the reason why baseball players now get such fat pay checks every year. He established himself as the wrath of every franchise owner. The most controversial contracts that Boras helped forge include Adrian Beltre’s and Jayson Werth’s.
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