Shaun Groves
What do these men have in common?
Antonio Bastardo
Everth Cabrera
Francisco Cervelli
Nelson Cruz
Fautino De Los Santos
Sergio Escalona
Fernando Martinez
Jesus Montero
Jordan Norberto
Jhonny Peralta
Cesar Puello
Alex Rodriguez
Jordany Valdespin
All thirteen were suspended this week by Major League Baseball for using performance enhancing drugs.
Twelve of these men have something else in common too: they were born into poverty. That’s no excuse for breaking the law but it is the context in which these men were willing to risk frightening health and legal consequences for a greater chance at success.
Antonio Bastardo – Dominican Republic
Everth Cabrera – Nicaragua
Francisco Cervelli – Venezuela
Nelson Cruz – Dominican Republic
Fautino De Los Santos – Dominican Republic
Sergio Escalona – Venezuela
Fernando Martinez – Dominican Republic
Jesus Montero – Venezuela
Jordan Norberto – Dominican Republic
Jhonny Peralta – Dominican Republic
Cesar Puello – Dominican Republic
Alex Rodriguez – United States Of America
Jordany Valdespin – Dominican Republic
U.S. Poverty Threshold
Poverty can be measured a few ways. The U.S. government declared “war on poverty” in 1964, and has set an “absolute poverty threshold” ever since. Those living below this threshold are “lacking the resources to meet the basic needs for healthy living; having insufficient income to provide the food, shelter and clothing needed to preserve health.”
According to Health And Human Services in 2012, a family of four in the contiguous United States is below the poverty threshold if earning less than $23,050. An individual is below the poverty threshold with an income of less than $11,170. Roughly 15% of America’s population (or 46.2 million people) live below the poverty threshold.
Extreme Poverty
The World Bank set the international poverty line at earning the equivalent of $1.25 (USD) per day in 2005. This is often used as the measure of “extreme poverty” around the world. According the World Bank, the percentage of Americans living under this global poverty or extreme poverty line is so small that it cannot be measured – statistically insignificant.
Meanwhile, 6.6% of people living in Venezuela, 2.2% in the Dominican Republic and 11.9% in Nicaragua “live” on less than the equivalent of $1.25 each day. The majority of residents in these countries – which have virtually no middle class – live below the U.S. poverty threshold.
No wonder Compassion International has a hard time keeping little boys across Latin America in school. Going to class will feed the family someday. Working in agriculture instead will feed the family today. And practicing baseball could rescue generations from poverty.
What Would You Do?
If I could swing a bat better and run faster than most, I would do it if I stood a good chance of getting paid and escaping malnutrition, violence and uncertainty. If taking an illegal drug made my swing and speed better and, therefore, my escape more probable? I know what I should do. But I don’t know what I would do. I can’t know.
No one in America knows.
And that’s no excuse for those who’ve broken the law. But it’s important context for their actions.
Kelli says:
So, so interesting.
Kristin Taylor says:
This perspective is real, and it’s tugging at my heart in a new way. And it’s no wonder the baseball fan in me is disgusted by A-Rod. He has no “acceptable context” for his actions. Thanks for sharing this. It has me thinking in a new way.
Holli T. says:
Alex was born in the US, in Washington Heights – the Dominican borough in NY. He’s Dominican – born to Dominican parents. He was a dual culture kid and probably had strong influences from both sides. After all, how many American kids want to be the next Michael Jordan?
We lived in La Romana – about an hour from San Pedro – the home of Dominican baseball greats. I know you’ve been there, I found you online when you guys were prepping to go however many years ago.
We agree with your assessment and discussed that very thing. The idea of making it big, getting out of there and becoming a hero, is just too great. Especially when you don’t know there is more to life, and after. Also – there is no law enforcement presence there, really (unless you’re Haitian). You can get anything you want over the counter. Just ask Rush Limbaugh. 😉 I think it all comes together to make them very easy targets for growth hormones.
Marla Taviano says:
Thanks for working so hard to help people put on others’ shoes for a bit. It hurts my heart (and makes me angry) when people of privilege (me included) look down our noses at people’s poor choices when we have no earthly idea what it’s like to be them. We need more blog posts like this.
Bernard Shuford says:
My personal opinion is that 95% of Americans would USE THE SAME DRUGS in a heartbeat if someone were going to pay them $50 million to do so.
When I look at it like that, “right” vs. “wrong” gets so cloudy.
If me using PEDs meant that money would be a non-issue for the rest of my life for me, my family, and lots of other people, yeah, I bet I would probably do it, too.
Guilty.
And so would be a LOT of the rest of “you”.
Tom Martin says:
I agree with Bernard. I think Jim Capbel did a great job describing it today over at ESPN
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/9522826/alex-rodriguez-transgressions-deserve-understanding
Bernard Shuford says:
That’s a really good article, Tom, thanks for sharing that.
Amilia says:
Have you seen the movie “Sugar” ? It addresses a lot of this- it’s about a Dominican kid who gets the chance to play pro baseball. It’s one of my favorite movies.
Brian says:
Just to clarify, these guys were not breaking the “law” in terms of United States law, but were taking drugs that are banned by Major League Baseball. Most likely, these players took PEDs to speed up recovery time from injuries – as opposed to the body-altering drugs that are associated with the late 90’s Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa/Barry Bonds scandals… although ARod might be a holdover from that period. I think the health risks associated with those drugs were much more serious than what is associated with the one’s from this week’s suspensions. In fact, many of these banned substances are drugs that are normally prescribed to people everyday for various reasons – so the side effects are minimal.
The gist of the post still remains, but I would couch it in terms of injuries and the temptation to seek whatever means necessary in order to get back on the field as quickly as possible so as not to miss their “shot” at a big contract. It may seem like semantics, but I think there’s a big difference between players altering the physiques in order to be stronger, and players just trying to recover from injuries faster. Unfortunately, when we hear “steroids,” we automatically think back to the big scandal of a decade ago and all the ridiculousness that came with it. I think we’re dealing with something different here.
Miranda says:
Wow. This is an eye-opener. We have a Compassion-sponsored son in the Dominican Republic who loves baseball. When we write about baseball in our letters, we share the Christian testimonies and positive stories of baseball players. I don’t think we’ll be touching on this subject, as I’m sure he’s well aware of what’s going on. However, your post sure helped me to put this (my husband and myself being huge baseball fans currently listening to the Detroit Tigers game as I type) in an entirely different perspective and light. While we cannot honestly evaluate the true motives of each of these players or the exact side-effects of the drugs they took, we can certainly pray for them and wonder what we would’ve done if in their shoes. My heart breaks for these players, their families and teams, and all of the boys and young men who long to play baseball. As we will soon travel to the Dominican Republic with Compassion, I’m sure our eyes will be further opened to the poverty and may we gain a deeper understanding yet again. Thanks for another thought-provoking post!
Brad says:
Love this Shaun. I’ve been disgusted by the self-righteous drivel in the sports press condemning these 13 guys. Not that I agree with cheating, but considering how many laws most people break, how many cheat on their taxes, their spouses, their employers…all of the sanctimonious whining smacks of hypocrisy. Plus…it’s baseball. It’s a kid’s game that these men get paid to play. Why do folks take it so seriously (and I’m a sports fan). Ugh. I’ve said too much already.