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Toronto’s Chris Colabello was one of the more remarkable successes of the 2015 MLB season.
What happened to him even before this season began, though, made that a statement akin to saying ‘Lance Armstrong is one of the greatest cyclists of all time’.
Now he stands at the crossroads of his career, as he tries to launch a comeback after sitting out an 80-game ban for using PEDs.
This is a very different era to the 1990s when incredible records were set by juiced-up hitters. Since Major League Baseball fully accepted there was a big problem and began serious testing with long suspensions for offenders, everyone’s theoretically on a level playing field.
Colabello insists he’s completely innocent of doping. The problem is, so does everyone else who’s caught.
The only guy who ever came completely clean about their use was Jose Canseco, everyone else apparently has their drinks spiked/unwittingly takes a banned substance.
It’s difficult for me to take a firm position on this, because I was one of Colabello’s biggest fans last year.
How about a 17-game hitting streak, .321 batting average – the best on the team – and an OPS of .886? From a player who started the season playing in the International League.
To have a breakout season at the age of 31 was a huge surprise, and fans were looking forward to how he would build on that this year with a Blue Jays team expected to make the playoffs.
Before the season began, though, came a positive test that threatened to end his career.
It wasn’t publicly announced until late April, and when the news broke it explained his 2-for-29 start to the season. He’d spent five weeks, in his words, “trying to find an answer as to why or how?”
He said after being suspended: “The only thing I know is that I would never compromise the integrity of the game of baseball.”
Now he’s back, rehabbing at single-A level in Dunedin and hoping to earn another chance.
One of the ways you can look at this is like someone who has a peanut allergy they know could kill them. These unfortunate people have to take every precaution imaginable to make sure there are no “accidents”.
It’s difficult to see why players can’t take this kind of attitude, given how terminal a positive test could be to their careers.
Sure, it must be enormously difficult to monitor every substance that they ingest. But 99.9 per cent of players manage it.
MLB now has tough sanctions against drug cheats. But, having served his punishment even those who handed down the sentence would probably say he’d now served sufficient time and merits another chance.
The one sentence in Colabello’s statement at the time the suspension was meted out that stands out is the last.
“I hope that before anyone passes judgement on me they can take a look at the man that I am, and everything that I have done to get where I am in my career.”
Colabello spent his first seven seasons as a professional player in the Can-Am League, and didn’t make his MLB debut until he was almost 30.
That’s paying your dues, for sure.
Having worked so hard the first time on becoming an overnight success, the even harder work will follow as he tries to rediscover his form and win the forgiveness of the baseball community.
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