If Every Player Was Doping, Why Use Asterisks?

By TYLER KEPNER
NYT

CHICAGO — The 2004 World Series championship ring has 45 diamonds weighing 1.89 carats, cast in 18-karat white gold. On its face is an Old English B, the logo of the Boston Red Sox. Johnny Damon does not wear his, yet it keeps losing its sheen.

David Ortiz was the most valuable player for the Red Sox in the 2004 American League Championship Series. Manny Ramirez was the M.V.P. of the World Series. Both on Thursday were revealed to have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, and guilt by association may stick to that merry band of self-described idiots.

“I’m sure that’s what people are saying,” Damon said. “When and if that list comes out, I’ll be able to determine what that championship means to me.”

Damon now bats behind Derek Jeter, a cornerstone of Yankees championship teams that also included players said to have used performance-enhancing drugs. If any fans naïvely believe their teams were pure while the Yankees were tainted, Thursday brought a new reality.

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