It has been a couple of weeks since New York Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte fielded questions from the media about his admitted use of HGH. The star told reporters he was injected with HGH in 2002, did it to himself in 2004 and said he was deeply sorry for both.

I know I’m not the first, and I hope I’m not the last to say this, but Andy: apology not accepted.

Lest we underscore what Pettitte did, let’s have a little recap. In 2002, while battling an elbow injury, Pettitte had a trainer inject him with HGH in order to expedite his recovery. After winning four world championships, being named to the All- Star team twice and making millions upon millions of dollars, Pettitte decided it was necessary to take a shortcut to recovery. He decided that the best doctors and trainers money could buy, and his own immune system, simply weren’t enough, and HGH was the only way back to his world-class form. So, he decided to cheat himself and the game that we love so much.

After a full recovery and stellar performance through the next two seasons, Pettitte hurt his shoulder and this time used his father’s prescription HGH to help him heal up. The fact that Pettitte’s father would offer him the vials and syringes help explain how Pettitte could have ever morally justified using the banned substance. It is, after all, our parents who usually ingrain that sense of right wrong into our skulls at a young age.

Steroid use is a faster and easier way to self enhancement. No matter how much any cheater leads you to believe otherwise, steroids are a selfish shortcut to results, and, the fact of the matter is, they work. You or I could work out every day for years, and what we’d accomplish with our butts in that gym is nothing compared to the results had they been injected with HGH laced syringes.

Those of us who aren’t 6-5 and 225 pound of pure athleticism and muscle face the reality that we probably don’t have what it takes way before we reach the mountain top that Pettitte has occupied for more than a decade. It’s usually high school, and for a very select few, reality is delayed a couple of years into college. There comes a point when we realize that, despite what we’ve put into these beloved games of ours, they don’t pay the bills, and we have to hang up the cleats. Instead of facing that reality with integrity and poise, Pettitte approached it like a petty criminal searching for a fast way out. For that he - and all those like him - should be treated as such.

Pettitte should not be applauded for coming clean, rather, he should be shunned for disgracing the great game of baseball. Seem a little harsh? What’s harsh is the reality that someone never got their shot because Pettitte was on a lineup card instead of a training table. For every juice monkey who takes up a roster spot, there’s an honest player who is sent packing; forced to give up on their dream before they ever get a shot, all because they refused to take one. 

What about kids who are on the brink of making it? They’re being told by coaches and scouts to gain 10 pounds of muscle, or that they need about five more MPH on their fastball. If Pettitte isn’t severely punished for his actions, then what makes you think that more and more of these kids aren’t going to to keep shooting up to get their shot at the bigs? Sure he apologized, but did saying I’m sorry and pointing to countless others who didn’t get caught get you out of your last speeding ticket? Didn’t think so. 

Alexander Pope once wrote that, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.” Well, I have news for Pettitte: I’m no Jesus. The sooner he and every player like him is out of the game of baseball the better.