A Dubious Famous First

Jenrry Mejia of the Mets just made baseball history -- of the worst kind. The Mets reliever (seen here in 2014 against the Yankees) was busted twice for PED use last season. He appeared in only seven games and missed the team's magical post-season ride. Apparently, he did not learn a lesson -- as news broke Friday afternoon that he'd been suspended again. And in baseball, the rule is "three strikes, you're out." Mejia's third PED suspension (in under a year) results in a lifetime ban -- the first ever handed out by baseball officials.
The Mets could not have expected much from Mejia -- his previous suspension already put him on the shelf through mid-July. But as Bugs Bunny once said, "What a maroon!" How, after being caught twice in the last year, could Mejia think he could evade the more stringent testing ballplayers go through? Where was his agent, his business manager or other wise hand in his inner circle warning him that he stood on the verge of throwing his career away?? Was there no one whom Mejia trusted who could "read him the riot act" before Rob Manfred's ruling?
Even with two suspensions on his record, he was in line to make a million dollars in 2016. He just squandered that. He's not even eligible to apply for reinstatement until a year from now -- and must sit out another year after that. And you can bet the Mets, who gave Mejia more chances than he deserved, won't want anything to do with him should he ever get clean.