Ortiz tries to right a wrong

The object of Ortiz's ire was a recent story in the Boston Herald, which discussed the biggest elephant in baseball's living room -- steroids. The first story included quotes by Ortiz defending Giants slugger Barry Bonds, whom he said deserves respect.

In the second, smaller story that accompanied it, written by respected reporter Michael Silverman, Ortiz discussed his process of educating himself about steroids.

Ortiz was quoted as saying, "I tell you, I don't know too much about steroids, but I started listening about steroids when they started to bring that [expletive] up, and I started realizing and getting to know a little bit about it. You've got to be careful. I used to buy a protein shake in my country. I don't do that anymore because they don't have the approval for that here, so I know that, so I'm off buying things at the GNC back in the Dominican Republic.

"But it can happen any time, it can happen. I don't know. I don't know if I drank something in my youth, not knowing it."

Those comments, while intriguing, aren't what you'd call breaking news. Yet that's not what set Ortiz off. It was the headline, which asked in bold print: "Papi Unwitting 'Roid User?"

It was an inflammatory rhetorical question that set off a national chain reaction of speculation. One of the first hints was when Red Sox manager Terry Francona said a Toronto reporter entered his office and declared that Ortiz had exposed himself as a steroid user.

Suddenly, the Red Sox' congenial slugger was under the microscope because he mentioned he didn't check the ingredients of a protein shake he drank when he was young. Suddenly, his reputation was being trampled by that 13,000-pound elephant in baseball's crowded parlor. (I am not exaggerating, by the way. According to the TheBigZoo.com, a male African elephant tips the scales at 13,200 pounds).

The headline was a disservice to Ortiz, and to Silverman, who does not write his own headlines. In fact, no writer at a major paper writes his or her headlines.