For the average baseball fan, the real shame of the steroid era is that any news on the uncovering of a player accused of using a performance-enhancing drug can't come as a shock or surprise.

The suspicions, for good of bad, are on just about every player.

So when the news broke today that Alex Rodriguez, arguably the best player in the game, failed a drug test six years ago, it was more sad than shocking, right? But according to SI.com, it's true: in his last season with the Texas Rangers, A-Rod failed a drug test.

This led to an interesting question one of my cousins and I had: if this is true, who would be considered the best CLEAN all-around player of the current era (say, the last 15-20 years)?

It's not easy... in part, because how do you really know if anyone was or was not clean? Again, pretty sad.

Assuming the players who have never been found guilty of failing a drug test have played clean careers, I think the throne of "best player of the era," goes from A-Rod to Albert Pujols or Manny Ramirez.

Then again, Manny's defense has deteriorated markedly over the years...