All Cheaters Are NOT Alike ...

Twelve baseball players tested positive for banned substances during 2005. Here are their names:

Alex Sanchez, OF, Devil Rays Jorge Piedra, OF, Rockies Agustin Montero, P, Rangers Jamal Strong, OF, Mariners Juan Rincon, P, Twins Rafael Betancourt, P, Indians Rafael Palmeiro, 1B, Orioles Ryan Franklin, P, Mariners Michael Morse, SS, Mariners Carlos Almanzar, P, Rangers Felix Heredia, P, Mets Matt Lawton, OF, Yankees

Feel free to boo 11 of them next season. Why only 11 ... didn’t they all cheat? Yes, all 12 cheated. So why boo only 11 ... what makes one player different from all the others on the list?

One player was honest. One player admitted he made a mistake and was genuinely embarrassed by his actions. One player offered an apology that came from the heart.

That player is Matt Lawton. He cheated. He got caught. He will be suspended for the first 10 games of the 2006 season ... as he should. But Matt Lawton also explained exactly why he did what he did and then accepted full responsibility for his actions.

Lawton admitted taking boldenone (a veterinary steroid created to treat horses!) late last season to try to play through the pain of a shoulder injury that rendered him almost useless to the Yankees (he hit only .125 in 48 at-bats after coming to New York in a late-season trade). Here’s what he had to say:

"It was such a stupid thing, but I was desperate. Maybe it was the pressure of playing in New York, I don't know. I wasn't playing well enough to be on a Little League roster, let alone be on the roster of the New York Yankees. I just wasn't physically able to do the job. I had never been in the playoff hunt before. So I did something that will always haunt me.

I never had the urge to take any of that stuff before, but I was talking to some guys, and they guaranteed it would get the pain out. I don't want people to think that everything I did, the good years I had, were steroid-related. I learned a lot about myself last year, and I'll be better for it. Now I'm ready to prove it."

The Yankees had no interest in bringing Lawton back but the Mariners recently decided he was worth the risk -- signing him to a one-year contract for a base salary of $400,000, up to $1.25 million in incentives (based on plate appearances) and a no-trade clause. Lawton, on signing with Seattle:

“I look at coming to the Mariners as an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. I'm a grown man and I made a terrible mistake, but the embarrassment was having to tell my family. I had to tell my mom and wife. My daughter is 12 and my son is 5 and explaining to them was the most embarrassing part of it."

How refreshing and - unfortunately – how unique ... not just in sports, but also when compared to the multitude of cheaters and liars in politics and corporate America and every other walk of life.

Baseball’s still-flimsy drug testing policy required Matt Lawton be given a second chance. But it is his words and – more importantly – his character that make him different from the 11 other players that got caught cheating last season. And for that Matt Lawton deserves to be recognized and, yes, even applauded.