Much Ado About A-Roid

So Alex Rodriguez took steroids.  I'd like to know what the big deal is.  I know that baseball's statistics are somehow considered more hallowed than any other sport, but cheaters have always existed in baseball.  Sure, they didn't inject TGH or HGH, but there are more ways than that to find your way to a higher batting average or more home runs than just chemicals.  There's pine tar, corking your bat, sanding the ball, and so on down the list.  They may not be as effective, but they were certainly designed to do one thing and one thing only: get better.  Just because the cheaters in the hall of fame (and you know there were many) weren't caught and/or weren't as technologically sophisticated doesn't mean that we should punish the cheaters of this day and age.
At the end of the day with Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and the 103 other positive tests, they shouldn't be punished for their perifidy with regard to the test.  The bottom line is that steroids were not banned in baseball when they took them.  That means that what they did, as stupid and life threatening as it was, doesn't matter.  Now they are, so it's a different story.  Anybody caught now should face the punishments baseball has meted out.
On the other hand, anyone who has lied under oath (i.e. Barry Bonds) should face the appropriate punishments in a court of law and the court of public opinion.  It shouldn't change their legacy, just how things end up with them.