Baseball; The Golden Age of Steroids

I didn’t want to write about baseball.

 

From Henry Chadwick to Peter Gammons baseballs history was made as much by the men covering the sport as the ones played it. I cannot wish to compare with the likes of such men.

 

When the Baseball Writers Association of America votes, dreams get fulfilled and sometimes hearts get broken. From the season awards to the Hall of Fame, the power of baseball is in the pen. The pen is mightier than even a steroid users bat and more precise than the bat of Pete Rose.

 

I don’t have nor want such ultimate power.

 

I do how ever have to make a statement regarding steroid usage in baseball.

 

Frankly I don’t care. I might even be inclined to say I condone it. We know that Bud Selig would never come out and say the same thing, but actions speak louder than words.

 

Selig’s regime used steroids to recover from the 1994 baseball strike. Fans had lost interest. They felt betrayed, not even Peter Gammons could talk us into going out to the ball park.

 

In walks Jose Canseco, needle in hand.

 

Canseco brought baseball back, not with his diminished skills in the latter part of his career, but with his confessions. Not the book, but the locker room. He started telling players what made him the 40/40 man in Oakland. He told them about steroids. He preached against the myths of deformation and rage. He spoke of pure performance.

 

Why wouldn’t players line up in his pews? His church was an organization that had no salary cap. The more you performed the more you could earn, without limits.

 

A-Rod listened and became the highest played player in sports.

 

Man Ram listened and won 2 World Championships and signed a 25 million per year deal with the Dodgers.

 

Barry Bonds listened and is now the all time leader in homeruns for a career, stepping out of Hammering Hank Aaron’s shadow, but doing so with a dark cloud over head.

 

Do steroids taint the record book? Absolutely, but with pitchers being on steroids isn’t it still a level playing field? I don’t care if the records get asterisks next to them, I would actually prefer it.

 

The summer of 98’s greatness had the stench of foul play all over it, but we watched, we marveled and we paid, boy did we pay. Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. had the country a buzz and baseball was alive.

 

Sosa and McGwire cheated to do it, that’s the conviction of court of public opinion. Still the joy remained.

 

Baseball is better when steroids are involved.

 

Socially however we have a responsibility to every little leaguer in the country to stop it. We have to protect the children. The long term effects of steroids are still somewhat of mystery. We cannot however allow our children to be the test subjects.

 

Grown men are responsible for themselves. The Baseball Writers Association of America will be responsible for grown mens legacies.

 

Unfortunately steroids in baseball is not about grown men or fans wanting to see the long ball or the hall of fame, its about kids and what they want to be when they grow up.

 

The one thing I want is, for everyone to realize that what happened in 2003’s random anonymous test, doesn’t hurt baseball. The witch hunt that has ensued is however killing it.

 

-Kurt Valentine

Comments

[Tim Caughell]

I couldn’t agree more… There’s nothing more exciting in base ball then watching someone go yard. To quote the great Valentine “Who doesn’t love the long ball”. Enough said. It doesn’t matter what kind of base ball fan you are. If it be a die hard or fair weather your gona get out of your seat when someone on your team takes the apposing pitcher yard.

And to take it to another direction, the year Sosa vs McGuire is one of the most exciting years in baseball since the Yankees Mantle vs Maris run for 61. True these guys were able to accomplish this feet without the use of steroids, but baseball was a different game, they didn’t have the strategies that we have now. There was no Starting, Mid, and Closing pitcher. They didn’t have the size and speed that we have now. For god sakes look at Pujols. So what if these guys need an edge. To make big money your gona need to take big risks.

[steroids effects]

The relation between baseball and steroids is quite old.. I have heard so much about it that the players use it to increase there power for the performance.. This is really very shame for them..

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Selig’s regime used steroids to recover from the 1994 baseball strike. Fans had lost interest. They felt betrayed, not even Peter Gammons could talk us into going out to the ball park.