Why steroids saved baseball
Written by Benn Hodapp, Tuesday January 12 2010
Mark McGwire apparently stunned the nation yesterday by admitting to something I thought we all knew in the first place. His transformation from skinny rookie to ogre-ish Mr. Forearms was pretty obviously aided by the needle. But then again we love overreacting to everything, so let's do it again.
There has never been any question in my mind about the cleanliness of those records set in 1998. More importantly, however, the steroid-aided great home run chase of '98 saved baseball.
1994
One of the most exciting seasons in recent memory was about 100 games in. Matt Williams and Ken Griffey, Jr. were on pace to end the season around 61 home runs (which was still the record). Tony Gwynn was hitting a preposterous .394, trying to become the first man to hit .400 since Ted Williams in 1941. The Montreal Expos were the best team in baseball. I'll repeat that in case you didn't hear...the Washington Nationals in their previous form were the best team in baseball.
But wait, millionaires in their skyboxes and greedy players decide that we need to stop all this record-chasing, brilliant baseball. Who needs it? On August 12th the season ended with nothing decided and a heavy basket full of 'what ifs'.
When baseball came back in 1995 it was struggling. How do you explain to the blue-collar worker that he should bring his kids out to see a bunch of guys who make millions yet still bicker and bitch about money? It doesn't work. Shocking.
Attendance was down and a malaise set over the entire league.
1998
And then the perfect storm gathered momentum in the midwest. McGwire and Sammy Sosa combined for what was without question the most exciting regular season in my lifetime. They weren't just on pace to break Roger Maris' record; they were on pace to break it in early September. It was the top story every night on SportsCenter. Hell, it might have been the top story on the 11 o'clock news every night too.
As the balls flew out of the yard at frightening rates, people returned to the yard and to their televisions to watch something never before seen. It was great theater and we all watched, held captive by the display.
Now we know that each and every swing was taken illegally. Sosa has never admitted to steroid use, but did you see him as a rookie? The guy weighed like 160 pounds.
McGwire ended the season with 70 home runs, a number that was unfathomable to pretty much everyone. Sosa launched 66 and took home the N.L. MVP over McGwire.
Back to 2010 and we're preparing the boiling pot in which to throw McGwire and Sosa. It makes sense to want to seal away these tainted memories after all.
Or maybe we could look right into the face of this story and call it what it really is: Steroids saved baseball. There is no effective counter argument against that fact. Baseball was curling up into a fetal position, tired and alone in the twilight of its life.
Whether or not steroids help you hit a baseball is still debatable. I, for one, don't buy it. If it were that easy to hit a ball 500 feet I would be outside impressing the hell out of my friends and cleaning up on some bets. The only thing that we know to be true is that using them was illegal.
Revolutions are never legal.
Behind closed doors I hope Bud Selig has a shrine to both McGwire and Sosa for saving both his job and the pathetic waste his league had become before they injected.
McGwire in the Hall? Absolutely. But make sure there's an asterisk.
"Mark McGwire saved baseball in 1998.
* - He also had some impressive stats."
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5 comments
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Benn, your point is as obvious as the fact that players like Sosa, McGwire and Bonds were on the Juice. Selig knew and did nothing. Every single manager knew, especially that slimeball Tony Larussa. Remember when the debate about all the homeruns focused on whether or not the BALL was juiced? How ridiculous. I hate that these players got rich for cheating, but as a fan of the 1993 Phillies, how could I possibly complain. Lenny Dykstra could have been the poster child for drugs in baseball. Nobody knew about "Roid Rage" back then. We all just thought Lenny was an A-Hole. I don't think McGwire belongs in the Hall of Fame though. Take away his bloated HR totals and the rest of his numbers aren't worthy.
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Thanks, Golfnut and Kerri. Still waiting for other comments to come in, but I guess I didn't make fun of Philadelphia enough to get B-Dub to chime in. So here ya go, Dubber. Philly sucks!
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Good points about the steroid era. I had never though of it in the terms of your well written article. Steroids did bring back the game of baseball via the long ball escapades of Mark and Sammy.
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McGwire is a daywalker.
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I'm not sure why this was breaking news or even news for that matter. I think even my Grandmother knew this. Why don't we just break baseball into AL, NL, and SL, (Steroid League), and in the end see which one prevails. Personally, McGwire did his people justice--no not the steroid users, but the gingers. Nice article btw.