March 04, 2005
Inflation Confabulation
I have been a baseball fan all my life and have been very spoiled by growing up in Baltimore and having “The Oriole Way” as a model of excellence. The Oriole Way has been marked by outstanding defense, tremendous pitching, clutch hitting and an incomparable work ethic. The teams of the past bore this out with 3 World Series Championship titles, 5 American League Championship titles, 2 American League Division Series titles and 8 American League Eastern Division titles. Unfortunately the fruits of this labor have not been evident since 1997 and the ultimate fruit since 1983.
So now we have this steroid controversy emerging as a potential blemish on the game, the likes of the recent failings of the NHL. We are hearing fist pounding for stronger testing, stronger enforcement, and stronger penalties. There is talk about amending, tossing out or asterisking the record books. There are washed up ballplayers admitting to taking substances to boost their bodies, but lacking anything remotely close to character. *Cough-JoseCanseco* And there are current players denying the use of substances, and lacking this same character. *Cough-BarryBonds*
What can MLB do to fix this mess? First they can establish leadership that has a vision for the future that is grounded in the history of the game with a close eye on the present. This is leadership that will be strong enough to act on the calls for stronger testing, enforcement and penalties that are desperately needed.
As for the record books there is very little that can be done or even should be done. Despite the use of illegal, performance enhancing substances (yes I know the google hits I’m going to take for that statement), baseball is a sport that requires a much more complex skill set than say football. It takes more than just strength to excel. No matter how big your muscles are you still need the hand-to-eye coordination to make contact with the ball; let alone making contact that will result in a homerun. Hitting a Major League fastball is one of the hardest tasks in any sport to accomplish.
It can not be determined by any objective standards then how to apply an asterisk or when to expunge a record from the books. The only place to go from here is forward. You clean up the game to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. Baseball fans are smart enough to realize that despite the single season homerun record is 73, that 61 is still a very significant number. It’s unfortunate the current holder of that record doesn’t amount to much in the shadow of the character of the man who held it for so long.
As I said, I have been spoiled here in Baltimore. Despite the shattering of a former record by one of our very own; the character of this Ironman runs just as deep as the Iron Horse.
Posted by price at March 4, 2005 03:04 PMWhat really amuses me is that people forget that cheating is also a huge part of the history of our national pastime. The Orioles of the late 1800's were infamous for letting their outfield grass grow long & hiding baseballs in it so they could quickly make a play...among other things.
I'm tired of this steroid thing. I think it needs to be addressed, & policed. However, I also think that trying to find a way to punish players suspected of using 'roids over the last 20 years with asterixes or whatever is an excersize in futility.
Just my $.02
Posted by: mo at March 7, 2005 11:25 AMMo: Huge difference between letting the grass grow long and taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Jeff: Just curious, because I'm figuring it out for myself. Would you vote for Bonds, McGuire, or Sosa (or fill in your other suspects, like Palmeiro) for the Hall of Fame?
Posted by: epiph at March 9, 2005 01:02 AMMo – I couldn’t agree more with the exercise of futility. And that’s why I think that talk is just a big waste of time.
Epiph – As much as I would hate to defend Bonds, unfortunately the HOF already has players elected that were not great human beings and lacked character. Those other players you cited; McGuire, Sosa and Palmeiro, along with Bonds, have all achieved amazing things in baseball. It is hard to argue with the numbers and I would say they deserve to be in the HOF. Pete Rose & Joe Jackson deserve to be there as well for that matter.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
Posted by: Jeff Price at March 11, 2005 10:51 AM