“Now batting, right fielder, number 25, Barry Bonds.” It was a warm Kansas summer afternoon. I sat with my dad three rows up from the first base dugout. The Kansas City Royals were hosting the San Francisco Giants on Father's Day. Barry Bonds was closing in 700 career home runs. On this warm June day, Bonds came one home run closer to that 700 mark. Before Kauffman Stadium was renovated, the bullpens in right and left field went straight back. There was an overhang that was probably 50-60 feet past the fences and 50-60 feet tall. Bonds hit a ball that hit off the top of the overhang. This was the longest home run I have ever seen. Earlier in the month, reports had came out claiming that Bonds was using steroids. Seeing Bonds absolutely crush a ball in person changed my views on steroids in baseball. Being five years old at the time, I didn’t completely understand steroids, but I knew it wasn’t fair to the other 700 Major League Baseball players. Steroids should be completely banned from the game of baseball because they force teams to play unnatural styles of baseball, and they tarnish the culture and integrity of the sport.
The 1990s were baseball’s darkest days. In 1994, the players went on strike. This was “the longest work stoppage in the history of North American professional sports” (ESPN.com). This work stoppage was so big the White House got involved. The strike didn’t just affect the 1994 season, in which the playoffs got cancelled. According to ESPN “[a]ttendance plunged 20 percent.” People started to lose interest. TV ratings and attendance went down. Baseball could have dried up and died. Not only did the players go on strike, the use of steroids started.
Steroids, in the game of baseball, cause teams to play an unnatural style of baseball. During the “Steroid Era” (from 1991 to 2003), Major League Baseball saw an increase to home run totals and pitcher’s earned run average (ERA). According to Robert Collier of SportsTechie, “in 2000 teams averaged 190 home runs and the average team ERA was 4.76. This past season (2014) teams averaged 140 home runs per team and the average ERA was 3.74.” The year 2000 was right in the middle of the Steroid Era. Using these averages, teams hit roughly 5,700 home runs in 2000 compared to 4,200 in 2014. A differential of 1,500 home runs between two seasons is significant. Also, by looking at team ERAs, teams were giving up one more run a game during the steroid era. This increase in home runs caused pitching to suffer, and the power surge made pitching less of a factor. Higher ERAs and home run totals cause teams to play a different, unconventional style of baseball.
This different and unconventional style of baseball didn’t just explode onto the scene in 2000. Baseball had been moving towards a new style since the mid-90s. The 90s were seen as “a ‘renaissance’ of sorts” (Solberg 96). This was a time period where offense was increasing. According to the research of Benjamin G. Rader and Kenneth J. Winkle, as portrayed in graphs in Baseball’s great hitting barrage of the 1990s (and beyond) reexamined, the average home runs per games increased from the years 1992 to 1994. After a slight fall followed by a rise and a fall, the average number of home runs per game continued to increase from years 1997 to 2000. The average in 2000 was a 17 year high (Rader 72). While steroids were not directly linked to this power surge, at the time, it was odd that home run totals were increasing. Only Babe Ruth and Roger Maris had hit more than 60 home runs in one season, that is, until 1998. Matt Williams was on pace to have a shot at hitting 60 in 1994. Unfortunately, due to the strike, the season ended early. Williams finished with 43 home runs and never came close again. Many players, such as Hall of Famer Goose Gossage, said “‘[t]he strike got me, man’. . . ‘It got a bunch of us. We faded in, and we faded out’” (Nightengale). The MLB wasn’t only losing fans due to the strike. It was also losing some of the game's best players.
The MLB was on the verge of becoming irrelevant. The strike pushed away the casual fan. Somebody had to do something. Players like Ken Caminiti discovered steroids while injured in 1996. According to Solberg, “Caminiti began taking steroids to recover from a shoulder injury. In the second half of the season, Caminiti hit 28 home runs -- his previous high for a season had been 26”(93). A team had someone who came back from injury and hit more home runs in half a season than he did in any other full season. Caminiti unnaturally crushed his career high in home runs. In order to recover and build muscle, all he had to do was take a steroid after his workouts. Other players like Jose Canseco added “25 pounds of additional weight, all muscle” during just one offseason (Solberg 93). While Canseco and Caminiti used steroids, they were just precursors to the summer of 1998.
Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were both home run hitting machines. In the 1998 season Sosa and McGwire were both on pace to break the single season homerun record, previously held by Roger Maris, at 61 home runs. Major League Baseball was still struggling to retain fans and create an interest in the sport. As September of ‘98 came around, “both began the month with 55 home runs”(Catania). Since Sosa and McGwire played on rival division teams, the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals respectively, fans could potentially watch one game and see both Sosa and McGwire in action. The two sluggers went back and forth as they crept closer to 61. Soon, their home run totals “became an everyday question that didn't need to be clarified with names. Newspapers filled pages with charts and graphs and projections of when it could--or would--happen” (Catania). People were captivated by this home run race. They wanted to see history. Sosa and McGwire both admitted to using steroids multiple years later. However, in the fall of ‘98 fans were “inspired and captivated by power displays they wouldn't dare miss”(Catania). Fans everywhere didn’t want to miss it. In the end, McGwire hit “70 home runs, while Sosa himself hit 66.” (Catania). Fans forgot about the labor strikes which nearly crippled the sport just four years earlier. Solberg says, “It was clear that by the 1990s, baseball and its leadership began to link the popularity of the sport to the explosion of home runs “(96). TV ratings and and attendance began to grow again. Offenses began to surge. The resurrection of baseball was due, in large part, to steroids.
While steroids saved the game of baseball, they also tarnished the integrity and culture of the sport. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are two of the headline names when talking about the Steroid Era. They both equally dominated their part of the sport. Bonds a position player/hitter broke McGwire’s single season home run record along with Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record. Clemens was a pitcher who battled through ankle surgery on the way to give Boston its first championship in 86 years. It was assumed he used steroids to recover quick enough and be able to pitch. Not only did Clemens recover quickly, older pitchers started throwing in the upper 90s. Some of these pitchers, like Kenny Rogers, never threw that hard when they were younger. “That’s not natural evolution”(Solberg 93). As players get older they naturally tend to lose their abilities. Major League Baseball was seeing the exact opposite happen. This sparked skepticism and questions by fans and reporters. If a player is truly dominating at the major league level, how can anyone be sure they are clean or free of steroids?
Players lost the trust of fans and reporters. Major League Baseball implemented random drug screening in hopes to crack down on steroid use. In 2005 “Canseco claimed 85% of major league players used steroids or other PEDs [performance enhancing drugs]”(Solberg 94). While fans enjoyed the displays of power, the didn’t enjoy being lied to and deceived. MLB players developed a culture where “winning trumps everything”(Solberg 95). Take the advantages of steroids and combine it with the culture of professional baseball, it isn’t hard to understand why so many players turned to steroids.
Due to the strike in 1994, the leaders in baseball were more focused on regaining fans and the following they once had. These “leaders” in baseball are people like the Commissioner who make the final decisions on baseball operations. McGwire and Sosa helped these leaders find ways to “reach record levels”(Solberg 96). Because fans were taking interest again, these baseball leaders saw that steroids could actually help save baseball.
Steroids did save baseball. Without the home run race in 1998, baseball may not exist today. Steroids have the ability to help players heal faster. According to Benjamin Rader, “both hitter and pitchers saw increases in the average number of days spent on the disabled list from 1998 to 2001”(86). The reason for this increase is due to the fact that players would stay on the disabled list longer so they could continue to take steroids. The steroids not only helped players heal faster, but they allowed players to add muscle mass “because the steroids allow them to recover quicker after workouts”(Solberg 92). This new muscle mass would put more pressure on the players joints. Players then would take human growth hormone enhancements “to strengthen joints in an effort to allow the body to carry the additional muscle mass.”(Solberg 92). Steroids are beneficial to those who are overcoming injuries. They even can be beneficial to players who want an extra edge. However, because of the unnatural growth which steroids cause they will often times do more harm than good.
Steroids saved baseball from becoming irrelevant. They allowed two players to hit a baseball with super human power. However, steroids have no place in baseball because of their unnatural tendencies and they way they changed the culture of the sport. Steroids cause bodies to break down due to an unnatural amount of muscle mass. They give players abilities they never had. Steroids changed Major League Baseball into a national sport which promotes liars and cheaters. Many young kids look up to these players like they are super heroes. Some of these “super heroes” lied to Congress. Steroids are just another way of cheating. They give an unfair advantage. Kids shouldn’t be taught to look up to these men who cheat just so they can make a few more million dollars. Steroids were needed to save the sport, but since baseball is no longer in need of a savior, steroids have no place in the game of baseball.
Works Cited
Catania, Jason. “Examining Impact of Epic 1998 HR Chase.” Bleacher Report. Article which
gives a timeline of the home run race in 1998. The work goes into the effect it had on
fans.
Collier, Robert. “How Steroids Fundamentally Changed Baseball.” SportsTechie. 17 March
2015. Article on how steroids changed baseball. In-depth work which explores the decline of offense in baseball over the last decade. Article also examines the 2014 World Series between the Giants and the Royals.
“ESPN.com - 1994 Strike Was a Low Point for Baseball.” ESPN.com - 1994 Strike Was a Low
Point for Baseball, ESPN. Short article on the lingering effects of the strike in 1994. Takes an indepth look at attendance and how it changed.
Nightengale, Bob. “1994 Strike Most Embarrassing Moment in MLB History.” USA Today, 11
Aug. 2014. Newspaper article explaining the strike as an embarrassment to baseball.
Goes through which players never played again because of strike.
Rader, Benjamin G., and Kenneth J. Winkle. "Baseball's great hitting barrage of the 1990s (and
beyond) reexamined." Nine, Fall 2008, p. 70+. Expanded Academic ASAP.
10.1353/nin.0.0015. In-depth research where facts are presented in tables and graphs
rather than writing. Explores all areas of possible reason why offensive production rose in
baseball.
Solberg, Joe, and Richard Ringer. "Performance-Enhancing Drug Use In Baseball: The Impact
Of Culture." Ethics & Behavior, vol 21, no 2, 2011, pp. 91-102. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10.1080/10508422.2011.551466. In-depth peer reviewed journal article that thoroughly examines the impact of steroids in the baseball. Focus of article is not only on the cultural impact but also the physical impact.
No comments:
Post a Comment