I knew there was a reason that Crewtoon was replaced... Either way, the one key factor about the baseball/steroids scandal that everyone seems to miss, is that you still have to hit a fastball thrown by a guy on steroids. Does the fact that these guys take performance enhancing drugs leave a bad taste in my mouth? For sure. However, lets not forget, hitting a fastball is probably the hardest thing to do in sport. And while steroids allow you to hit the ball further, it still takes skill to actually put bat to ball.
Weak. I was hoping for more. You don't appear to be in the mood to play today, but it was worth a shot.
zak, i agree with you that a fastball is probably the hardest thing to do in sports, but performance enhancing drugs allow a batter (Bonds) to have the bat speed all season long. his bat speed was the same at the end of the season as it was in the beginning. and be able to keep up with a 90 mph fast ball day in and day out at 40? I dont think that is possible for a 30 year old to do. it allowed him to continue his home run swing when others were getting tired from the strain of the 182 game season.
a fair point no doubt, just wanted to point out that while it's probably true that his homerun record will probably be tarnished, it's still really hard to hit a fastball.
No it doesn't. AAS (just as an FYI for those who may not already know, this is shorthand for "androgenic anabolic steriods" -- the distinction is important) have very little, if any effect on the firing of the CNS, which is paramount in baseball. Perhaps all those intentional walks helped as well...
I propose that opposing pitchers do nothing but walk Barry Bonds from now on, in order to make sure he never breaks the home run record. He disgraced the integrity of the game and should be susplended from the game for awhile. Same goes for anyone else who is found to have taken steroids. Here's the problem I have: Americans, by and large, only care about numbers. The second Barry Bonds get the HR record, he will immediately be hailed as the greatest baseball player ever. Even though this is debatable, most people only care how many home runs he hit and nothing else. So 20 years from now, no one will talk about Ruth, Gehrig, etc., they will talk about Bonds, McGuire, and other steroid taking players who hold the records. This is not only unfair to the players who abided by the basic rules, but paints a bad picture of the game. If you don't follow the rules, you don't deserve the record/recognition. What if the old timers had used steroids? Suddenly a warning track popout becomes a home run because of the added strength. It's just not right, IMO, and I know many of you probably don't agree.
The home run records are being smashaed for three reasons, most of which the league is responsible for: - The new ballparks are smaller. Half the home runs hit today would have been long (and/or not so long) lazy fly balls twenty and even ten years ago. - The strike zone is tiny, forcing pitchers to serve up fat stuff in a power hitter's wheelhouse. - Power hitters make the big money. Guys like Omar Vizquel who can hit .320, steal 50 bases and win 10 Gold Gloves make a third or less what lazy, shiftless idiots like Manny Ramirez pull down. It's been no secret. When your skinny, banjo hitting utility outfielder shows up for Spring built like Charles Atlas and pumping 400 yard shots all over the damn place, there is no doubt at all - NONE - how it happened. But the club can maintain deniability, so they send him out there. Roger Maris went to his grave being told that his 61 home run record had to have an asterisk next to it because Ruth hit his in a couple fewer games. What notation will that arrogant jackass Barry Bonds have next to the record he set by breaking the law, cheating and lying about it? -
I'm a little more optimistic than you, I think. I think that in the future, this era will be known as the "drugs era" and the numbers will be looked at with that in mind. Baseball fans already know that there was a time when batters could demand a high or low pitch, a time when the ball was dead, a time when pitchers could legally throw spitballs, a time when the mound was 15 inches tall, etc. I think that the time when hitters could legally juice up will be looked at similarly, and the anomalous home run totals looked at like the pitching records of the 1960s - indicative of a competitive imbalance that needed to be rectified by a rules change. I also think that in the next 20 years or so, as the juiced-up players begin to die of the long-term consequences of drug use, the records will be re-evaluated, and serious questions will be raised about whether it was worth it for those players to take the cream and the clear. Especially if Hank Aaron, who is 70, outlives Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa or Mark McGwire.