With recent news about Barry Bond's perjury case and his steroid scandal, I couldn't help but be taken back to the time when the home runs where flying out the ballpark in record numbers. I remember vividly the summer of 1998 when Sammy Sosa and Mark Mcwire were going back and forth trying to break Roger Maris record of most home runs in a season. For the record, Mcgwire finished with 70 to Sosa's 66. I remember in 2001 when Bonds hit 73 o f them! (Number 70 was against my beloved Astros in their ballpark, then Enron Field) Nobody seemed to question where those guys where getting their power from. Fans were loving it. Owners, I'm sure, were loving it. Heck, even I was amazed. At the time I was sure I was witnessing something of historic proportions. Something I could brag about to my kids when they get older. Since then, names of iconic baseball players have been falling out of a hat, one after the other, accused of using steroids: Bonds, Mcgwire, Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, Andy Pettite, Roger Clemens. To a lesser extent but still damaging to the psyche were the likes of Eric Gagne, Chuck Knoublauch, Paul LoDuca, David Justice, Kevin Brown, David Segui, Mo Vaughn. All of them and more listed in the Mitchell's report will now be known as the poster child of the Steroid Era.
A lot of memories are now marred by this report, and with a former teammate of Bonds, catcher Bobby Estallela, now posed to testify against Bonds with damaging evidence, who knows? Maybe we can finally find some closure to all this. Wouldn't it be nice NOT to hear about steroids on sports radio for a change? But baseball will always survive. I get excited seeing the next wave of steroid-free superstars that are developing into future hall of famers. Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, Ryan Howard, Dustin Pedroia, Miguel Cabrera. These are the kind of guys that we need to root for. Players who represent the true grit and spirit of the game of baseball. The new generation of baseball players. The New Era.
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I'm interested in seeing how the leagues cleans up the game, and the resulting over all numbers put up by players in the years to come. If young players like Miguel Cabrera, and Ryan Hoard maintain their current output, then they will most likely be the first players not to be tainted by the steroid era.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the likes of Derek Jeter (who is at the tail end of his career) and Pujols (Probably the best player in Baseball right now) are not above suspicion in my book. Pujols stand out to me more than Jeters obviously as some one who may being taking performance inhancers, but the suspicion is on everyone, who played during the last decade and a half, whether right or wrong.
If he has used Steroids or HGH, it is very sad because Pujols obviously has an inherrant talent for the game and would be an all time great either way (See Clemens or Bonds). I'm intersted in seeing whether his numbers trend up or down from now on, since he is still relatively young.