How do we deal with records in the steroid era?
musicismylife78
Posts: 6,116
Thats the sad part of the story. How is one able to weed out the players who used and those who didnt? Mark Mcgwires admission essentially calls into question his whole career and he knows it, even if he refuses to admit it. If he admits steroids helped his performance and helped him hit homers, then his whole career is a sham and its almost like he never played baseball at all.
How does one navigate this in dealing with the steroid era? or even with baseball currently, the last few years has seen major ball players come out and admit or being forced to admit they used. These are not small or bit players. We are talking some of the most famous and talented and talked about ball players of our time.
What do we do when looking at all the records broken during the steroid era? As Costas said, the steroid issue makes it so all players are suspects, even those who are clean, creating a suspicious attitude anytime anyone breaks a record anymore.
It seems obvious Maris 61 in 61 is the legitmate home run record, and that Aarons 755 is the legitimate all time home run record. How do we deal with Mcgwire, Bonds, Sosa or anyone else in the record books?
Alot was lost during this era it seems, its sad to think about.
How does one navigate this in dealing with the steroid era? or even with baseball currently, the last few years has seen major ball players come out and admit or being forced to admit they used. These are not small or bit players. We are talking some of the most famous and talented and talked about ball players of our time.
What do we do when looking at all the records broken during the steroid era? As Costas said, the steroid issue makes it so all players are suspects, even those who are clean, creating a suspicious attitude anytime anyone breaks a record anymore.
It seems obvious Maris 61 in 61 is the legitmate home run record, and that Aarons 755 is the legitimate all time home run record. How do we deal with Mcgwire, Bonds, Sosa or anyone else in the record books?
Alot was lost during this era it seems, its sad to think about.
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Guys you wouldn't suspect were using including pitchers..do we take wins away from them ?
Every era of baseball has had its "cheaters" spitballs,nail files,sand paper,corked bats,too much pine tar
I don't think you can zero in on the steroid era and wipe the records
My personal opinion I take the records with a grain of salt now..things have changed just with the game itself with different baseballs,smaller parks
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A protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of trousers
Throughout the history of baseball you can point to something that affected the records of baseball so *Leave That Thing Alone*
Peace
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not sure of your point.
we just stop caring. MLB has been dead to me for a long, long time.
"To question your government is not unpatriotic --
to not question your government is unpatriotic."
-- Sen. Chuck Hagel
but as I said, when you get down to it, the entire careers of players can be called into question when they use or cheat or whatever. Bonds, Mcgwire, Sosa, Giambi, Arod, Clemens, etc... These are folks who literally wrote the script of what it meant to be a ball player in the modern era. All of them used. All of them are legends and record holders, maybe Giambi isnt but you get the point.
My point is how pervasive this whole thing is. Its not just "small records" but the big ones. The entire modern era of baseball is called into question. baseball is about alot more than the home run. But thats the thing that little boys and little girls dream of doing in the big leagues as scrawny 8 or 9 year olds. They dont dream of hitting a double. They dream of hitting a home run over the Big Green Monster. And when you stare at the All time home run list, or the list of most homers in a single season, the list is filled with cheaters and users.
Looking at it like that, through those eyes, one can understand the motivation of the seligs and the owners and everyone who knew but did and said nothing. That said I dont condone their action or rather inaction.
Yeah, other eras hate cheats. Ty Cobbs and his spiky cleats that would poke into opposing players, or the Black Sox scandal. Or pete rose.
But the thing about that is, yeah in every era their are cheaters. But thats just the thing, they were always the exception. In the steroid era, as people pointed out, everyone was using, batters and pitchers. Steroids seems much more oepnly used and accepted in MLB than betting or gambling or steel cleats or whatever were in previous eras. Further, none of that ever was condoned my MLB. Pete Rose didnt bet on the Reds with Giamatti's blessing. Ty Cobb didnt have the MLB's endorsement to be a jerk like he was. But the MLB DID endorse the steroid use, if only by knowing it was going on , and doing nothing to clean up the game. They knew Sosa and Mark were using. They knew Bonds was using. They did nothing about it. Selig did nothing.
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
if they're gonna do anything, they should put Roger Maris in the Hall of Fame as a tribute to the man who did it clean.
I am an old school baseball fan with a deep love for the game. For years I have said that there should NEVER be ONE steroid user allowed in the Hall. I have heard all different scenarios about how to allow steroid users to be inducted (give them a separate wing, an asterisk, etc.). However, this is a very slippery slope since once the above mentioned guys get in, there's the hue and cry from the Palmeiros and Giambi's of the world who say "Hey, we got 400 or 500 home runs. That was enough for guys like Rice et al to get in. Why not us?" It's opening pandora's box and I'm not about to do that.
If these individuals want to be allowed into the Hall they should wait and let the Veterans Committee handle that 30 or 40 years from now when we are able to put the so-called "Steroid Era" in proper historical perspective.
As for the previous poster, I am a die-hard Sox fan and have hated the Yankees my entire life, but if Derek Jeter is revealed as a steroid user, I might give up the game myself. I have that much respect for the man. MLB should have 200 more Derek Jeters in the league.
I'm the opposite of you, die hard Yanks fan and have always hate the Sox. But how can someone not like Jeter. He plays the game the way it should be played: clean and with class. David Wright is also a guy like Jeter, clean and with class. There should be more people like them.
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful