Although this is a Nationals based blog, the news of Manny Ramirez’s sudden retirement has certainly shaken the baseball community. Not so much of his sudden exit as one of the game’s greatest hitters but the effect steroids still has on the game today. In the wake of Manny’s sudden retirement and the Barry Bonds trial, performance enhancing drugs has still tattooed its mark on this era of baseball. Many experts and fans believed that in light of Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire’s admitting their connection with steroids, the proclaimed “Steroid Era” was on its way out and that the game would be clean again. A year ago, many proclaimed 2010 as the “Year of the Pitcher” with 4 no-hitters including the playoffs, 2 perfect games, and 1 near perfect game. This was supposed to be the end of the “Steroid Era” and baseball was to be America’s game again but one of the game’s greatest hitters had to expose the ugly truth that we are far from clean.
Growing up in the midst of the ’98 Home Run chase, baseball was life and still is to this day and I’m very fortunate to be employed by a professional baseball club. As time goes on and we get older, the baseball fan of this era can’t help but have mixed feelings on something that has not only sparked the game but also tainted it. Out of the top 10 all-time home run leader list, 4 of those players have been connected to performance enhancing drugs. As I’m sure most of you can name those players, many critics have different feelings about the ever-growing Hall of Fame case. In case you didn’t take the time to realize who they were, here is a hint and their recent accomplishments.
Barry Bonds: All-time Home Run and Single Season Home Run King. Bonds is also only the 2nd player to be in the 500 HR/500 SB club that includes his godfather, Willie Mays. Bonds also has the most career walks with 2,558 and has the highest single season slugging percentage with .8634. For the record, I’ve always been a Barry Bonds fan. I’ve stayed up late in High school to watch him break the Single -season Home Run record and have autographed baseballs signed by Barry, his father Bobby, and Willie Mays. I think he’s gotten a bad rap for not being social with the media and not having that media loving personality but as we all know, the media fuels opinion and influence on many subjects.
Alex Rodriguez: Currently sitting on 615 Home Runs A-Rod is considered to be the next in line to pass Bonds for All-Time Home Run King. In the event he continues his chase for the HR record, he will most likely pass 3,000 hits as he only has 322 hits to go until he meets that mark.
Sammy Sosa: He recently bleached his skin to a deathly looking off-white but the only ball player to have 4, count em, 4, 60-Home Run seasons has been long associated with steroids. Along with his corked “Pre-game” bat, he was one of the pioneers to the resurgence of baseball and brought the BOOM back into baseball.
Mark McGwire: McGwire has had some solitude in that he has been accepted back into baseball as Cardinals hitting coach but has seen his Hall of Fame ballot number drop dramatically this past year. McGwire manned the ship that brought baseball back to sport dominance with his chase for Roger Maris’ record and untied a nation behind America’s Pastime.
Although these players have made their mark on the great sport of baseball, they all have the same association with the asterisk. As the Hall voters have spoken loudly about steroid users and players associated with the word steroid, what will come about the rich history of baseball? Will it be pushed aside like it never happened? Or will the asterisk stand next to the current records with the stain of accused cheating?
The asterisk is such an ugly symbol for the great game of baseball as it can not only define a player’s career but can also divide the last player to hit .400 and the 2nd player to hit 500 Home Runs ans have 500 stolen bases. As much as I am not a fan of the asterisk, what does it mean when Baseball-Reference.com has an asterik next to Barry Bonds’ records for Home Runs and Walks. (Don’t believe me? Check it out.)
As baseball fanatics hope that steroids will fade away and not have that ever lasting negative effect of the game, I can only imagine what will become of baseball when my children are my age. As I grow older and my love for baseball grows fonder, I can only hope that the likes of Ken Griffey, Jr, Jim Thome, and Jeff Bagwell will find their place in Cooperstown and not become subject to the “Steroid Era.” In the event these issued become resolved, I look forward to my children ridding their era of the asterik and looking back on this time as the spark baseball needed to re-claim the title of America’s Pastime.