I picked up the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, and had the misfortune of catching Rick Reilly's latest column. Of course, Reilly once again decries the modern home run hitters, and pleads that Roger Maris' home run record should be restored. Of course, no less an expert than Maris' own son believes the records may or may not be suspicious. Who can say? But then Reilly makes his own inane comment....

 

"The mind boggles at the thought of how many home runs his dad [Maris] would have hit on steroids, HGH, creatine, or andro."

"And if McGwire or Sosa or Bonds makes it into Cooperstown before Roger Maris, the lights ought to be turned off and the doors never opened again."

This new-found hero worship of Maris is growing quite irritating. He was not a great hitter. He does not rank in the top 100 of any offensive category. His most similar hitters stat-wise are Jeromy Burnitz, Bob Allison, and Hank Sauer. Sauer received a grand total of four HOF votes, and he is the only player on Maris' comp list to receive any Hall votes. His next highest career home run total after 61 is 39, the previous season. The year Maris set the home run record he ranked fourth in the league in slugging percentage.

 

Maris did one thing well at the plate in 1961; he hit home runs. Unlike McGwire, Sosa, or Bonds, he was NOT among the greatest hitters of his time. He collected two MVP awards because he received a large number of RBI opportunities (playing on a team with Mickey Mantle will do that). Do we really want to honor a player for putting up an unusual number in a single stat column, in a single season? Is not that EXACTLY the kind of thing writers such as Reilly usually decry? Think of it this way. Let's say Maris hit 59 home runs, and not 61. Make those two hits triples. Two measly home runs. Would we remember Maris at all if he hit 59? Probably no more than we remember Matt Williams.

 

I have stated this before, but it bears repeating. Maris DID hold the home run record, for 37 years. For 15 of those years, Maris was eligible for the Hall. The writers declined to vote Maris into the Hall, and Maris did not come close. When Maris was eligible for the veterans' committee, he received his largest boost of public sentiment, ironically enough, when McGwire and Sosa broke his record. Still no induction.

 

And let us bring this point out. There is NO evidence linking Sosa to steroid use, at all. Not even any loose accusations from former teammates or mistresses. Just the idle suspicions of writers such as Rick Reilly. Now look back at 1961. Besides Maris, what was the big hitting performance of that season? Norm Cash, hitting .361. Cash later admitted to having corked his bat that season. Now, corking bats is nothing new, as players have done it for 80 years now. Players are still occasionally caught using corked bats, and like steroids, there is no strenuous method for preventing the use of corked bats. So is it not possible that Maris used a corked bat? There is no way to prove that he did or did not, although his one home run total certainly looks suspicious. A single big season is enough to suspect Brady Anderson, is it not?

 

That is all silly, really. But I think it proves a point. We all like to think the players of our youth are infallable heroes, and the new players could not hold a candle to them. The modern players are constantly bashed for what the older generation views as the failings of society.

 

I am tired of sportswriters received praise and awards for advancing the theory that sportswriters are a group of overpaid, greedy, whining primadonnas. Athletes are exactly like the rest of us. Most are good people, a few are exceptional people, there are some jerks, some outright crooks. By and large, they share the same traits as the general population. Yet, because they earn 7 and 8 figure salaries, they are the subject of ridicule by writers who make a pitiful six-figure salary.

 

Look, Maris was a fine gentleman, a good defensive fielder, and a very good hitter for a few years. He was not a great player. More importantly, he is not some sort of hitting demi-god that blasted home runs into cyberspace with muscles he earned solely from carrying little old ladies across the street. McGwire and Sosa and company may have used steroids. That does not change the fact that they hit more than 61 home runs in a season.

Well, chicks aren't the only ones who dig the longball. Face it, the homerun has become one of the biggest selling points of the game. Most people love to see them and bad hitters are usually praised for having high homerun totals. The fact that Maris basically fizzled out after that season indicates how good of a player he really was. Still, he held a record that lasted for several decades and in the eyes of the masses, that's what made him a legend in the game.

To me, it all comes down to baseball having one of the most revered pasts in sports. Baseball players of years past are spoken of in near-religious terms and when people use chemical assistance to erase those revered legends from the books it ruffles some feathers.

 

People always look at past eras in a more romatic light, but you can't blame people for getting mad that those past players are being wiped from the books by people who most likely were taking shortcuts.

Ironically, it's Maris' home run record that started this whole controversy, since it earned the asterisk for being achieved in 162 games. With that very move, baseball allowed the possibility of revisionist history to dominate so many of their hallowed records and enabled hopeless romantics like Reilly to write columns defending the records that they personally approve of, while giving them ammunition to attack to records that they don't.

I'm talking about a different sport here, but does anyone else remember when Rick Reilly last year predicted that Tiger Woods was "finished" as far as being a big-name golfer goes? That should tell you all about Reilly as a writer RIGHT THERE.

Tiger and his new green jacket say hello.

 

Reilly is a dick, although I did like his little grandstand with Sosa and the steroid testing a year or two ago. I thought it perfectly displayed the hypocracy of the players. Sosa claimed he's take a test any time and when he was called on it he refused. The Union always says they have the best interest of the game in mind, but they don't even have the best interest of their own player's health in mind.

Tiger and his new green jacket say hello.

 

Reilly is a dick, although I did like his little grandstand with Sosa and the steroid testing a year or two ago.  I thought it perfectly displayed the hypocracy of the players.  Sosa claimed he's take a test any time and when he was called on it he refused.  The Union always says they have the best interest of the game in mind, but they don't even have the best interest of their own player's health in mind.

That was absolutely disgusting. If I showed up at any job with a specimen jar and asked a person to piss in it so I could take it to a lab, I would be tossed out on my ass. Who the hell is Rick Reilly to act as the figure of moral superiority for organized sports? Seriously, would you give a few ounces of urine to a reporter who writes scathing columns about you? I can't imagine a stupider action. Reilly knew damn well Sosa would not actually provide a urine sample, but he did it anyway to create a story. Fuck him. He is worse than any of the steroid-abusing athletes he so loves to bash.

The Union always says they have the best interest of the game in mind, but they don't even have the best interest of their own player's health in mind.

In the Union's mind, it's in the best interest of the game for the Player's Union to remain strong and not be individually divided on the issue of steroids. There are plenty of players that wanted to be tested - Schilling said as much in his congressional testimony. But to have maverick players come out and accept testing takes away a precious bargaining chip for the Union when the deadline for the next CBA comes around.

 

Consider it slimy or clever, in either case, the players are looking out for themselves because they feel that it's in the best interest of the game for them to do so.