http://www.sports-central.org/sports/2004/...n_revisited.php

 

Very interesting article, which puts the issue of steroids into perspective versus, well, everything else that's happened in baseball in the past.

I've purposely tried to avoid discussing the steroid issue, mostly because we need perspective on these things. A few comments, and don't take these as solid truths from myself.

 

-It seems likely that a great deal of players did take steroids. These are certainly not limited to hitters. Strikeouts are way up as well.

 

-With most of baseball juiced, evaluation of players returns to whom separated themselves from their peers, exactly as savvy sabermetricians have always done. Those who insist that raw stats are tainted need to realize that better methods exist for evaluating players.

 

-On the subject of an asterick, hell no. The record book is a record of stats, and I really think we don't need to open the can of worms we'd see if we started adding subjective elements. Most records are the result of unique playing conditions regardless.

 

-The steroid usage is the result of opportunity, With no real testing initiatives, and such great rewards for performance, should we be surprised if players are juicing? On the contrary, I'd be surprised if they weren't. The steroid usage is the result of poor forethought. The players are not primarily responsible for this problem.

On the subject of an asterick, hell no. The record book is a record of stats, and I really think we don't need to open the can of worms we'd see if we started adding subjective elements. Most records are the result of unique playing conditions regardless.

Those who insist on an asterisk on the records always make me laugh. If you believe the records are tainted in your mind why do you need an asterisk on a piece of paper to tell you that? Fact of the matter is these players did not break one single rule by using steroids. You can not retroactively punish players and amend records for players doing nothing wrong, as the rules were at the time.

-On the subject of an asterick, hell no. The record book is a record of stats, and I really think we don't need to open the can of worms we'd see if we started adding subjective elements. Most records are the result of unique playing conditions regardless.

I would agree with that - we subconsciously make our own adjustments when we compare players across eras. We know how important the mark of 30 home runs was before the steroid era, we know how important 40-45 home runs is now.

 

However, I think the real question is how this affects certain players' cases for the Hall of Fame. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Pete Rose...there are already HoF-caliber players that are outside of the Hall because of indiscretions throughout their career - where does this leave Bonds, Sheffield, or any other player who's been caught with steroids?

 

-The steroid usage is the result of opportunity, With no real testing initiatives, and such great rewards for performance, should we be surprised if players are juicing? On the contrary, I'd be surprised if they weren't. The steroid usage is the result of poor forethought. The players are not primarily responsible for this problem.

I really don't buy this philosophy at all. Just because the owners aided and abetted the players' usage of steroids by letting it take place doesn't mean that the players are somehow exonerated, as though Major League Baseball were some crystallized, isolated universe that couldn't see standards for right and wrong outside itself.

 

The players knew, full well, that steroids were illegal in the United States; ignorance is no excuse. And the defense that these players didn't know what they were putting into their bodies is absolutely laughable - Sheffield, Bonds, Giambi...all of them had the opportunity and the responsibility to take the Cream or the Clear to MLB and verify whether it was a legal substance to take or not. They didn't do it and now they're rightfully paying the price.

 

True, owners and other baseball executives should face legal consequences for allowing this behavior to occur unchecked, but players should face the larger penalty for the actual use of those illegal substances.

However, I think the real question is how this affects certain players' cases for the Hall of Fame. Shoeless Joe Jackson, Pete Rose...there are already HoF-caliber players that are outside of the Hall because of indiscretions throughout their career - where does this leave Bonds, Sheffield, or any other player who's been caught with steroids?

Jackson and Rose broke baseball rules, so I don't think their cases are comparable. Without knowing all the details, I don't feel comfortable judging players outside of their statistics.

 

I really don't buy this philosophy at all. Just because the owners aided and abetted the players' usage of steroids by letting it take place doesn't mean that the players are somehow exonerated, as though Major League Baseball were some crystallized, isolated universe that couldn't see standards for right and wrong outside itself.

 

The players knew, full well, that steroids were illegal in the United States; ignorance is no excuse. And the defense that these players didn't know what they were putting into their bodies is absolutely laughable - Sheffield, Bonds, Giambi...all of them had the opportunity and the responsibility to take the Cream or the Clear to MLB and verify whether it was a legal substance to take or not. They didn't do it and now they're rightfully paying the price.

I certainly don't seek to exonerate the players. But events of this sort are the result of opportunity, and that needs to be recognized.

 

True, owners and other baseball executives should face legal consequences for allowing this behavior to occur unchecked, but players should face the larger penalty for the actual use of those illegal substances.

I don't think owners should face legal consequences either. My opinion is that what happened, happened. We can't change the past, and it doesn't do much good to speculate. We can, however, take steps to clean up the game, and that is where MLB should concentrate its efforts.