Sixteen year old Las Vegas high school sophomore, Bryce Harper, is being featured on the latest cover of Sports Illustrated. He is being touted as the next big thing in sports. In fact the cover even claims he is the most exciting prodigy since Lebron James. In their interview with the young man he speaks of, at 16 mind you, his aspirations to be enshrined at Cooperstown. Had it been any other sport, the young man would not have thought to mention the Hall. Because although being immortalized in Canton or Springfield is still quite the honor, neither means as much as Cooperstown.Baseball statistics have long been the most heralded in the sporting world. Milestones such as 500 home runs, 300 wins and 3,000 hits are more than statistics. Kareem Abdul Jabaar's career point total or Jerry Rice's touchdown total, for example, are some ridiculous numbers. But Ken Griffey Jr. hitting 600 home runs still means more. Even if it is 100 short of the all time record. But with the release of several books, a senate report, and positive test results, the numbers of the last 10-20 years have been deemed 'tainted'.
Steroids has taken claim of its own era in baseball history. Potential first ballot (I only say potential because Mark McGwire is still waiting for the Hall's call) Hall of Famers played pivotal roles during this dark era, many wonder now how do you distinguish these dirty players from the rest. And now the asterisk is even more popular than it was in 1961, as the most popular suggestion is to create a new asterisk wing to the Hall. The wing would serve as a way to induct those whose numbers were sky high during this era of inflated numbers. To this and any other suggestion promoting segregation, I say, "Really? No, really?"
Is the NFL creating a separate wing for today's players? No. But why don't they? In comparison, due to many rule changes, today's game is far less brutal and wide open. Leading to the inflated numbers of many- along with prolonging their careers. How about the NBA, are they protecting the legacy of their players by letting the fans know how much more 'hands on' defense used to be? Of course not, instead it's perfectly fine with David Stern when Lebron or Kobe are shooting free throws when they create the contact.
Major League Baseball and the Hall of Fame need not take any action. Barry Bonds, steroids or not, was still the best player in the league. Roger Clemens was still one of the best pitchers to take the mound. Rules and context surrounding the game constantly change. Once sports writers and baseball consider putting asterisks next to the plaques of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, or Ty Cobb and so forth, then I will be open to the idea of an asterisk wing. All these players were merely products of their time. Just like you can't fault those players for playing in an all white MLB, you can't fault today's guys for being susceptible to the lore of millions of dollars. They're all just products of their time.
1 comment:
To be honest, I'm glad someone finally got to this subject. Recently a story broke on ESPN about how mad Raul Ibanez got after a blogger insinuated that he was on the juice. Jason Stark, a well respected ESPN writer had to write an entire article DEFENDING Ibanez, because of allegations that had no shred of evidence to support them. In sports, especially baseball, its become guilty until proven innocent--and thats some BS.
Baseball more than any other sport, cherishes its numbers. Indeed, numbers make the games greatness tangible. People don't realize how hard it is to hit .400 untill you see some of the games greats fall short...by A LOT...every year. Ryan Zimmerman had a 30-something game hitting streak, and when it was over, the first thing he did was give credit to Joe Di Maggio and the Streak. However, what are we really forgetting here...that for all its glory, baseball is still a game. And since games began, there have been people who have tried to cheat. When it comes to competition, there will always be those people who will bend the rules, even break them, to win.
If we take the allegations in "Game of Shadows" as true, Bonds would still be a HOF before he juiced up, Manny is one of the greatest Right-hand hitters ever, Clemens was always dominant. Whats been made clear in all these reports, is that it wasn't an isolated incident. It was a culture around the game. When it comes to millions of dollars, I don't think I'd be able to resist getting some help to make sure I kept my job. This, shouldn't take away from all of these players accomplishments. People are saying "throw them out of the game," I say shut the hell up. Because unless you can HONESTLY say, that you've never cheated to get a head at least once in life. Then I don't want to hear it. Just like Coccaine in the 80s, and yellow jackets in the 70s, every era of baseball, has its darker side. None of us can say how we would have acted in that situation, so lets not crucify those who made bad judgements. Instead, stop leaking CONFIDENTIAL names from that report, and move on.
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