August 7th, 2007

August 7, 2007

The date was August 7, 2007, nearing 9pm, the count was 3-2. Pitcher Mike Bacsik, whose father was pitching when Hank Aaron his his 755th homerun, was on the mound for the Washington Nationals. The crowd’s anticipation was growing. The pitch was down and in, and in a matter of seconds Barry Bonds was the new all time home run leader. The crowd went wild, and history was official. It had been expected that Bonds was going to break the record, but rewind 3 years, and no one would have expected all the controversy around it.

Performing enhancing drugs has been in sports since the third century. Knights from the middle ages had special potions to make them stronger and scandals pertaining to steroids have occurred in the Olympics since 1904. Baseball has been facing the issue of steroids since the early 1990s, but the issue didn’t come to the forefront until nearly 10 years later .Was the issue known, and the owners and writers just pushed it under the table, or was the uncovering of steroids truly a surprise to all. Writers and sports media has continuously told us that steroids are bad for the sport. They say it ruins the integrity of the game, but if no one knows how long they have been apart of the game, then how do we know they haven’t always been apart of the game?

Some people find baseball to be a boring sport. It doesn’t have the big tackles that football has, it doesn’t have the nice dunks like in basketball, and so what does baseball have. It has homeruns, strikeouts, and nice plays in the field. These are the people that baseball with steroids would help bring back to the sport. Steroids are known to make athletes better at their respective sport. Steroids would lead to more homeruns, more strikeouts, and better play in the field. The media saying that steroids automatically make you a better baseball player isn’t true. Steroids don’t give a baseball player bat speed, which is essential to hitting a 98 mph fastball. Steroids don’t teach a baseball player how to throw a curveball or a changeup. Steroids help bring out the best in players, but the talent is already there.

Another worry that the media makes is that steroids are a risk to the athletes health. This is another debatable subject, with a lot of research for both sides, but none of it is definitive. One thing that is for sure known about steroids is it helps athletes stay healthy, and recover faster. How do injuries relate to the excitement of the game? Imagine showing up to a concert, and the bands lead singer isn’t there. It’s the same for sports, a superstar being hurt takes away from the experience at the game. A injury to a player can change the whole track of his career. For example, Ken Griffey Jr. who was on pace to set all sorts of baseball records, had injury after injury and caused his numbers to dip.

Not only do injuries effect individual players and their stats, but injuries can effect a team as a whole and their organization. If a star player is out, then some fans might not even show up to the games, especially for lower end teams that only have one star. This then effects the teams income for a season, and can have everlasting effects on an organization.

If steroids really are such a bad thing for the sport, then why did it take so long for anything to be done about them? Over the years players continued to get bigger and stronger, more athletic and more talented. All of this couldn’t be credited to just better players, so why did it take so long for something to be done. Were the owners and commissioner just milking the cash cow until people caught on, or were they really clueless about what was going on in the game.

But who to say that steroids are bad for the game, yes the health risks are there and known, but that is the player’s decision. Homeruns, strikeouts, big hits, crazy plays, all just make the game so much more exciting. Writers and officials can say all they want that steroids are bad for the game; I believe that it only helps the sport and makes it more exciting.