We are coming to the end of an era. What era you might ask? That would be the steroid era. Sure, the league started testing back in the early 2000’s, but there are still two superstars that admitted using P.E.D.’s still playing the game. David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez look to be ending their careers over the next two years, and maybe it is time to reconsider what many thought was a black eye that was left on baseball during the period when steroids were rampant in the league. First was the steroid era really that bad for the sport? Secondly whose is to blame for the dreaded steroid era the players or the league?
What many people don’t know is that steroids were actually banned by baseball in 1991. However, it wasn’t until 2001 that Major League Baseball implemented their first random drug testing program. This first phase of testing though did not include the major league roster. Instead, it was implemented to those not on the forty man roster. In other words it was for the the minor leagues only. So that means it was a whole decade after the original banning of steroids, and yet the league still wasn’t testing the major league clubs. So now we will fast forward another two years. On March 1st of 2003 the Major League Baseball now decides they will start drug testing in the Spring Training camps. So here we are twelve years removed from the original banning of steroids, and finally the league is making an attempt to do something about it. Since then however, they have done a much better job of testing, and policing. It still does not make up for them turning a blind eye before.
Now it is time to address the first question that was presented. Was the steroid era bad for baseball? The answer, to be perfectly honest, is no. There will be a lot of blow-back for the stance on this, but if it hadn’t have been for a few seasons during this time frame who knows what baseball would have become. The league had already had a lockout in 1990, and a strike in 1994. Fans were starting to turn their back on the sport. However, things changed in 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa battled it out to break Roger Maris’s single season home run record. Granted at the time we didn’t know it, but the two of them would later become two of the most mentioned names when discussing steroids. Then just three years later Barry Bonds broke McGwire’s record. At this point attendance was up over forty percent, and the leagues revenue had doubled. Outside looking in it is hard to even find anywhere that steroids hurt baseball. The fans, players, and league all gained something from what was probably the most exciting period in baseball history.
Moving on to my second question. Who is to blame for the steroid era? Well I think we all know who Bob Costas would blame along with about 90% of fans. Most blame the players because they were “cheating” by using the PED’s. However there is an element here that everyone just seems to skip over. The league dropped the ball, and should be held more responsible for the steroid era.
To better explain let’s use an everyday example put this in more of an everyday situation. Your local law enforcement decides to post a bunch of new speed limits around your town, but then say that everyone must adhere to the limits even though they won’t be policing them. Now be honest with yourself. Would you speed? Yes you would, and you are lying to yourself if you said no.
Basically, this is what the MLB did when they banned steroids yet didn’t implement any testing or policing policies in the major leagues until 2003. Why wouldn’t the players go ahead and roid up? There was really no way to get caught. Even if they did get caught there was no form of discipline in place to punish the players that were using. Commissioner Bud Selig deserves a lot of the blame. He wasn’t all high and mighty on his throne casting out judgement and ridicule when steroids were saving his job in the late nineties. No, in fact he went from “acting” Commissioner of Baseball to being named officially the 9th Commissioner of Baseball. Instead of attempting to stop the issue before it became bigger, he let it grow and manifest into what would later turn into multiple witch hunts ex. Mitchell Report. It also affected the fans in that now there were federal hearings starting to take place over steroids in baseball. Essentially fans were having their tax dollars pay for something that Congress shouldn’t have been involved with in the first place.
In closing, why do we only blame a few players for something that almost every player was doing in the league? Why blame them for entertaining us? As fans we shouldn’t. We should blame the league for letting the situation get out of control like a parent who doesn’t, well for lack of a better term, parent their children. Sure it is in the past now, but when we remember it, we should remember that it was the league not the players that helped it become a bigger issue then it could have been.
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