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18 Comments
- Blinker1315, on 06/19/2009, -1/+10Excellent article about the rare baseball writer who was ahead of the curve on the steroid/PED scandal. I think it's likely a lot more reporters knew about it, but didn't want to lose sources in the clubhouse and thus contributed to sweeping it all under the rug. As for the Hall of Fame, it's all rather arbitrary. What's worse, a guy on steroids, or Ty Cobb, a vicious racist who attacked a cripple in the stands, or, for that matter, all the stars who are in the Hall, and played before baseball was integrated.
- mrdeadhead, on 06/19/2009, -2/+7it's too late for baseball. Steroids took it too far, and they can't go back.
it'd be like putting a speed limit on nascar.
making something boring even more boring.
the only hope baseball had for surviving was the the occasional juiced up freak crush a ball halfway to the next city. - commiecat, on 06/19/2009, -0/+5And that's probably why the majority of journalists didn't write about it. Read the article -- he's not being nominated for finding the bottle. He's being nominated because he decided to report about it and compared it to the types of steroids that the public was used to (meaning the stuff that Olympic swimmers/runners took).
Most journalists wouldn't risk losing their clubhouse sources over an MLB-legal supplement. Look at the fallout since then and say that he wrote an insignificant article. - Chunken, on 06/19/2009, -1/+5Wow he made a stink about a baseball player using a perfectly legal supplement, why does he deserve credit for anything? I know for a fact that steroids were in baseball, football, the olympics, and pretty much every sport in the 1970's. Why are reporters not looking into that? Probably because those were the players they looked up to, they don't want to tarnish their favorite players records. They don't want to question their favorite teams championships, they don't want to question their countries gold medals. But they have no problem PRETENDING that steroids appeared in the 1990's, they have no problem ruining the dreams and memories of those younger than them. These people are not reporters they're giant hypocrites.
- kukurio, on 06/19/2009, -0/+3He makes a good point. The sport's attendance had plummeted since the strike of 1994, and might have vanished into history if not for McGwire and Sosa. I think that the baseball reporters didn't question it because they had as much invested in the home run race of 1998 as the players and teams.
- brakes4turtles, on 06/19/2009, -0/+3Baseball is the ultimate fair weather fan sport though. While places like Yankee Stadium, Fenway, Wrigley, and Busch will sell out no matter what, places like the Trop, Rangers Ballpark, and Petco Park will only see a sell out when one of the big markets teams is in town or it is August and the team is still contending. Look at Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati. All three cities have rather storied histories and in the 1970's were 3 of baseball's top franchises (Baltimore won in 1970 over Cincy, Pittsburgh beat the O's in both 1971 and 1979, and Cincinnati won in the 1975 and 1976 as well as making two other World Series in the decade). Today all 3 are having attendance problems -- especially Pittsburgh and Baltimore, neither of whom have had a winning season since the 1990's.
The thing with baseball is that it is a dedicated sport to be a fan of, much more than the NFL (Which requires 3 hours of your time every week for 4+ months). That's why when a team isn't doing well, fans quickly stop caring. Baseball will never die, because when a team is contending everybody makes it out to the ballpark. I live in Philadelphia and since October 2007 this city has quickly gone from forgetting it has a baseball team to being in love with the Phillies. I don't like to call it bandwagon jumping because of the nature of baseball.
So in closing, as long as teams are winning games, baseball will never be in trouble. Some markets might wither away and die (Like Montreal did, Washington did twice, or Kansas City is doing currently), but there will always be others that are always going to see a sell out and others that are filled with excited fans watching their team battle for the playoffs. Steroids didn't save baseball as some would lead you to believe. It's always been about the market in the cities themselves, and McGwire and Sosa didn't help put people in the seats in San Diego, reaching the World Series in 1998 that year did that. - nepidae, on 06/19/2009, -3/+5Baseball without steroids is like basketball without dunking.
- joshuaer, on 06/19/2009, -0/+2I get the Nytimes become a member screen, and cannot see the article any one have another link or way around NYtimes login.
- FreddieD, on 06/19/2009, -1/+3If any sportswriter had the balls to ask about steroids in 1998 when the rest of the sports world was ranking McGwire and Sosa somewhere above the Pope and just below Jesus Christ, then good for them for being true journalists.
To the 99% of the other sportswriters who were too busy sucking McGwire and Sosa's dick in 1998 and now have jumped on the witchhunt bandwagon about how horrible they are, go ***** yourselves you bunch of johnny-come-latelies... - Shwaavay, on 06/19/2009, -1/+3You can call it boring if you want, but Baseball is America's pastime and there are 15(1/2 of the 30 total) stadiums full of people who have paid ~$20 to be there 162 times every year.
- dijkstra22, on 06/19/2009, -0/+2Nobody who mattered gave a ***** about the sport, but true baseball fans don't like steroids. I prefer clean hitting and fielding, line drives, and great pitching to mammoth players illegally hitting the ball 600 feet while the masses touch themselves.
- BornWithRage, on 06/19/2009, -3/+5He found a legal, unbanned supplement bottle in Mcgwire's locker... not really hall of fame worthy.
- gfxluvr, on 06/19/2009, -2/+4You're an idiot.
Steroids is ruining baseball. - vassoom, on 06/19/2009, -0/+1Go here:
http://www.bugmenot.com - charlesjay, on 11/12/2009, -0/+0Not to get too technical about it, but for the sake of accuracy, neither sportswriters nor broadcasters are inductees into the Hall of Fame. Yes, they are given an award BY the Hall of Fame, but that does not constitute induction. Never has. That is true, and that has been confirmed.
- hakkola, on 06/19/2009, -5/+5Ahead of the curve? Steroids is one of the greatest things that ever happened to baseball, nobody I knew gave a ***** about the sport except when Sosa and McGwire were breaking home run records. Its the only time that I ever paid attention to the sport.
- sychodan, on 06/19/2009, -3/+3i say if it makes them hit 100 home runs a game, then go ahead and give them the ***** steriods. maybe it will make baseball interesting
- admntlv, on 06/20/2009, -0/+0These guys not getting into the hall is exactly why the HOF is not "arbitrary" as you put it -- The HOF doesn't want guys who CHEAT in the game. Ty Cobb may have been an evil bigot, but he didn't cheat -- and the same goes for the players who played before integration. These two matters have NOTHING to do with one another.
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