Christian Clark Dr.

Erin Dietel-McLaughlin Multimedia Writing and Rhetoric 11 November 2012

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Steroids: A Game-Enhancing Drug Since the discovery of performance-enhancing drugs being used to aid professional athletes, the presence of steroids in Major League Baseball has always tainted the game. With wanting to put asterisks in record books and heroes falling off their glorious pedestals, a dark shadow has been cast over Major League Baseball in the past decade, as new steroid scandals have been unearthed and revealed to a shocked and disappointed fan-base. But is fair to judge the heavy use of steroids in the 1990s (Burns) as completely detrimental to the game of baseball? Could there possibly be some positive effects of these steroid scandals that may have made baseball an even better game than it was before? In this paper, I plan to prove that there were several positive effects of the heavy use of steroids in Major League Baseball in the 1990s, and these positive effects actually outweigh the negative ones that most fans believe in. The substantial use of steroids in Major League Baseball during the 1990s actually helped the game of baseball, in the very short term, bringing disheartened fans back to baseball after a crippling 1994 strike; in the mid term, being a catalyst for drug reforms to be made in professional baseball; and in the long term, evolving baseball into a fairer and equally exciting game more focused on dominant pitching. So what exactly was this steroid era in baseball during the 1990s? The book Baseball Between the Numbers labels this period in baseball as the Juiced Era, and it is described as one of the great boom periods in baseball history. [] Offensive levels improved sharply

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between 1993 and 1995, escalated further in 1999, and have remained high since then. [It is] associated with small ballparks, small strike zones, and the allegation of widespread steroid usage (329). This Juiced Era, in which all these offensive levels in baseball spiked, was soon after to be accredited mostly to the heavy use of steroids in baseball. Three graphs (one of batting averages, one of runs per game, and one of homeruns) from the article Baseballs Great Hitting Barrage of the 1990s (and Beyond) Reexamined makes it clear that offensive levels had spiked in this era:

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But it wasnt only the numbers that were distorted, but the appearance of the players. Guys would come to spring training with brand new physiques with newly packed-on muscle. Barry Bonds put on 20 pounds of muscle in the 1999 off-season (Burns). As Bob Costas noticed, This stuff just doesnt make sense. [] [Players] showed up looking like they were inflated with bicycle pumps (Burns). But as this era began, in 1994, negotiations off the field between the players and owners caused the players to strike. The two adversaries were embroiled in their bitterest contract dispute yet. The owners wanted to break the players union and set salary levels, and the difference in the owners revenue would be measured in the billions of dollars (Burns). Baseball commissioner Bud Selig commented on the strike, saying, The acrimony between the parties was so intense, that we just couldnt get anywhere (Burns). This strike angered baseball fans. Sports writer Thomas Boswell explained the fans resentment: This was the strike of the Millionaires versus the Billionaires, and people just had enough (Burns). Negotiations were so tough that the remainder of the season, the post-season, and the World Series were all cancelled for the year. Another sports writer, Howard Bryant, again commented on the fans and his own frustration: When they agreed to cancel the World Series, I remember thinking that this is something you didnt think was gonna happen, and that it really did prove how much these two sides really hated each other, and how little they thought of the public (Burns). A baseball fan waiting outside a locked Wrigley Field explained his irritation, saying, Theyre arguing about how to spend our money. Im a baseball fan and Id like to see them play ball, but I have no sympathy for either party. None (Burns). With so much resentment towards both the owners and the players, many fans said they would never watch another baseball game, and that they no longer cared about the game (Burns). When stadiums opened back up in 1995, many were half

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empty, and average stadium attendance was down 20% (Burns). As Burns put it in his baseball documentary, In the end, the owners had lost 170 million dollars. But the players had forfeited something more precious: the respect of millions of fans who couldnt understand why they walked out in the first place, since many of them were earning more in one week, then the average American made in a year. Baseball needed to be revived if it were to survive. The use of steroids was the answer. Something exciting was needed to bring bitter fans back to the game they used to love. The steroid-powered offense that the Juiced Era provided was that something. And the big climax of this barrage of offense was the great 1998 homerun race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, both players who were found to be using steroids in their careers (Roberts), (Bryant). At the time, the single-season homerun record of 61was held by Roger Maris for 37 years. It was rare that any player would even come close to the record. But when two superstars, McGwire and Sosa, looked like they had a chance at breaking the coveted record, life was breathed into baseball one again. And like clockwork, as the 1998 season began, Sosa and McGwire started hitting homeruns at an incredible pace. When people woke up in the morning, they wanted to know Did McGwire hit one? Did Sammy hit one? (Burns). By mid-season, the homerun race had become front-page news, and millions got caught up in the excitement (Burns). Any game in which either slugger played attracted fans like the game had never before. When McGwire came to play against the Pirates in Pittsburg, the Pirates had their first back-toback regular season sell-outs in the 27 year history of the stadium (Burns). It appeared as if baseball had been salvaged from the crippling 1994 strike. As one New York Times reporter wrote, McGwires and Sosas accomplishments were equivalent of a large dose of Prozac [an anti-depressant medication], temporarily lifting the country (Burns). Even Burns described it:

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Baseball was booming, enjoying a Renaissance unparalleled in its history (Burns). The country and its national pastime were thriving like never before, and it was all because of steroidpowered homeruns. That year, Mark McGwire hit 70 homeruns, nine more than Roger Maris in 1961 when he set the record. Just two years later, San Francisco Giants slugger, Barry Bonds, who later admitted to taking steroids (Burns), hit 73. People started to scratch their heads. The numbers that these players like McGwire and Bonds were putting up were way too skewed. And with these players now in the spotlight, their methods would now be investigated. Rumors and suspicions about performance-enhancing drug kept surfacing (Burns). In 2002, Sports Illustrated published a cover story by Tom Verduci, which described players taking a wide variety of performance-enhancing drugs. Congress started taking action, and made players who had been accused of taking steroids, like McGwire and Sosa, testify about their personal use of performance-enhancing drugs, and the use of them in Major League Baseball (Burns). Finally, in the fall of 2005, Major League Baseball and the players association finally took decisive action. The anti-doping program they put in place for the 2006 season would be the toughest in all of professional sports. Players who failed a drug test once would be suspended for 50 games. The second time, 100 games. And the third time, they would be banned for life (Burns). Major League Baseball, with the help of doping sluggers who put themselves in the spotlight with their ridiculous hitting statistics, finally realized how big of a problem performance-enhancing drugs were in the sport, and it could finally clean up the game with harsh drug-testing policies for players. With Major League Baseball now significantly cleaner and nearly drug-free, one might think the game wouldnt be as exciting as it was in the 90s with so much steroid-powered offense

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inciting crowd enjoyment. However, the game has not changed for the worse, but it has rather evolved with a focus not in offense, but in pitching (teams are averaging 4.37 runs per game today rather than the 5.02 runs per game they were averaging in 2000) (Paul). But does this make the game less exciting with fewer balls soaring over the ballpark fences in dramatic fashion? No. The rise in powerful and dominant pitching opens baseballs door to a different exciting entity that was rarely seen in baseball when juiced hitters dominated baseballs stage: the No-Hitter, and the coveted Perfect Game. For non-baseball aficionados, a No-Hitter is when a pitcher doesnt allow any batter from the other team to get a hit. And the even more rare Perfect Game is when a pitcher doesnt allow any batter from the other team to even get on base (no batters are walked and no batters get on base from a fielding error). Both No-Hitters and Perfect Games are always highlights of an entire baseball season, and are even highlights of pitchers careers. They create excitement in baseball stadiums like nothing else. As one article in the Detroit News noted, From 1998, the year Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa combined for 136 homers, through 2004, when steroid use first was banned, there were 11 no-hitters. In the eight years since, there have been 23 (Paul). In almost the same amount of time, there was more than twice the amount of No-Hitters pitched. The Perfect-Game statistics are even more surprising. Only 23 Perfect Games have been thrown in the history of Major League Baseball, dating back to the 19th century, and three of them have been thrown in 2012 alone. Six Perfect Games (seven if you count Armando Galarragas game in 2011 with a blown call) have been thrown in the past four years (Paul). This is no coincidence. With the steroid era eventually igniting a strict ban on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, the game became focused on the pitcher. And its so refreshing that a similar level of excitement can be created by baseball when natural athletes playing an honest game play it. At least this time around, baseball fans dont have to feel guilty

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about cheering on players with a steroids scandal swarming around them like in the great homerun race. Now of course I know the negative side of performance-enhancing drugs, how it is considered cheating and how it can physically harm its users. But thats not my argument. My argument is that its extensive use in professional baseball in the 90s changed the game for the better. Not only did it save baseball after the 1994 strike, but it also sparked investigations on its use in baseball, which led to harsher drug-testing policies, and a fairer, equally as exciting game. Former Major League Baseball player and coach Joe Torre commented on the steroid scandal, saying, Hopefully theres sun shining on the other side of this thing, cause this game is too beautiful to have a lasting scar on it (Burns). Well, I believe that this argument for why the use of steroids was actually positive to baseball is that sun shining on the other side. Baseball fans shouldnt focus on dark aspects that steroids created in the past. Instead, they must look forward to where baseball is now and what it became because of those blunders: a game more beautiful than ever, like the shining sun of dawn after a dark, dreadful storm.

Works Cited

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Baseball. Dir. Ken Burns. PBS, 2010. DVD. (Film) Benjamin G. Rader. and Kenneth J. Winkle. "Baseballs Great Hitting Barrage of the 1990s (and Beyond) Reexamined." NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture 17.1 (2008): 70-96. Project MUSE. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. <http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy.library.nd.edu/>. (Web). Bryant, Howard. "Sosa News Calls for Special Outrage." ESPN.com. ESPN, 16 June 2009. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. <http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=bryant_howard>. (Web). Click, James, and Jonah Keri. Baseball between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know about the Game Is Wrong. New York: Basic, 2006. (Print). Paul, Tony. "MLB Insider: Pitchers Getting 'perfect' Revenge on Steroid Era." The Detroit News. N.p., 17 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120817/OPINION03/208170314>. (Web). Roberts, Quinn. "McGwire Wouldn't Vote Himself into Hall of Fame." Mlb.com. MLB, 10 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2012. <http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121110&content_id=40232876&vkey=news_mlb &c_id=mlb>. (Web).