Sammy Sosa and steroids…are you shocked?
Yesterday ESPN showed that the New York Times had reported that Sammy Sosa tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Does that surprise any of you? Well it doesn’t surprise me. If you look at it from the big picture, look how skinny he and Mark McGwire were when they first started then look how freaking huge they got in just a matter of a couple of years. In 1998, they became the heroes that brought baseball back to the forefront after about five years of no one caring about the sport.
Unfortunately you can add Sosa to the long list of names that include Clemens, Bonds and countless others who will not be in the Hall of Fame due to the fact that they used steroids and cheated the game. If some reason they get in then Pete Rose should be allowed in because he indirectly affected the game. These guys affected the game directly and broke records and set records that might not ever be broken. Guys like Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, and others didn’t need steroids to accomplish the things they did.
I will say this I think it’s ridiculous that baseball is the only one being singled out. I guarantee you there’s performance enhancing drug problems in the NFL but because the NFL is such an American sport the government doesn’t go after them like they do MLB. It’s all about politics, it really is. Sooner then later there will come a point in time where every sport is targeted for steroids because once they clean up baseball then how are the politicians going to stay busy? Simple, go after another sports.
Lastly, I also think it’s ridiculous that only the so called big name players are the only names that get released in these reports. If you are going to release one players name, you should release them all. Only time will tell whose names appear on the lists. Until then I guess we will have to wait and see.
You know what else Babe Ruth didn't do in his career? Play against african-american or latino players. Why is that? Because he played before integration.
Context is very important when you talk about things like this. Pete Rose shouldn't be equated with anyone who did steroids before 2003, because Rose did something that was *very* clearly against the rules in baseball (gambling is almost the WORST offense in baseball). Before 2003, steroids were perfectly legal, and these guys shouldn't be hated on just because they were doing something that was *allowed* by MLB, and trying to help their teams win.
People need to realize that the steroid era is a valid era just like any other in baseball. Should deadball era pitchers be penalized because no one could hit in those days? Absolutely not, you look at it in context. Whomever the greatest are in an era, they would've been the greatest anyway. That's how it works. Guys like Barry Bonds would've made the HoF without steroids, and if people weren't so lazy to just dismiss him completely, they would know that. Is Barry Bonds better than Babe Ruth just because he hit more HRs? No. But at least Barry played against much better competition, and for the bulk of his career, played phenomenal defense.
I do agree that all of the names should be released, though. The witchhunt always seems kind of ridiculous to me, and I don't like MLB and the government just stringing people along.