I started watching and really getting into baseball when steroids were pretty prominent and growing in popularity among players. Launching the ball out of the park was nothing new when I started paying attention. But it's not true, not all chicks dig the long ball. There is nothing I like more in a game of baseball than a pitcher's duel. Or give me a great defensive play and you'll have me more amped up then a home run.
During the steroid era, I feel like games became more of a home run derby than an actual baseball game. Guys started hitting more and more home runs and that's what people focused on. Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in a season. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa hit over sixty in the same season. That's unheard of. And unnatural. And I believed it ruined baseball.
People are now so focused on the power numbers that they have forgotten what made baseball great. We've forgotten what made baseball baseball. What happened to the importance of base stealing? What happened to the importance of bunting a runner over to the next base? Yes, home runs can win games, but so can these two plays. I think the most exciting play in baseball is a baserunner stealing home. How often do you see that? Yes, people will talk about it for a day or so, but not as much as home runs people hit.
Yes, my favorite player (Ken Griffey Jr) hit a lot of home runs. But he was so much more of a player than a home run hitter. Look at the infamous game in the 1995 season (or as Mariners fans refer to it, "The Double.") He did not hit a home run to win the game. He was on first base when Edgar Martinez hit a double. He circled the bases and scored the winning run. His power did not win that game, his speed did. Yes, he hit over 600 home runs, but it was over a long career. He played the game hard, and he played the game clean.
I will never say Barry Bonds was not a great baseball player. But he did not play the game clean. And because of that, his reputation will always be tarnished. In my opinion, he does not deserve a spot in the Hall of Fame. Look at Mark McGuire. He was a great hitter, but he has not been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and I don't think he ever will be.
Steroids are dirty, and they take away from the beauty of the game. They have no place in baseball, and I think their impact has forever dirtied the game.
