End of an Era?

A few months back I wrote this piece as the jury in the Barry Bonds case was deliberating.  I went to go post it, and our host crashed and lost it.  Apparently, when something disappears on the Internet, it's never truly gone.  Yesterday this piece showed up on my board, and now I'm sharing it with you.

In San Francisco last week the Barry Bonds trial finally came to an end. With the end of the trial hopefully came the end of the steroid era.  Even though Roger Clemens still needs to have his day in court, the steroid era was more about the hitting and the homers, and not the pitchers.  There were plenty of pitchers names on those lists, but the pitch forks never came out for the pitchers like it did for the batters. When Clemens won the World Series, when the Unit pitched a perfect game at 40, and countless other pitchers achieved success on the major league level, no one ever thought ‘Roids.  But when Brady Anderson went from 16 homers in ’95 to 50 in 96, we raised our eyebrows. Brady never hit over 24 homers in a season again. When Luis Gonzalez went from a career high of 31 homers in 2000 to 57 homers in 2001, our suspicion was raised. Luis’s single season high after ’01?; 28. But when Barry Bonds, went from a career high of 49 homers in 2000, to 73 in ’01, at the age of 36, the pitchforks were out, and they were aimed at the home run hitters of the game. The witch hunt was on, and anyone swinging a loud bat better beware. The steroid era was in full swing by then, and BALCO was the first to fall. It was like the Salem witch trials at that point.  If you had a big power year, you were automatically under suspicion.  A few guys flew under the radar; AROD, Pujols. But if you were a guy who one year was a big doubles guy with like 20 homers, and your number jumped to 40 or better, BEWARE…the eye was on you. 

            I never really cared much whether or not these players were using drugs.  So what? Not my problem. As long as my team wins, that’s all that mattered to me. But as time went on, and these names kept coming out, it began to catch my attention. One after another, with no proof or concrete evidence whatsoever, it began to annoy me true, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t until Rafael Palmiero waved his finger at congress with all eyes watching, that was some compelling TV.  Watching McGwire try to not talk about the past, like a husband caught cheating on his wife 5 years ago tries to pretend he’s done his time.  Guess what pal, you've never done that time, and neither had McGwire.  Watching Sammy “No Habla Engles” was one of the top 5 classic off the field sports moments of all time. But Raffy and his finger waving left a mark on me. It wasn’t his defiance, because God knows I love me some defiance, it was a few weeks later when a positive drug test came up, and it had Raffy’s DNA all over it.  What an embarrassment.  And then this guy just disappears. No real apology. No begging the fans, the organization or his teammates for forgiveness.  That was the beginning of my own ‘roid rage, but it wasn’t that bad….yet. You see, I still had the mentality that if David Wright smashed a 500ft, 3-run shot to win the pennant, with a needle still in his arm as he did it, it wouldn’t have bothered me. 

You know, the fact that all of the records and the memories of those records that have been set since 1993 have been BS is upsetting I guess, but the fact that we have to see an ass-clown like Jose Canseco every so often is what makes me want to kill myself.  Why couldn’t he just go the way of Palmiero, McGwire, and all the cheaters and just fade into the distance for a bit.  Then maybe emerge a little apologetic, and remorseful for what you’ve done to the game, and its’ fans. Like I said, it’s not the cheating that bugs me necessarily, it’s the “I don’t care” attitude that often comes with it.  Look at McGwire. He  lied and disappeared, and even tried that plead the 5^th crap with congress, but we all knew, and he eventually copped to it in his own Paul Bunyon type of way.  Jason Giambi got up in front of the world and basically admitted full guilt.  That took some balls, because it wasn’t as accepted as it is today. What is it about the latino players who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar? 

The prime examples are Jose, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez,and Rafael Palmiero.  These guys not only got caught cheating, but there acts were disrespectful and some were even funny.  These particular A*Holes not only didn’t care about their teams, but they didn’t care about the fans, the league or the history.  Now as a fan of baseball for my whole life, I know that players come and go, and teams go through periods of good and bad, but the history is forever, and for baseball to survive, it must have its’ history.  It’s the most compelling part of the game, its’ history. Its’ numbers. Its’ illustrious records and heroes of the past, present and the future. So when Sammy reached for 61, and almost caught McGwire that magical summer, he became part of history. When Palmiero became only the 4^th player to reach 500 homers and 3000 hits, he stamped his ticket for the Hall of Fame’s upper room where the Gods sit. When Jose Canseco became the first player to have 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in one season, he showed the promise of a young Hall of Famer and made history. All of these feats, and many others by ex-future Hall of Famers such as Manny Ramirez are wiped away, as if they never happened.  You see there is something about this latino macho thing that must forbid them to say they are sorry.  I’m willing to bet that if Raffy would have come out and apologized for what he did, or at least be aware that he were doing it and not show up the United States congress by waving your finger at them, we would have forgiven him. If Sammy didn’t claim “No Habla Engles” in front of congress, and maybe didn’t go into hiding afterward, we could have remembered that smile, and the good feeling he brought us those 3 magical summers in the late 90’s, and forgiven him.  If Manny would have apologized after the first OR the second time he let his team and his fans down, perhaps “Manny being Manny” wouldn’t be synonymous  with being a lying, cheating, douche and we would have forgiven him. You see, we all cheat on something. Tests, wives, girlfriends, husbands, taxes, poker, whatever.  But when those things come down, and you get caught, it’s the apology and sincerity that begins to make things right.

 I think as fans we could move on, and begin to get over the cheating and lying, if these players would just make amends in any small way.  Look at Mark McGwire.  I really thought he wouldn’t be able to show his face ever again around baseball without an arrow or 2 being slung at him. But he came out after a while, admitted fault and apologized for his actions and for what he had done to the history of the game. Now look at him, he coaches in arguably the best baseball town in the league. A liar and a cheater 4 years ago, now a professional hitting coach in the Majors, for a contender, and a well respected organization. Huh? An apology goes a long way.

There is a lot of power in this history thing. The steroid era will be expunged from it, one way or another.  And that brings me to Barry Bonds, the Thanksgiving Day float. Barry is caught right between these 2 groups of ex-hall of fame candidates. Barry is not white, or latino, but the only prominent black player accused of cheating the game. Barry’s situation is very unique.  There is no concrete evidence such as a fail drug test, a cancelled check, nothing linking Barry directly to PED use.  There is a he said, she said battle raging in a San Francisco federal court right now about whether Barry lied to a Grand jury or not.  But there is circumstantial evidence, and I think most fans believe he cheated.  The all-time Home Run king is way past the point of no return with regards to admitting it or not.  I think if he admits it now, he falls into the disgrace category. It will definitely keep him out of the hall, and I think most fans already have expunged his 762 home runs from the record books thus restoring Hank Aaron as the Home Run king for now. But I believe in the power of redemption, even in this case.  Barry, who is such an SOB to the press, would within 5 years regain at least a measure of respect,especially in San Fran, and maybe be able to rejoin baseball in a coaching position without ill feeling. But at what point do you admit guilt?  The court of public opinion has already convicted Barry maybe it will take an actual court to make him see the light. 

I wrote this on the day the verdict was handed down and at this point you all know he was found not guilty on all the major charges, and the one he was found guilty on, was a BS charge to begin with.  So where does that leave us? Well, basically right where we started. Manny high tailed it out of the league after testing positive for PEDs again, and the proverbial jury is still out on Bonds.  I think the truth will come out in 2013 when his name appears on a Hall of Fame ballot, and Cooperstown will decide the fate of the Home Run king. As for Roger Clemens, his day in court is coming, but I really don’t think the Clemens issue bears any weight on the Steroid Era in Baseball. Maybe it’s just me, but it was about the Homers and not the pitching.  Maybe it will explain why hitters started using in the first place. If Clemens is found to have used PEDs, what does that say for tactical pitchers like Maddux and Glavine who won 300 games without throwing a power pitch in their career?

So far in the 2011 season, runs are down across the board, ERA is lower and pitching is dominating the league like it’s the ‘60’s. So can we say it’s the end of the Steroid Era? I don’t know, but it sure feels like it.