Did Sterroids save baseball?...Is AP sports writer Ben Walker on target or in left field....?

Question

Like It or Not, Steroids Saved Baseball
Steroid-Infused Summer of '98 Re-Energized Game
By BEN WALKER
AP

Sports Commentary
So Barry Bonds will hobble toward the home run record, heading down a tarnished path toward a mark Major League Baseball and many fans prefer he never reach.

Free from indictment - for now - Bonds always will walk under a cloud of suspicion. He'll forever be the very symbol of the Steroid Era, a time when everything good about the game came under attack.

Which makes this hard to say: Steroids saved baseball.

Cal Ripken's streak helped. So did the family-friendly ballparks that sprung up. Add interleague play, the wild card, the rise of the Yankees and, in a curious way, the death of Mickey Mantle and how it made baby boomers nostalgic about their childhood.

All that played a part in baseball's renaissance, especially after the players' strike wiped out the 1994 World Series.

But when it came to making baseball popular again and turning it into a booming business, nothing did the job like home runs. Particularly 500-foot home runs.

Answer 1

I think its human nature for someone to drive by an accident, slow down and take in as much as they can. It is human nature for our interest to be perked by scandal or tragedy.

I think the steroids scandal created a renewed interest in America's favorite past time. That is not to say that we should be thankful or approve of those players who chose to go that route. Or that players like Cal Ripken didn't make the game more exciting. Or the 500-foot home runs weren't fabulous either. But people like scandal and tragedy, and the world is full of rubberneckers.

Personally, I'd like to just say.... Let's go Diamondbacks!!!

Answer 2

No, the hard core fans were already back. We're the ones who fill the ball parks, buy the hot dogs & beer, the t-shirts and scorecards. The home run races may have brought the casual fans and the fair weather fans back, but the ones who make the $$ for MLB never really left, or were back by 1996. I was back Opening Day 1995; I have some friends who snubbed baseball for a year, but they were back before Steroidfest 98 as well. Although I will agree that the home run race probably brought in some new fans, so it is probably partially true that steroids helped baseball as a business, although they, obviously, hurt it as a sport.

Answer 3

I disagree somewhat -- baseball was already "saved" before 1998, as most fans came back (from the strike) before then, but at the same time, baseball is still not as popular as it once was. Fan interest certainly heightened in '98 -- even my mother watched McGwire's 62nd that year, and she *never* watches sports -- but it dropped off again after that.

Interleague play hasn't done much, except for a few rivalry games, and the "rise" of the Yankees has been less important than the rise of other teams to beat them. And, of course, there are those of us longtime fans who were turned off by the high scoring of the "Steroid Era" and were nearly driven away from the game forever.

In short, I would agree that the increase in home runs brought in more fan interest than it drove away, but I would not agree that it "saved" baseball. Baseball is both already "saved" from the strike and permanently crippled by it; it will probably never again rival the NFL in popularity. And the backlash against steroids now -- way too late, given that we already knew about McGwire's andro use in '98 -- might reduce interest more than the home runs increased it. Still, it's a theory worth listening to, even if I don't entirely agree.

Answer 4

We had a golden era of baseball. Now it's gone. Vanished before our eyes in the haze of steroids. Bonds might not have been indicted but he's clearly cheated to reach those marks and sooner or later they'll be rolled back because of his cheating. So too will Sosa, McGwire, Palmiero and a number of other players achievements.

This is really sad as we could have said we saw more hall of famers in a single game than any other preceeding generation. Instead we can say we saw more cheaters in a single game than any preceeding and likely following generation.

Think about it, we got to see so many great players. Ripkin, Sandberg, Griffy, The Rocket, Pedro Martinez, the list goes on.

The steroid babies won't cut it. McGwire could have broken Maris's record without steroids. Sosa couldn't have stayed in baseball. He was on the verge of being released when he started cheating. Bonds would have been one of the best hitters in the game. Sure he wouldn't have broken any HR records but if he'd stayed clean he's at least get to keep his stats. Now they are tainted and should be thrown out completely.

Answer 5

O come on. Get real. If you say leagalize them WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? Then kids will begin using them and will get diseases.
Anyone hear of Ken Caminiti and his heart attack at 41 years old because of steriods?If you let them go on with this America's favorite sport could come to an end.

Answer 6

I say legalize steroids. Let everybody use them if they want to, it will even out and the game will be fair once again.

Answer 7

STEROIDS DON'T ONLY HURT THE GAME IT HURT THE PLAYER ALSO. USING STEROIDS IS NOT PLAYING BY THE RULES. IT DOES NOT TEACH THE KIDS WHAT RIGHT. TO SAVE BASEBALL ITS OKAY NOT TO GO BY THE RULES.

Answer 8

Everyone is entitled to their opinion no matter how wrong it is. In other words, it is my opinion that today is Thursday. Get my drift.