Opinions on the Steroids in Baseball Story

[HDPM]

So baseball will test for steroids since more than 5% tested positive. What do the resident baseball nuts think of this? It really makes me wonder about some of the home run records. But how do you know? How would it affect your HOF voting if you had a vote? If at all. Steroid use undermines baseball much more than football because of the continuity of recordkeeping. In football the linemen can all use steroids and so can the RB's and LB's so it sort of cancels out. But it would seem that steroid use in baseball would affect hitting disproportionately. I don't see how they would help pitchers any. I don't know what to think about it really.

[J.R.]

Its a shame, more than one out of every 20 major league players tested positive for steroids. But the American league has not always had the DH, the mound hasn't always been as low as it is, the average baseball park isn't the same size as it may have been, coors fields is almost a mile high, bat making technology has changed, the consistency and makeup of the ball has changed, more games are played during the season, more playoff games are played, there are more teams creating diluted pitching, conditioning is a much bigger part of the game, so is travel etc.

Continuity of records will always be an issue, but for me, I grew up loving a game, and I can't shake that, even in light of strikes, losing seasons, scandals, rich cry babies, etc. I found how unshakable my love was watching one of my childhood heros in Cooperstown this summer. If you're hooked, you're hooked.

[ripdog]

I suspect, without just cause, that some of the gorillas are using steroids, but not all. I suspected McGuire, maybe Sosa and Bonds too. Sosa said that he wanted to get tested and put an end to the controversy, then recanted the offer when his bluff was called. Seems suspicious. I'm less suspicious of Bonds, but they need to take away his body armor. Being able to stand on top of the plate without fear, knowing that a pitcher will probably try to take a shot at the inside corner is totally unfair. Park dimensions are a joke too. I think that 335 to the corners should be the minimum. The recent HR records seem artificial to me, but for more reasons than steroids. The make up of the ball and player conditioning are important factors. In "Ball Four", the response to the lowering of the mound by a pitcher was that it should help them because of the shorter hypotenuse--a theory that went down in hilarious flames several pages later. It comes down to putting asses in the seats. If the bottom line gets hurt, they'll do something about it.

[andyfox]

These guys knew they were going to be tested and still over 5% tested positive. Imagine how many positives there would have been had the tests been random. I suppose some couldn't get the stuff out of their system in time and others felt they could beat the test or were addicted.

As for the sanctity of records, there have been so many changes in the game, comparing from one era to another is very difficult in any event. And while I'm also not sure if steroids would help, perhaps some pitchers are also strengthening themselves with steroids, so that would be a counterbalance to the hitters doing so, at least to some degree.

[M2d]

continuity of the records went out the door when ball players started making enough to have baseball as a full time job rather than as a seasonal thing. When ballplayers could (and did) actually have off season workouts, full time trainers, sports psycologists, nutritional suppliments and in season/in stadium workout rooms, the old timers didn't have a chance.