Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Baseball; the Last Great American Pastime

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#15- The Steroid Era; 1980’s to Present

Enough people said that the 1970’s lack of offense was such

a disappointment, that many believed them. If one is not a

baseball fanatical aficionado of the subtleties going on between

pitches it looked as if nothing was happening; much like huddles

and commercial breaks in rival football. Still, this baseball

dynamic can be quite the snooze button, even for a SABR (Society

for American Baseball Research) member, when with two outs and

nobody on base a ticky-ticky hitter is at the plate. Time to

refresh the bowl of chips.

By the eighties it was becoming unusual to hear the phrase;

“The Great American Pastime.” Football, basketball, and hockey

had become competitors; and understandably so. “Bigger,

stronger, faster,” was the simplistic put-down phrase emanating

from the young steroid addicts. The casual sports watcher had a

hard time relating to the standard baseball visual from behind

the mound, not that I would suggest a replacement. But the

guessing game going on between the pitcher and hitter, which has

been described as the most interesting, mental aspect of any

sport, is completely meaningless to someone who has not played

the game at a competitive level. The local teams which once

could play decently against Major League and Negro League

barnstorming teams were all but gone, their peak prior to the

days of television. Some slow pitch softball leagues for older

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gents still existed; but it’s like comparing a Model T to a

Ferrari. Conversely, it takes no training to see that the

basketball, football, and hockey team is moving and might just

score any second.

Just as certain actors bring in fans, so is that true for

sports. Basketball had Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, soon to be

followed by Michael Jordan. Football had Joe Montana and

Lawrence Taylor. Hockey had Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.

Baseball countered with Brett, Boggs, and once-in-the-World

Series, Schmidt.

In comparison to the other major team sports, 1980’s

baseball was a bit of a throwback to the pre-1920 “deadball”

era. Speed, pitching, and defense obliterated power. Only 10

players hit more than forty home runs in a season, and no one

made fifty. Speed on the base paths became the most exciting

offensive display with Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman, Willie

McGee, Willie Wilson, and Tim Raines running at will. This would

also be the last stand for complete games and four-man

rotations.

 

The fans demand for offense is the demonstrated rule of the

road. Perhaps in keeping with that, late 1980’s hitters got

bigger and at times seemed to add on twenty pounds of muscle and

three shoe sizes during the off season. Whereas, previously, a

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good team had two legitimate home run threats in the lineup and

an excellent one three or more; all of a sudden, by 1990

virtually everyone in the lineup could hit one; even the

shortstop.

Hey, if octogenarian Reagan could chainsaw a tree, at least

on the camera take, it didn’t seem outrageous for one to ask

these young, suddenly muscular, baseball playing men to hit the

goddam ball a lousy 350 feet. Thanks to free agency they were

getting paid thirty times better than the President. It was

embarrassing. Had Carl Yastrzemski not had a big day the last of

the 1968 campaign, the American League would have had its first

batting average leader with a season below .300. Though there

has been worse in modern times, Willie McCovey’s National League

home run title that same year with 36 dingers was nothing to

write home about. Who wanted to see that again? Having said

that, lower season totals have been “winners.” Someone keeps

saying that it’s all relative.

 

However, in some sort of confusing, mixed message, when it

was determined that some of the late eighties desired, offensive

resurgence might well be the result of performance enhancing

drugs (PEDs), many fans registered their verbal disapproval. The

loosely defined “Steroid Era” ran from about the late 1980’s to

about the mid 2000’s; though subsequent testimony has indicated

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that it started well before that, though to a lesser degree. The

continuation seems to be likely, enhanced through the difficulty

in clearly determining the bodily existence of some of the

advanced PED’s, though the pitchers have one again caught up

with and have gone ahead of the sluggers in the 2010’s. But for

the late eighties, nineties , and early 2000’s; despite the two

decade old adage that there would never again be a power hitter

who could bat .300, all of a sudden a bunch of them came out of

hiding.

It is suspected that steroid use continues to this day. As

one college player told me; “Everyone wants that competitive

advantage.” Major League Baseball finally imposed stiff

penalties and random testing in 2006; but science again stepped

up and provided “undetectable” concoctions. “Better living

through chemistry” was a simplification of what Americans had

been hearing on TV commercials since 1935. It is a variation of

the very well-known DuPont advertising slogan, "Better Things

for Better Living ... Through Chemistry." It was abandoned in

1999; perhaps because Du Pont didn’t want to be associated with

any of the blame soon to be bandied about.

 

There are a number of PEDs and banned substances, some of

which seem to merely keep the player awake, which no doubt is

helpful to performance, but kind of expected. But, in addition

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to No-Doz, there are others which increase size and muscularity.

For an extreme of what is now technologically possible, just

look at pro wrestlers. There were those who defended the players

in a few ways; some of them interesting;

1) The old “not yet proven” defense. It should be noted that it

was not until 2003 that players were randomly tested; and the

testing was consensual until 2006.

2) That the effect of PED usage was less than the effect of

changing the dead ball to a live one; yet no one belittles or

even asterisks Ruth, Gehrig and Foxx.

3) The pitchers took them too; so it balanced out.

4) Drugs were everywhere; so why not in baseball?

5) Taking steroids in 2000 was no different than the baby

boomers taking vitamins their parents did not and becoming

bigger.

6) If all you need are steroids and size to excel at

professional baseball, why aren’t all the pro wrestlers on the

500 Home Run list?

7) Some people are born bigger. Why should they have an

advantage over those who were not?

8) Everybody else is taking them. Why should I be at a

disadvantage?

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It is probably not unexpected that pharmaceutical use was

practiced in baseball by the 1980’s. Drug use had become a

regular part of the repertoire of the general population since

the 1960’s. The use of marijuana and LSD were first derided as

illegal stupidity done by “dropouts,” and it was even indirectly

tied to being un-American. Things began to get gray when the

1980’s business community adopted cocaine as a way to “work

hard” and its high price gave it a cachet of success. No

dropouts here. Things grayed more when pharmaceutical companies

made use of the human genome discovery. Computers were of

particular use in this new world of drug design, and their power

and capabilities increased dramatically during the 1980s. The

increased computational power of computers enabled researchers

to work through the complex mathematics that describe the

molecular structure of idealized drugs. Drug designers, in turn,

could use the increasingly powerful imaging capabilities of

computers to convert mathematical protein models into three-

dimensional images. Gone were the days when modelers used

sticks, balls, and wire to create models of limited scale and

complexity. In the 1980s, they used computers to transform

mathematical equations into interactive, virtual pictures of

elegant new models made up of thousands of different atoms.

There would soon be a cure for all your ills, including the lack

of hitting. Perhaps best of all, the new designer concoctions

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were legal; as the law is required to precisely define what is

illegal; and the change of a molecule or two put the designers

at a distinct advantage.

These changes all competed for attention in the

breakthrough 1980’s. Many biotech companies went public, their

starters becoming multi-millionaires. This was fine, even with

the general public not in possession of escalating shares, as

soon they expected that they would be able to live forever;

ostensibly a desirable goal.

In the world of baseball fans, the sudden size increases of

the players initially seemed not to cause overt concern about

PED’s. Some fans used inferences as a reason to disparage a

player they didn’t like, but it was not a great effort. Not

until things got ridiculous. The annoying users continued to

extoll their generation for being bigger, stronger, and faster;

conveniently ignoring concepts of smarter, skilled, or

competent. Many liked to believe that this was just due to some

sort of evolution or de-evolution, and at least the “nattering

nabobs of negativism” of the 1960’s suddenly appeared to be

tiny.

 

In the history of baseball only 27 people have hit more

than 50 home runs in a season. It took until 1938 to get the

fourth one and until 1947 to get the fifth. Yet in both 1998 and

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2001 four people reached that height. While Maris’ record of 61

lasted 37 years, it was broken twice in 1998, twice in 1999, and

twice more in 2000; Barry Bonds 73 the peak.

While I personally believe that Bonds was the best

offensive player of his era, and that if anyone from it should

have the record, it should be him, it was becoming all too

obvious to almost all fans that things had been ridiculously

cheapened. Baseball has a revered, long history, and this

artificially induced aberration had to be stopped, even if that

meant less scoring. Drugs can often produce reactions which one

might not otherwise have considered. It is also a shame that

under current thinking some great players will never be inducted

into the Hall of fame. You see, there is a large contingent of

sportswriters who will never vote for anyone from the steroid

era.

 

Drugs have a long history in America as does the quest for

making money through sensationalism. Many of the drugs which are

now included as illegalities in Schedule 1 of 1970’s Controlled

Substances Act were available in the early twentieth century

without prescription at the institution which came to be known

as the drug store. There are five schedules in the Act, and

Schedule 1 substances are those that are considered the most

dangerous. They include LSD and marijuana; the latter a secret

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player favorite. The defined characteristics of Schedule 1 are

as follows;

A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.

B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical

use in treatment in the United States.

C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or

other substance under medical supervision.

It is further stated that; “No prescriptions may be written

for Schedule I substances, and such substances are subject

to production quotas which the DEA imposes.” DUH!!!! If no

prescriptions may be written for the substances, why is ANY

production allowed?

With the exception of stimulants, none of the performance

enhancing drugs (PEDs) appear on any of the law’s five

schedules. It should be noted that Schedule 5 includes cough

suppressants and anti-diarrheals.

While some officials have paid lip service to the un-

prescribed use of some PEDs being illegal there has been no

enforcement. Dr. Dragos Roman, who leads a team at the FDA that

reviews drugs in endocrinology, said; "The F.D.A. doesn't

regulate off-label uses of Human Growth Hormone (HGH). Sometimes

it's used appropriately. Sometimes it's not."

The prior assertions are not intended to start a drug

debate. It is stated because the US is in some kind of

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contradictory relationship with drugs; prescribed or not; legal

or not; war or not; and this complication no doubt has its place

in the mere delineation of the popular array of attitudes toward

PED’s.

Back a bit I also mentioned the propensity of some to

attempt to make money from sensationalism. I mentioned that

because there have been many stories told, which tend to have

the subjects as the indiscretions of baseball’s biggest stars;

including the pre-1900 injections of dog semen. I have chosen

not to glorify such assertions; but include some which seem to

have more substance. Their like may easily be seen and purchased

near the checkout line of your local supermarket.

Off the field, it is said that during World War II, both

the Allied and Axis powers systematically provided amphetamines

to their troops, in order to improve soldiers' endurance and

mental focus. After the end of the war, many of those returning

troops attended college, and when they did, they applied their

knowledge of the benefits of amphetamine use first to college

sports, and then in some cases to professional baseball. While

this seems plausible; it is also true that my father was under

Patton, in Europe during much of WW2. He said that their

“stimulant” was coffee. Regardless, the belief, right, wrong or

most likely somewhere in between establishes its own reality.

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Early in the drug game, very forgettable pitcher Tom House,

active in MLB from 1971-1978, admitted to using "steroids they

wouldn't give to horses" during his playing “career.” One can

only conclude that had he not taken PED’s, his performance would

have been AA level, with a 3.79 ERA in his light hitting time.

According to House, the use of performance-enhancing drugs was

widespread at that time. He estimated that "six or seven"

pitchers on every team were at least experimental users of

steroids or human growth hormone, and says that after losses,

players would frequently joke that they'd been "out-

milligrammed" rather than beaten. To contradict himself, he

added that his personal experience was one which was not

enhanced. It would have been difficult to suggest otherwise. He

stressed the attendant physical problems.

Of much more note, typically reserved Mike Schmidt, who

played from 1972-1989, admitted that he had used amphetamines “a

few times.” He said that amphetamines were widely available in

major league clubhouses during his career. He added that;

"Amphetamine use in baseball is both far more common and has

been going on a lot longer than steroid abuse."

Another great; relief pitcher Goose Gossage; active from

1972-1994, also admitted to using amphetamines during his

playing career. He also voiced the opinion; with which I concur;

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that amphetamines are not a PED, though using them was illegal

at the time.

The primary popular objection is to the size and muscle

building pills and injections commonly called steroids, which

were placed on baseball’s banned substance list in 1991.

However, the ban was essentially an “on your honor” dictum, as

testing did not begin until 2003. While prohibition of steroids

began, the usage did not stop. Sounds like the all too familiar

political bull; doesn’t it?

Shades of Jim Bouton’s 1970 “Ball Four;” in 2005 the major

event took place in the name of retired Jose Canseco’s book;

“Juiced.” Jose was active from 1985-2001. During that time many

thought it was obvious that he appeared to be on steroids. But,

perhaps since he was not setting any major league all-time

records it was not a huge issue, and he helped fill the hitting

gap. He and early Oakland A’s team mate Mark McGwire, who was

active from 1986-2001 were called “The Bash Brothers.” In the

book, Canseco confessed and also named several other players as

PED users. The names included Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro,

Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Jason Giambi, Jorge Delgado,

Damaso Moreno and Manuel Collado. He also stated that up to 85%

of major league players took steroids. The book opened the

floodgates, and, not surprisingly, most of these players have at

least initially said the charges are false. McGwire and Giambi

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have since admitted to using PEDs, McGwire in a 2010 book in

which he and his brother, a professional football player, both

admitted to using them. Palmeiro spared everyone another book

and just tested positive for them.

The US Congress also got involved in 2005, during which

time Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Ryan Franklin’s names were

mentioned. Bonds had an outstanding career between 1986 and

2007. The most curious aspect of it was his increase in power

from 2000-2004; in 2001 setting the record of 73 home runs.

After that the numbers were in the 40’s as he was regularly

walked, one time with the bases loaded. These prolific years

came at ages 35-39; when most exhibit a decline. His career home

run total is also a record of 762, seven more than Hank Aaron.

In 2008 Canseco released another book curiously titled

“Vindicated,” in which he added Alex Rodriguez and Albert Belle

to his list. Rodriguez admitted it in 2009.

There is more; much more. But, for the purposes of this

book what has been already written is more than sufficient. My

point is perhaps not the usual one. It seems apparent that since

the 1960’s drug use in America has gotten to be increasingly

acceptable. Some would insist that these medications only be

given under the supervision of a doctor; and the doctors now can

prescribe legal substitutes for “treatments” which were once

illegal. More or less, the general public accepts this; but not

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for their athletes; still considered a role model for their

children. This possible notion is undoubtedly one which would

contribute to baseball’s no longer being termed the Great

National Pastime. The other possibility is that perhaps the

public would be more accepting of PED’s if statistics generated

during a time of their use carried something akin to the Roger

Maris 61 home runs asterisk.

What strikes me as most strange about the public’s attitude

requires an historical viewpoint. Fans clearly like to see more

home runs and scoring; but apparently not too much. There are

invisible limits.

It may be possible to produce a mental vision which would

put the changes brought on by PEDs into some context. In one

possible way to equalize the eras, picture that the fences were

brought in 100 feet from the 30’s to some of those established

in the 80’s. Then view old game films and see those long fly

outs as home runs.

 

The early 1980’s started the decade with a dearth of power.

After the show which was the late seventies Yankees, the

eighties were rather boring and is kindly referred to as an

“overlooked” era. The game featured speed and relief pitching.

The St. Louis Cardinals began to focus on speed; with Ozzie

Smith, Willie McGee, Lonnie Smith, and Vince Coleman; winning

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three pennants. Other teams followed suit. Most notably Tim

Raines and Andre Dawson with the Montreal Expos; and Tony Gwynn

and Alan Wiggins played “small ball” in San Diego.

Ben Oglivie, an occasional All-Star, who retired after 16

seasons with a .273 batting average and 235 home runs may have

spoken a bit soon when he said; “The long ball has become the

thing to be enamored with, even with guys who can’t do it. The

home run is pretty much a mistake thing. Pitchers don’t want to

give up the home run. It is a glorified hit. It isn’t the goal

to shoot for in this game. It happens when the guys are

fundamentally doing the right things. It is almost like winning

the lottery. The hitter wins the lottery when a pitcher makes a

mistake. Nobody can go up and hit home runs every at bat.

Scoring runs is the name of the game, no matter how you get

them. So if you are drafting guys who can run, it makes a lot of

sense. It was geared toward speed.”

Another factor in the low scoring was the rise of relief

pitching. The role became highly noticed in the seventies with

the successes of Rollie Fingers and Goose Gossage, but spread in

the eighties to where most teams had a dominant closer. Bruce

Sutter, Gossage, Willie Hernandez, Mark Davis, Steve Bedrosian,

Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersley, and Dan Quisenberry began to

confound hitters.

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Oglivie explained; “Now, they don’t face the starters as

long. When I played, we might see a starter the whole game.

Baseball is evolving. It was tougher for the hitters in that

way. Now, starters pitch five, six, or seven innings. It gave

the hitters time to make the adjustments. If you had faced a

pitcher one or two times around, usually by the third time, you

have a bead on that pitcher. Now, someone comes in in the sixth

inning and he can pitch in the high nineties. Good pitchers, you

might see them a fourth time, but three times is a lot today.

After the third time, you have a new pitcher and it is like you

start over again. And you see a closer one time.”

Despite the fear of free agency doing otherwise, in the

1980’s winning teams were spread around a bit and if not for

Atlanta’s pitching would have continued into the late nineties.

Hitting stars were quiet like Cal Ripken Jr., Robin Yount, Tony

Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, Dale Murphy, Eddie Murray, Ozzie Smith,

and Andre Dawson. No more Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Clemente; not

even a Hank Greenberg.

Then came the lone call of the “Bash Brothers;” Jose

Canseco and Mark McGwire. As a rookie in 1987 McGwire hit 49

dingers and Canseco chipped in with 31. The A’s ended at 81-81.

But in 1988, they added the pitching of Bob Welch, and the A’s

ran away with the pennant at 104-58 and went to the Series’,

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with Canseco hitting 42 to McGwire’s 32. Power fans finally had

something to watch.

The next decade brought to prominence Ken Griffey Jr.,

Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Rafael

Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, and Gary Sheffield. After spending a

decade clean, the fans overdosed on home runs. Power hitters

returned to the fore as a result of their bashes and eventually

the controversies off the field. Something “new” was going on,

and by the time leadoff hitters hit fifty, the fans wanted more

information.

Another possible view is that the thing initially went well

until the fans got disgruntled with the players for “their 1994-

95 strike,” not having many bad words for the owners who cried

poverty and refused to make their contractually obliged pension

fund payments. It is said that this was baseball’s lowest point

since the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. But, this time there was no

single Babe Ruth to save it. PED’s had produced eleven of them.

The round-tripping orgy reached a fever pitch in 1998 when

Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa both obliterated Roger Maris’ 37

year old single season home run record, with McGwire topping out

at 70 to Sosa’s 66. Baseball owed its comeback to the pair. Even

Senator Ted Kennedy was compelled to congratulate them, though

he mispronounced Sammy’s last name.

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So, for a while baseball entered the new century on a

popular note. But, while the skies were again blue, it became

apparent that many of the players performing under it were

playing under threatening clouds. Scrutiny became so intense as

more and more damning testimonies were given, that the question

ultimately became not who had taken PED’s, but who hadn’t. The

books, admissions, and testimonies eventually confirmed Canseco,

McGwire, Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire,

Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and

Barry Bonds. Initially, MLB and the Player’s Union tried to

ignore the pending storm, assured that the sky was not falling.

The rosters reflected an increasing amount of world-wide

talent. The usual sources of the Caribbean and Latin America

were challenged by an influx of others, especially the Far East,

just like the country as a whole. Leading the way was Ichiro

Suzuki, who has hit .313 with over 3,000 hits in the 16 years

from 2001 to mid-season 2016.

The globalization helped smaller-budget teams who couldn’t

compete for the big ticket power guys. Perennial contenders like

the Yankees and Red Sox found themselves challenged by

overachievers from Oakland, Florida, Minnesota and, even Tampa

Bay. The Yanks did acquire a 38 year old Suzuki for the 2012-14

seasons, but his best days were over by then.

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For some time, major league pitchers saw their ERA’s soar

as they struggled to pitch to synthetically enhanced sluggers,

in shrinking ballparks, and unwillingly pleasing the lovers of

the long ball.

The 2010’s have thus far proved to be a different story.

While it is popularly said that the change stemmed from

baseball’s crackdown on PED’s, there are other factors involved.

The guys who were putting up the unbelievable numbers in the

2000’s were either gone from the league or on their last legs.

In addition, pitchers have a way of learning how to adjust to

offensive threats. With the likely exceptions of Ted Williams

and Barry Bonds, all hitters have some weakness. Pitchers

eventually find it, and when their execution is at a peak, they

handle things well. Strikeouts reached epidemic proportions.

The new starting mound merchants, like Clayton Kershaw,

weren’t only the biggest stars. Even when opposing teams “got

into the bullpen” they were faced with fresh arms, many throwing

in the high nineties, some adding a baffling array of off speed

stuff.

The business end of the game took another upswing in

massive television contracts which in and of themselves

justified the purchase price of the team. The Los Angeles

Dodgers were sold in 2012 for a record $2.15 billion, and

immediately got a long-term, local TV deal averaging over $300

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million a year to add to their league shared MLB Advanced Media

which is said to be worth well into the billions. Investors had

a better than market rate return before selling one ticket or

one line of advertising. And some still said that football was

“The Great American Pastime.” Gimme a break. And this is a time

when it was the hurlers, not the hitters, in the limelight.

Gimme a double break.

2010 temporarily marked an all-time high for strikeouts,

with 14.12 per game; eclipsing the record set the previous year.

Home run totals have declined every year since 2006. Some cite a

reversal of young player’s goals. While pitching was virtually

always an afterthought for young people who couldn’t hit well

through the mid-sixties, things gradually changed as pitchers

importance was acknowledged, and their salaries went up. It has

now gone a full 180 on the spectrum, as now many youngsters who

might have made excellent hitters, have concentrated on their

pitching skills from their earliest years.

 

“I believe if you took 20 really athletic guys that could make a

choice, maybe 12 to 15 might be choosing pitching versus a

position. They’re open to coaching and want to learn new grips

and pitches. Young hitters, in contrast, seem to lack approach

at the plate. Many big hitters are coddled from youth. By the

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time they reach the big leagues, they lack the necessary

discipline to consistently succeed in the majors.”

Tony LaRussa, infielder and manager

 

“I don’t see that many hitters making adjustments. Rookies

should be standing closer to the plate and take the curve ball

away from the pitcher. The curve ball is the everlasting thing.

Pitchers change. And you got to see them change and you got to

change with them. It’s a constant game of chess, but you got to

be able to think.”

Ralph Kiner, outfielder, announcer

 

“It’s easier to coach pitchers because they’re willing to try

anything, what finger pressure to get movement. They, by their

nature it seems like, want to be coached. Hitters on the other

hand, usually are not open-minded until they fail.”

Dave Duncan, catcher, pitching coach, consultant

 

The best players of 1980-1989 were Wade Boggs, George

Brett, Rickey Henderson, Dale Murphy, Tim Raines, Cal Ripken

Jr., Mike Schmidt, and Robin Yount; Brett the best in a close

call.

From 1990-1999 Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey Jr.,

Alex Rodriguez, Greg Maddux, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Jose

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Canseco, Mike Piazza, and Frank Thomas made their presences

known; McGwire the most.

From 2000-2009 there was Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Randy

Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Albert Pujols, and Johan Santana; Bonds

the leader; Rodriguez a marvelous second.