Steroids saved baseball.
So why now would baseball commissioner Bud Selig and his cronies ever consider getting rid of them?
I know this all sounds crazy, but sit back and I'll tell you a tale of how the needle saved America's pastime.
The year is1994, owners are cash-strapped and players are greedier than contestants on The Apprentice.
Baseball was in a state of turmoil.
For 232 days the game stood still while the owners and the player's union argued over a salary cap and revenue sharing.In the end it was all for nothing.
The only major change was in the loyalty and patience of fans that were robbed of a World Series.
The fallout from the game's longest work stoppage was far-reaching. In a poll conducted during the strike nearly 40-percent of the respondents vowed never to follow the sport again.
Still following me?
Then there was that magical summer of 1998.
Ahhh.
In one corner you had Mark McGwire. Former bash brother turned St. Louis' favorite son.
Sure, the guy looked liked Hulk Hogan's training partner and had forearms big enough to smuggle Volkswagens, but we gave him the benefit of the doubt. Hey, he probably just hit the weights extra hard in the off-season.
In the other corner was, of course, Sammy Sosa. The Robin to McGwire's Batman. Sosa was as big as a Buick with a swing that would make Tiger Woods cringe in pain. And like McGwire, his image was as clean as a Windex commercial.
Fast-forward 136 home runs and one broken 37-year-old record and baseball was back.
Attendance is up for the most part (sorry Montreal) and Selig is smiling more than William Hung.
Don't jump ahead of me though. I'm not saying that McGwire and Sosa were juiced at the time of the chase, but can you say with certainty that they weren't?
Here's what we know: McGwire has admitted to using androstenedione, a supplement now banned by Major League Baseball.
Sosa has been caught using a corked bat.
Both factors bring into question the legitimacy of their records and/or their character.
We also know that both McGwire and Sosa added muscle faster than an angry Lou Ferrigno.
The numbers alone cast enough suspicion on some players.
Barry Bonds had never hit more than 49 homeruns in a season before 2001 when he hit 73. With rumored steroid-use and random drug tests, Bonds has yet to hit over 46 since that record-breaking season.
He has also admitted to using a cream form of steroid, not knowing what it was.
He was also recently made aware that fire is hot and knives are sharp.
Sosa had never hit more than 4o before he posted 66 in 1998. Like Bonds his numbers shrank drastically as the eye of scrutiny searched harder. Sosa hit 40 and 35 dingers the last two seasons.
As you begin to look back through recent history, players whose numbers have never been questioned now appear dubious.
Take Brady Anderson. The most homers he ever hit were 21, before throwing up 50 in 1996. Do his numbers become suspicious?What about Albert Belle or Frank Thomas?
It's time for Selig to admit that steroids were just as much a part of the game as the designated hitter.
He should come out and say the legitimacy of practically every great number put up over the last 10 years is at least cloudy and that baseball now knows this.
And promise the sanctity of the game's records will never again be jeopardized by cheaters. Like it or not, the home run has sustained and even resurrected the sport from the1994 strike.
And it's becoming clearer with every FBI raid and grand jury hearing what it is that has sustained the homerun -- the syringe.
The syringe saved baseball. Practice hard children.
Read other columns by Ford:
- Winning ways validate Calipari's claims
- Toss out the records, it's Memphis and Louisville
- Angry coaches say all the wrong things
- No hockey, no big deal
