Let me preface this by saying that I do not follow baseball all that much, although I have read about it occasionally and hear about what goes on on the radio. What I want to know is that why is this era singled out as a black mark on the sport when baseball has had a history of big cheating scandals? You've had people betting on games, people throwing games, guys using all kinds of methods to keep batters from hitting the ball, guys freezing the balls to keep them from being hit as far as they should, etc etc yet the "steroid era" gets all of the criticism. I'm not making this topic to somehow excuse Barry Bonds or anything like that but it's just interesting that in a sport with so much emphasis on records and its history that its past is looked back on with such reverence when it wasn't perfect at all.
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Originally posted by Blzer -
Re: Question about baseball
I think it's a combo of a lot of things, jmood. This will all be personal opinion, by the way.
The biggest things I see is players breaking records, on the verge of doing so, or entering an elite stats group (ex. 500-HR club) at a higher frequency than in past eras. Because of a number of players who supposedly, and some admittedly, cheated using steroids, it's painted baseball players in a light such that everyone is a suspected cheater. I'm guilty of wondering about it. I sit there and look at the stats of some players and the thought crosses my mind, "I wonder if they were on the juice that year?" It's really rather sad. Another thing in my mind stems back to the 1994 players strike. That situation really soured a lot of fans towards the game, including me, and baseball needed a way to get them back. MLB either encouraged use of steroids (I highly doubt that) or turned a blind-eye towards it (very likely) because either A) all of the dingers were helping sell tickets or B) there were so many involved, especially huge stars, that it would really be messy to try and clean up. Still another reason it's so focused on the "Steroid Era" is a big one...the media. We are in the "Information Age," my friend. There are so many places to find news, both rumored and factual, it's scary. The media hounds athletes to no end and they enjoy tearing people down or destoying lives more than praising them. As the years go by, my distaste and utter hatred for the media in this country grows and grows.
Anyway, those are a few things I thought of after reading your post. There have always been players who have cheated throughout the years but I think a combo of the ones I listed are factors. I'm sure some fellow posters on here will have some ideas of their own.MLB: Cincinnati Reds
NFL: Cincinnati Bengals
NCAA Hoops: Xavier Musketeers
NCAA Football: Miami Hurricanes
NHL: Calgary Flames
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke
"The wisest men follow their own direction." - Euripides -
Re: Question about baseball
One team threw games, in 1919. Pete Rose bet on baseball, and I'm sure he's not the only one, but it isn't known as a widespread problem.
Steroids has been a much more widespread problem throughout baseball.Originally posted by Jay BilasComment
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MLB: Cincinnati Reds
NFL: Cincinnati Bengals
NCAA Hoops: Xavier Musketeers
NCAA Football: Miami Hurricanes
NHL: Calgary Flames
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke
"The wisest men follow their own direction." - EuripidesComment
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Re: Question about baseball
Hm well no sport is perfect but let's go through the big cheating type scandals that you listed:
1919 Black Sox Scandal: This is the basis for the no betting rule in MLB. As you may know 9 of the White Sox players got paid by gambling interests to throw the World Series that year. Since then we've seen what betting on baseball and other sports does (Pete Rose)
Doctoring baseballs: Well I wouldn't call it CHEATING per se as that was done a lot in the very early days of baseball. The best known doctorer of course is Gaylord Perry and I believe umpires ALWAYS checked him out at least once a game. He was never caught but everyone knew he was using vasoline or other such substances. I find the whole notion of doctoring baseballs a little overrated. Look at Mike Scott for instance, he was accused of doctoring the baseballs in '86 and he had a fairly good year but the rest of his career is pretty nondescript so it takes more talent then substance to be successful.
Freezing baseballs: This isn't cheating really it's done in the case of the Rockies to keep the baseballs from flying out the ballpark. Before they used the humidifier approach the park was known for turning singles into doubles etc etc. There have been lots of things done over the years to give the home team an advantage like the Metrodome having the AC blasting when the away team is at bat. etc etc.
All in all, baseball has some quirks to it and there are some games of showmanship like stealing signs from the opposing team or beaning guys to send a message it's been more or less a clean sport for most of it's history.Member of the Official OS Bills Backers Club
"Baseball is the most important thing that doesn't matter at all" - Robert B. ParkerComment
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Re: Question about baseball
My point is, baseball has a pretty shady history. It's not just those examples I put in my original post but those are pretty much what I remember right now. It's just that people act as if everything that happened in the past was all kosher when it wasn't.Originally posted by BlzerComment
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Re: Question about baseball
Don't forget the impact of mass media.Member of The OS Baseball Rocket Scientists AssociationComment
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Re: Question about baseball
It is just looked at as so bad because it is current.
Just wait until we get something new to gripe about in 15 years.Comment
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Re: Question about baseball
Most people don't act like everything was great. Black Sox scandal happened in 1919, but I'd say most baseball fans know what happened. Rose gets tons of attention still for betting on baseball.
Your first post says "baseball has had a history of big cheating scandals?" and they really haven't had big cheating scandals, outside of the Black Sox thing. Sure there's small things, like doctoring baseballs, but that's not some big scandal, that's little things that pitchers do to get a little bit of an advantage, and I think comparable things go on in every sport. Doesn't compare to taking illegal performance enhancing drugs.Originally posted by Jay BilasComment
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