Has your opinion changed on the purity of the game?

[wwharton]

Re: Has your opinion changed on the purity of the game?

Baseball is a reflection of American society. The points about players and gangsters, the exclusion of blacks, drug use (greenies, then the 80's, the steroids) are all valid, but I don't think they degrade or made the game any less "pure".

The game is still pretty much the same as it was 50 years ago. And that's why it's still the best.......

Some feel it was pure before and no longer is... some feel it's more pure now because of the rules actually in place to punish cheating. I think the discussion isn't so much about those things making it "less pure" but that those things happened so, like you said, the game is really what it's always been... no more, no less. I agree.

I've heard the following from some people but if Bonds had never turned into a monstrosity and broken McGwire's single season and Aaron's career HR records then people wouldn't have obsessed so much over the Steroid Era precisely for the fact that it brought people back to the game of baseball.

Somehow that kinda makes me feel sad that we as a sports society would look the other way because "nice guys" were doing it and brought popularity back to the game but as soon as a guy hated by the media and a lot of fans does it, it becomes a circus and people go into Woodward and Bernstein mode.

That's what bothers me too. I don't like Bonds as a person either, but it's crazy that his personality really drove all of this.

[slickdtc]

Re: Has your opinion changed on the purity of the game?

Didn't steroids help the game in terms of popularity. I see it as a double edges sword.

I wonder how true this really is. I'm sure there are numbers to back it up, namely attendance figures before steroids really came to light, and when they did. But I think there are a ton of factors in play there that you can't point to one single thing and say, "That's how the game came to be as popular as it is today."

Besides, now that the game is clean, it seems to be the most popular it's ever been. But we also have so many different outlets to watch and follow the game now, too. Again, so many variables.

I think the home run chase is what really fueled people to come back to baseball. Yes, that was fueled by steroids, but I think that chase was more what brought people back then more guys hitting more homeruns. There were a few guys you'd come to the park to see (Sosa, McGwire) who were using, people didn't come to see the just decent players who started hitting 30 HR's. They came for the stars.

[wwharton]

Re: Has your opinion changed on the purity of the game?

I wonder how true this really is. I'm sure there are numbers to back it up, namely attendance figures before steroids really came to light, and when they did. But I think there are a ton of factors in play there that you can't point to one single thing and say, "That's how the game came to be as popular as it is today."

Besides, now that the game is clean, it seems to be the most popular it's ever been. But we also have so many different outlets to watch and follow the game now, too. Again, so many variables.

I think the home run chase is what really fueled people to come back to baseball. Yes, that was fueled by steroids, but I think that chase was more what brought people back then more guys hitting more homeruns. There were a few guys you'd come to the park to see (Sosa, McGwire) who were using, people didn't come to see the just decent players who started hitting 30 HR's. They came for the stars.

I think that's what he was saying in an abbreviated way. You had Cal breaking the streak and then went right into Big Mac and Sosa, and then right into Barry Bonds. A little credit goes to the ad campaigns, "chicks dig the long balls" as well as some of those little guys you're talking about (Brady Anderson battling Albert Belle for the home run title was definitely fun to watch). I think long story short, the popularity wouldn't have come back if we all of a sudden had a season full of no hitters and perfect games and pitchers challenging strikeout records (sad but true).

[slickdtc]

Re: Has your opinion changed on the purity of the game?

Yeah, I was trying to say that steroids weren't the main reason, but they really were because the stars that were the reason behind the resurgence of MLB were on them. Basically completely contradicting myself. Oops.