In 1998, 2 men single-handedly brought extreme popularity back to baseball. The Major Leagues were losing in their struggle against the NFL in popularity and were even in jeopardy of falling behind the NBA. That's when two brave men went on to have one of the most epic battles in sports history. Mark Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa, from the St.Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs respectively, made history. They started a campaign of monstrous homeruns that brought the baseball world to its feet. Night after night baseball fans across the country cheered on these two goliaths as they jacked baseballs out of the park like they were tennis balls and now these 2 men that brought so much joy during those seasons have been scrutinized and slammed for taking steroids and human growth hormones that apparently "loaded" their stats. Besides the fact that I don't agree with all of this scrutiny, which is a topic for blogging all in itself, I ponder the question, what if Major League Baseball never did anything about steroids and continued to turn the other cheek?
Would their be any question at all whether Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa, Mark Mcgwire or Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame. They would all of been first ballot HoFer's without hesitation before the steroid allegations.(It's also important to remember that at the time the substances were not illegal,but thats besides the point as well...) The case for Bonds being th
e greatest player to ever play game would also be hard to ever oppose.
e greatest player to ever play game would also be hard to ever oppose. What would baseball be looking like right now, a professional sport ravaged and tainted by drug use? Or is that not what it already is? When Sosa and Mcgwire were cranking dingers left and right, where were these allegations? It seems the human way though, to cheer for heros when we need them, then immediately jump on any flaws they may have when we're done with them. Sadly we won't know what would have happened if we just looked the other direction, now congress has made it a big deal, the MLB has made it a bigger deal, but its not going anywhere, athletes will always try to make themselves better by whatever means necessary and if asked to vote today, I would vote in Sosa, Mcgwire, Bonds and Palmeiro. Especially Sosa and Mcgwire, I was one of the young baseball fans screaming out " Go Slammin' Sammy" and I still cheer for that man today. We're all human, and maybe just maybe if congress worried about more important things we'd all be better off.
