Steroids and Retroactive Record Keeping in Major League Baseball...
Its interesting that home runs are down this year in the MLB. George Dunham on KTCK: The Ticket in Dallas mused a few weeks ago that it might be due to drug testing.
Realistically, in one season the game shouldn't have shifted as drastically as it has...unless there was rampant steroid use and because testing was threatened everybody got off the juice.
Home runs have gone down. ERA's for relief pitchers have come up. And from those two stats, you can guess where the impact/benefits of steroids would show up? That would be home runs and pitching.
I look for this to lead teams to shift emphasis toward better defense with less dependence on power hitting.
It's also interesting that Superman..., oh sorry, Barry Bonds hasn't made it back into the lineup for the San Francisco Giants at all this season. Guess he just can't heal up without his "roids". Sad, really.
As an aside, before the 1995 season, there were only 18 50-homer seasons on the record books in the entire history of Major League Baseball. Since 95, there have been 18 more.
In the last two seasons since BALCO and the steroid flap have started getting increased press, how many 50-homer seasons have there been? Care to guess?
None. Source of these stats is an excellent SI.com article.
Through June of this year, Derrick Lee(Cubs) and Alex Rodriguez(Yankees), both have 17 home runs. That puts them on a pace to do what...about 37 to 45 homers for the season. Quite a drop off from the 73 that Mssr. Bonds hung a couple of years ago, isn't it?
I think that if enough proof can be found of individual steroid use involving McGuire, Bonds, and/or Sosa that Maris's record should be reinstated as the gold standard in home runs. Especially if no one can go break the 61 in the "roid" testing era.
Roger Maris vs. chemically enhanced Supermen...I'm on Maris's side.
Realistically, in one season the game shouldn't have shifted as drastically as it has...unless there was rampant steroid use and because testing was threatened everybody got off the juice.
Home runs have gone down. ERA's for relief pitchers have come up. And from those two stats, you can guess where the impact/benefits of steroids would show up? That would be home runs and pitching.
I look for this to lead teams to shift emphasis toward better defense with less dependence on power hitting.
It's also interesting that Superman..., oh sorry, Barry Bonds hasn't made it back into the lineup for the San Francisco Giants at all this season. Guess he just can't heal up without his "roids". Sad, really.
As an aside, before the 1995 season, there were only 18 50-homer seasons on the record books in the entire history of Major League Baseball. Since 95, there have been 18 more.
In the last two seasons since BALCO and the steroid flap have started getting increased press, how many 50-homer seasons have there been? Care to guess?
None. Source of these stats is an excellent SI.com article.
Through June of this year, Derrick Lee(Cubs) and Alex Rodriguez(Yankees), both have 17 home runs. That puts them on a pace to do what...about 37 to 45 homers for the season. Quite a drop off from the 73 that Mssr. Bonds hung a couple of years ago, isn't it?
I think that if enough proof can be found of individual steroid use involving McGuire, Bonds, and/or Sosa that Maris's record should be reinstated as the gold standard in home runs. Especially if no one can go break the 61 in the "roid" testing era.
Roger Maris vs. chemically enhanced Supermen...I'm on Maris's side.
posted by Mark "Puff" Anderson | 3:55 PM
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