greatgame 2 = Cheating is such a nebulous concept. Some say it’s not cheating if it doesn’t specifically break a rule (lawyer’s approach to cheating). Some say it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught (Cora’s approach). Some say trying to get an edge on your opponent is cheating (non sports perspective). Some say there are many gray areas of cheating (small cheaters that rationalize their behavior).
Coexisting with cheating is the concept of fair punishment. Some say if a precedent for punishment has been set then it should be adhered to for consistency’s sake. Some say times change and cheating is viewed differently in different eras and that’s fine (people rationalizing why some baseball crimes should be downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor) Some say you can’t punish an individual if there is proof against him when it’s common knowledge that he didn’t act alone (fraternal justification based on one guy should not go down if a frat gets caught having an illegal kegger). Some say don’t punish those who create revenue for the game (Player’s Union perspective and owner perspective).
What right? There is no one right answer. Each crime should be evaluated on several criteria:
1 – Was it planned knowing it was cheating?
2 – Was it a recurring event or one time event?
3 – Did it impact one or many game results?
4 – Is there actual evidence that proves results were altered due to the event?
5 – Who knew it was happening before, while and after it happened?
6 – Were the knowledgeable parties forthright in sharing their knowledge.
The sticky stuff cheating scandal can be answered as follows:
1 – Yes it was planned
2 – Yes it was a recurring event
3 – Actual evidence to it’s use is widespread knowledge among pitchers.
4 – The impact to games is questionable since both teams likely used it so the net effect may have offsetting with respect changing the outcome or it may have swayed the game in favor of one team.
5 – Who knew? Pitching coaches, managers, pitchers, catchers, most players if not all, fans, media. Pretty much everyone had heard rumors that it was happening and the new pitching metrics supported the guess.
6 = Were the guilty parties forthright in disclosing their use? Some were and some weren’t. The players association did nothing to stop it. Owners did nothing to stop it. The commissioner stopped it long after it started due to hitters being at a disadvantage and complaining.
Was the problem addressed properly? Yes, a new set of rules were defined and implemented quickly to eliminate it or at least reduce it going forward The new rules now punish violators that get caught.
Compared to other issues in baseball, this was a victory for the commissioner because the problem was significantly reduced and a fair punishment for a violation was established. This far exceeds other huge issues like the baseball being juiced and players taking the blame for the additional home runs 30 years ago. This is a great step in the right direction after botching both the sign stealing scandal and steroids.
Are steroids still throughout baseball? Yes. Are they seldom detected because the masking technology has developed faster than the testing techniques? Yes. Does that impact games? NO and it never has. So should testing techniques be improved to improve the fairness of play? NO. Steroids were banned because of the future damage they would do to players and that got spun into something different when the words performance enhancing were used. The negative connotation of the words turned what was intended to be a ban to protect the players into a ban on cheating. That clever misdirection concocted by Bud Selig cost an entire generation their place in baseball history..
It’s 30 years later and the conclusive proof about the impact of the ball being juiced significantly beginning in 1994 has yet to sway the believers because the stigma of the misleading words “performance enhancing’ still convict the players of that era without a trial.
Steroids allow players to develop muscle quicker, they add stamina to players, they allow runners to run faster and they allow pitchers to throw harder. Do they improve hand/eye coordination? No. Is that vital to the success of a hitter? Yes. Have there been machines built to improve hand/eye coordination in hitters? Yes. Does that too enhance their performance? Yes. Do some players have worse eyesight than others? Yes. Can those players have a procedure performed to enhance their vision? Yes
So the success of a hitter is dependent on eyesight, hand/eye coordination and strength/hand quickness. It’s legal to enhance your eyesight, it’s legal to enhance your hand/eye coordination but it’s not legal to take a product that allows you to enhance your strength development and your speed development. I use the word development because it is allowed to enhance your performance by lifting weights without a product that speeds the development and it is allowed to improve your hand and foot speed using resistance techniques but only without taking a product that facilitates that growth. So why are steroids banned if they help you become a more complete player with greater strength and speed but having laser surgery and other techniques to improve the more critical aspects of hitting are not banned? Because steroids are an illegal substance not because they improve performance.
So all the haters of the steroid generation need to recognize the REAL ISSUE with steroids – they are like the other banned substances they are dangerous to the player. Do players get banned from the HOF for taking amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana when it was illegal or any other drugs? NO. So why ban the steroids users? Those two infamous words are to blame – performance enhancing.
Do they actually enhance performance compared to the other legal substances that are banned? No. Why? Because a bigger stronger player gets less benefit from taking steroids than a player that has eye surgery and improves his vision. The building of muscle through steroids is a shortcut to greater strength but the greater strength has not been proven to impact home run statistics. The highest correlation with home runs per year is the juice in the ball. Recent years have shown the huge impact of a juiced ball and regression analysis shows the relationship between juice in the ball and home runs is nearly 1 but the correlation between steroid use and home runs is negligible.
This history lesson shows that the sticky substance which existed throughout baseball just like steroids got rectified in a far more equitable manner than steroids. The impact of the sticky substance actually impacted the game enormously just like the juice in the ball does but a quick and quiet fix got implemented effectively. In the meantime, the steroid users and there were many and may there still be many got made an example by the public, the commissioner, the media and the HOF despite the real culprit impacting home runs being the juice in the ball. How fair is that? An entire generation besmirched wrongfully and the powers that be have allowed it to continue as the inaccurate mantra for that era of baseball.
The commissioner, players association, public, media and current players need to create a movement to give back the dignity of an entire generation wrongfully accused of enhancing performance. It was a banned substance that should have had a similar penalty as the other banned substances but instead it became a capital offense rather than a misdemeanor.
30 years later the numbers still don’t lie. The steroid era HRS/GAME/YEAR were no different than the 14 decades prior to the 90s and the two decades since the 90s. The numbers vacillated up and down year to year throughout the 140 years of baseball and that is inconsistent with steroids impacting the HRs. It should have grown consistently during the era but it didn’t. Shame on Bud Selig for throwing an entire generation of ballplayers under the bus. Bonds is the greatest home run hitter of all time BUT he hit a very juiced baseball to become that leader as did Hank Aaron. Only Babe Ruth and his family can brag about being the real HR champion. He did most of his damage during a non-juiced era compared to Aaron and Bonds!! The records will fall based on the current juicing levels and how much significantly higher they are than Bonds era. Players starting after 2014 should be the fastest to HR benchmarks because because the ball is nearly 20% more juiced now than 20 years ago.
