Steroids won't destroy baseball
By: Cory Munoz
Issue date: 3/10/09 Section: Sports
With the weather getting warmer and the grass getting greener, only one thing should be on the minds of Americans across this country - baseball. Thanks to a select few Major League Baseball players another thing is being attached to America's pastime like a bad case of mono and that is steroids.
The game of baseball has evolved with time, but the principle has stayed the same. The sport has gotten stronger around the world, but here at home, it's grown stronger for the wrong reasons.
Whether it's Human Growth Hormone or a slew of other steroids, each home run hit from now on will have to be questioned and, for that, some baseball officials are saying the game is ruined. Having to explain to your kids why Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez are not in the Hall of Fame is something our generation is going to face.
Over the next few months, boys and men of all ages will be beginning their baseball seasons. Some, like Eastern New Mexico University, are already underway. Kids taking their first hack at a baseball on a tee to major leaguers like Derek Jeter and Hanley Ramirez will be stepping into that 36-inch batter's box under the bright lights of a summer evening.
The hardest thing to do in sports is hit a baseball. That must have been the reason why so many hitters started using steroids. They thought it would make that task a bit easier, but then they took it too far.
Players using HGH or steroids began messing with history and the record book.
Take McGwire for instance. In 1998, McGwire and Sammy Sosa were chasing after Roger Maris' single-season home run record of 61. The chase helped in lifting the MLB from the ashes of a strike a few years prior, but it didn't mean that much to me.
Baseball had already died for me a couple of years earlier when my grandfather passed away from lung cancer. This man didn't have an athletic bone in his body, but he made sure every spring he was outside in the front yard showing me how to pitch and swing a bat. I wasn't that good my first couple of years, but with his help I got decent enough to be a valuable player. He didn't teach me how to cheat at the game. He just told me to "choke up."
The game of baseball has evolved with time, but the principle has stayed the same. The sport has gotten stronger around the world, but here at home, it's grown stronger for the wrong reasons.
Whether it's Human Growth Hormone or a slew of other steroids, each home run hit from now on will have to be questioned and, for that, some baseball officials are saying the game is ruined. Having to explain to your kids why Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez are not in the Hall of Fame is something our generation is going to face.
Over the next few months, boys and men of all ages will be beginning their baseball seasons. Some, like Eastern New Mexico University, are already underway. Kids taking their first hack at a baseball on a tee to major leaguers like Derek Jeter and Hanley Ramirez will be stepping into that 36-inch batter's box under the bright lights of a summer evening.
The hardest thing to do in sports is hit a baseball. That must have been the reason why so many hitters started using steroids. They thought it would make that task a bit easier, but then they took it too far.
Players using HGH or steroids began messing with history and the record book.
Take McGwire for instance. In 1998, McGwire and Sammy Sosa were chasing after Roger Maris' single-season home run record of 61. The chase helped in lifting the MLB from the ashes of a strike a few years prior, but it didn't mean that much to me.
Baseball had already died for me a couple of years earlier when my grandfather passed away from lung cancer. This man didn't have an athletic bone in his body, but he made sure every spring he was outside in the front yard showing me how to pitch and swing a bat. I wasn't that good my first couple of years, but with his help I got decent enough to be a valuable player. He didn't teach me how to cheat at the game. He just told me to "choke up."