During the many eras of baseball perhaps the most famous to our generation is known as 'the steroid era'. This produced jaw-dropping seasons of mammoth home runs, pitchers who could throw 130 pitches in 28 of their 30 starts and never feel the effects of it, and forever muddy the waters of Hall of Fame discussion. We enjoyed those days of ignorant bliss, as we watched Mark Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa belt 70 and 66 home runs, respectively. What we now realize is those were all fantasy numbers, numbers that have no meaning, and in my book, numbers that should be forever stricken from the game. Very few players came out of that era 'clean' and free from wrongdoing. Even Barry Bonds' 74 HR season should be stricken from the record books, because even those those 3 individuals were never found to have 'tested positive' for steroids, the taint of those numbers shouts foul play. The main reason they didn't 'test positive' for steroids is they were never tested, and many of those players retired from the game prior to the advent of drug testing in baseball. That era is in a league of its own and should have no bearing on the history books of Major League Baseball.
What makes me really appreciate the players who play the game today is that they do it clean, and we can know they do it clean because of the current testing policies of MLB (Ryan Braun excluded- Matt Kemp is actually the 2011 MVP of MLB) .
This season has been extraordinary as the steroid era's hitter dominated landscape has given way to the evolution of the pitcher. We already have 2 perfect games this season (Phil Humber, Matt Cain), a no-hitter (Johan Santana), and a combined no-hitter (Seattle Mariners). Combine that with the fact that 5 of those games have happened in the last 4 seasons (Dallas Braden in 2011, Roy Halladay in 2010, Mark Buerhle in 2009) this truly is the era of the pitcher. Not to mention the season that R.A. Dickey is having. His back to back 1-hit games are the stuff of legend. What makes him so special is that his knuckleball, which typically ranges from 58-70 mph, averages 77 mph! A 77 mph knuckleball is crazy (as many ML hitters are finding out). Guys are dominating hitters with talent, and doing it the right way. Just listen to the list of pitchers since 2007 who have thrown no-hitters (PG excluded)
Mark Buerhle (2007)
Justin Verlander (2007,2011)
Clay Bucholz (2007)
Jon Lester (2008)
Matt Garza (2010)
Francisco Liriano (2011)
Ervin Santana (2011)
Jered Weaver (2012)
Seattle Mariners (Kevin Millwood (6), Charlie Furbush (2/3), Stephen Pryor (1/3), Lucas Luetge (1/3), Brandon League (2/3), Tom Wilhelmsen (1)
It is a great era of pitchers as no other 5 year stretch in ML history has as many no-hitters as 2007-2012(not even half over). We truly are priveleged to be watching history.
I love baseball, I love that today the game is (for the most part) clean. I love the purity of baseball. I love limited replay in baseball. I love day games at Wrigley, night games at Fenway, ballpark hotdogs, a cood cold beer, and the New Yankee stadium. Most of all, I love great performances by great players, who play the game the right way, and that is what we are getting today. Enjoy it, because you never know how long it'll be until we see an era with so many great pitching performances again.
I also love watching good pitching...
ReplyDeleteBut I have to admit that the most exciting year ever for me watching baseball was the year McQuire passed Roger's 62. It was so fun and frankly I don't care he did steroids. It was interesting to watch.
I wouldn't prefer that he, and many others, did steroids but that didn't take away from the excitement it brought. I appreciate guys who do it clean though like my favorite player: Chipper Jones.
I will say this though: Those numbers shouldn't be stricken from history books nor even receive an asterisk. I still think they are all hall of famers.
I also think you should lay off Braun. In this country you are innocent until proven guilty. He was guilty by association which is stupid and plain wrong. He was proved to do nothing wrong and he was the legit MVP last season.
Overall, I love all the excitement surrounding pitching right now and the great gems we're seeing. Brandon Beachy is my boy and his ERA is great this year! Go Braves!
Andrew
Several things wrong there.
ReplyDeleteFirst, its Mcgwire, not McQuire. Knowing they could not have done it without taking steroids makes it not fun to watch.
Second,If you get into the hall of fame, it should be on the merits of your talent, not because you decided to cheat and inject your body with artificial substances to make yourself better.
Third,Braun was not found to be guilty by association, He never even denied taking PED's. He got off on a technicality via a mediator who got the decision wrong. He's guilty.
Fourth, and finally, Brandon Beachy had Tommy John surgery yesterday and is out for the rest of the season. Eat Nationals' dust!
That's all.
Greg.
Haha. Love that I misspelled Mark's name. Classic not thinking! That's what happens in the argumentative comment section. Braun still deserved it, they still deserve the Hall. Third, I know Beachy got injured, but doesn't take away from his studly ERA he has had. That's my point of another great pitching performance that's taken place throughout the year. My Braves will still be fine. Stras will get injured for Nats to even it out this year!
ReplyDelete