Alex Rodriguez, one of the greatest shortstops of all time, admitted to having taken steroids. Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmero, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, all steroid takers. For what? How many World Series rings did any of those guys win while juicing? This is the * period of baseball. The embarrassing period of baseball.
There used to be a time when baseball players were the classiest of the classy. Honorable stand up guys that played for the name on the front of their jerseys, not the back. And more importantly played for the flag on their shoulder over all else. I could name countless baseball players who quit playing in time of war to fight for their country. Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, so on and so forth. All great players who stopped their careers to fight for their country when they needed them most.
Baseball was only about one number in those days and years to follow. How many wins your team got. Did they win their division? The pennant? The World Series? Guys would gladly go up to bat and bunt the runner over. Hit a ground ball to the right side. The strategy of baseball was used to it's fullest. The beauty and purity of the game was loved by all who watched. The game wasn't about home runs. The game was exciting because a guy stretched a ball in the gap from a double to a triple. A squeeze play to tie the game. A stolen base.
I was recently reading an article about where the 1988 Dodgers were now. If you're not to familiar with that team, they were a team of saps. They had only two guys that the public would even recognize in today's baseball. And they probably wouldn't be superstars. Kirk Gibson, and Orel Hershiser. If you picked them and bet it all to win it all at the beginning of the season, you would've been a rich man. The odds were stacked against them. They had been crushed by the Mets during the regular year, and saw them in the NLCS. Not only did they overcome that obstacle, but they went on to face and even better team in the Oakland Athletics in the World Series, and beat them. While reading over where all of these guys were now, I couldn't help but notice their stat lines. Kirk Gibson who ended up winning the National League MVP that year, had the best stats by far, batting over .290 with 25 home runs and 90 and some odd number of RBI's. This years MVP winner, Albert Pujols, absolutely destroyed those numbers. He hit .357 with 37 home runs and 116 RBI's. The difference is staggering.
The Dodger team of 88' was considered a small ball team. In most recent memory the Angels of 2002 were much the same, with few to no superstars. The only thing that made these teams better than everyone else, was their will to win, and their ability to play as a team. They didn't rely on Manny Ramirez, or Barry Bonds, to blast one out of the park to be able to win a game. In 88' some of the players were talking about the most memorable moment that year. And you would think it would unanimously be when Gibson hit the game winning home run in game 1 of the World Series. But it wasn't. Most of the said it was all the abnormal ways they found a way to win. Whether is was a great defensive play by one of their outfielders that sealed the victory, or kept them in the lead. Or it was a pitcher pinch hitting in an extra innings game. Or Gibson scoring from second on a pass ball, or from second on a sac fly. It was hustle, sacrifice, defense, strategy, being able to out smart an opponent, and the ability to give up personal glory. The way the game should be played.
Even that home run that Gibson hit, to win the first game of the World Series, it wasn't just as plain cut and simple as a pitch and a hit. There was more involved than that. Dennis Eckersley, the A's closer had retired the first two batters in the ninth, and faced Dodgers hitter, Mike Davis who was pinch hitting. Eckersley had seen Davis in the American league and new that he could get a hold of one and tie up the game. He also thought that Gibson was not going to play, due to being injured and hobbled, and that Dave Anderson who only hit .249 during the year was the pinch hitter Tommy Lasorda, the Dodgers manager, put on deck. So instead of making a mistake to the powerful Mike Davis, Eckersley pitched cautiously and ended up walking Davis, to bring Anderson up.
"And look who's coming up," is the famous words of then and now broadcaster of the Dodgers Vin Scully. Kirk Gibson walked up the stairs and out to the on deck circle instead of Anderson. He covered his bat in pine tar and pressed his helmet tighter to his head as he hobbled towards home plate. It was an ugly at bat by all accounts. Eckersley, one of the dominant pitchers and closers of all time nearly got Gibson out on a small roller down the first base line that just went foul. The count got to three balls and two strikes, where the Dodgers scouting report on Eckersley said that the righthander would throw a back door slider to a left handed power hitter. It was a back door slider and Gibson cranked it out of the park. He hobbled around the bases pumping his fist. It was a truly magical moment in baseball. One of it's purest moments.
The steroid era is not all that has destroyed the game. It's a big part. But when you have players holding out to play for 25 million a year, when they could be going to a team that has a chance to win a World Series, you have to wonder why he plays the game? I could get into the semantics of why anyone would play a sport purely for money. Why the league minimum is a couple hundred thousand. Why isn't there a league maximum?
Baseball is the greatest game. The strategy is intricate, more than any other sport. There is no battle lines. You can't line up toe to toe and try and take off the other guys head. Or allow the ball to go into your best players hand every time. You have to rely on the strongest and weakest of your team to get it done. A lot of factors are trying to ruin the game. I hope baseball can overcome the obstacles that have been thrown in its way. At the center of the game there is more depth and strategy then we are allowed to see because of the dark clouds that have been cast over the game. Keep faith, baseball will return to it's former glory. When out smarting an opponent wins games more than out muscling them. There will again be role players in the game. Those who are willing to win no matter the pay, or no matter their numbers. Those who are only driven by love for the game, and the undeniable will to win.
"In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened."
dude, that was one of the best fuckin pieces i have ever read in my entire life...u need to send that to some type of magazine or something...u fuckin nailed it bro!!
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