The Effects of Vitamin-S on the Body of Baseball

As we showed yesterday, we here at Outta Left Field like to think of baseball as a living thing, a body, if you will. Like any body it has its parts. Baseball, being so big, has many parts, but many of these individual organs and limbs and extremities can be classified into larger systems, just like any other body. As we see it, there are four main systems in the body of baseball. These are the executive system, comprised of the front offices, owners, managers and coaches of teams, as well as the management of baseball overall; the press system which is composed of all those members of the press corps who report on baseball at all its different levels and in all the far-reaching parts of the globe; the player system which is made up of all the baseball players at all different levels of professional ball, and all those players who aspire to that aim, but may not be there yet; and finally the fans system comprised of all of us fans out here watching and reading about baseball as part of the cycle's of our seasons.

Like any body, when something is added to it, be it good or bad, there is an effect on at least some of the systems that form the body, if not all of those systems. The intoduction of steroids and HGH, codenamed as vitamin-S for years during the steroid ridden late eighties to early aughties, had such an effect on baseball. It had such a far reaching effect that we are still trying to figure out what happened, where it happened, when it happened, and to whom it happened. Well, I will act like one white blood cell here trying to figure out the diagnosis and attempting the cure in this space today.

The logical system to start with is that of the players. Well, the introduction of steroids had various effects on the players, depending of course on what type of player it was. For some big league players, the ones who injected, rubbed, popped, or swallowed steroids onto their persons the effect was higher homerun totals, higher radar gun readings, more doubles, more Ks, less fatigue, and more strength. Conversely, these players also got to experience the joy of back acne, increasing jaw and necklines, decreasing testicles, and a bevvy of other health concerns in their own bodies. Other big leaguers, who didn't use, were affected differently. They had to try to keep up and compete as teamates and opponents got bigger, better, and more able to withstand the grind than themselves. When it came to contract years these non-users had to convince themselves that their integrity was more important than their monetary future and their statistics. They had to decide if they could still compete in a league that was increasingly turning into supermen. For players from around the world not yet in the league, and trying to break in, the story was very much the same. Should they use steroids and risk their health in order to get drafted or make the big club? Or should they not do them and rely on their own abilities, and hope those are enough to ge them into the league while so many of the people they were competing with were using? Those who did use may well have entered the league and become productive players, those who didnt might have been better but just not willing to sacrifice their health and morals to live out their dreams. This is something they and the rest of us in the body of baseball will never really know. The effect of all this is that a tough testing program was established in 2005 and we still had 12 majr leaguers test positive including one suprstar. One can only imagine how bad the problem was before. But it appears to be getting better and there is an even tougher policy now, being paired alongside the new McCarthy, oops Mitchell commission to try to hunt down any users in the past and get at truth which they will never find. But the players of the era now have more to worry about than their increasing numbers and their contracts, like health, getting caught, and missing the hall of fame.

The executives are obviously next in the logical progression here. From Managers to GMs to scouts to baseball executives, many of whom have been around the game their entire lives, there must have been clear signs of the rise in steroid usage. They must hve heard the rumors, known what the doctors said, seen the evidence, and some maybe even condoned it. What it seems that all did though was to turn a blind eye. Why did they do this? The biggest effect the steroid era had on the management was that it made them more money. In the top level of baseball the league began to thrive and capture people's imaginations again. As Home Runs began soaring out of parks at record rates people began to fill the stands to catch those record-breaking balls. Television coverage went up, higher ticket prices were charged, and more revenue could be made on the sale of merchandise. Why should owners, managers, and executives have cared about making sure players weren't using illegal steroids tht weren't even banned from the game? They had to worry about their own financial well being first, and knew the players were grown men who could make their own decisions. But now, many of the management still don't acknowledge their fault in this, which would be fine if they did not acknowledge that it was a problem. Many of them now say though that they think it is terrible and it takes integrity away from the game, while at the same time still taking no fault. This is a problem, and their is no solution for the management.

The system of press was affected in two major ways. There were those who covered the records as they were broken and thrived on baseball's new-found popularity, and there were those who attempted to break the steroids story only to get silenced until these days when people are willing to listen, in the post-steroid era. The press had to and still has to think about their access to player, managers, GMs, and everyone else in the game when they wrote about steroids. If they broke stories about players would other players shut them out? Would they get access to anyone inside the circle of trust that is the MLB? Would anyone in the audience even listen to them? Others had enough good stories going with so many home runs being hit and so many pitchers winning more and more Cy Youngs that they didn't care what was going on besides as long as they got theiir story. Now that people care however, the media is reporting more and more on it. And this is actually to their credit. Their job is to inform and they are doing so, however late. And many are taking blame for not reporting before. But the question remains do they have to continue reporting on it, or now that we know enough,c an they move on?

We the fans were affected in different ways ourselves. We first got to see some of the most exciting years in baseball pass before our eyes. We watched two record breaking seasons for home runs. We watched as sluggers averaged more home runs than we could ever dream possible. We saw more 100 MPH pitchers than any other era. We enjoyed it. We flocked to the games. Sure we heard the rumors, we suspected things ourselves, we even read one or two press reports from those reporters who were being responsible at the time, but we didn't care. Now that the collective reaction of the body of baseball has shifted though, many of us act outraged. We act as though we can't believe what is going on, as though we are entirely innocent and surprised by all this truth coming out. We call for astrices and bans from the hall of fame and tell-all books. But really as fans these things should not matter to us. We should want the truth, but we shouldn't be calling for an asterix or a blot on the whole era. The fact is that this is what baseball was. This is also something that, as fans we remember. Many of the players throughout the history of baseball have had their problems. Ty Cobb was no peach, the Bambino was not perfect, Mickey Mantle drank too much, countless players cheated on their wives, countless others cheated on the field. These players all still belong in the books though because they were part of the living being that is baseball. They should have marks or scars on them to call them out just because we are outraged that we got swept up as fans. We will alwasy know, and always be able to tell our sons and daughters as we turn through the pages of Baseball Almanacs and tour through the halls of Cooperstown, that yeah Barry Bonds had a great season in 2001, some people say he did steroids, others say he didn't, but no matter what, he still outperformed all the other players of his and any other era.

The injection of steroids into baseball changed the way we all experience the game, but it has not affected us in any really significant way. Popularity of the sport has not gone down, fans have not stopped attending, press corps have not gotten smaller, Owners have not gotten poorer, and players have not stopped performing. Why can't we just move on from this era of baseball, remembering what was good, keeping in mind what was bad, but moving on nonetheless?