If there is one thing that has hurt baseball more than anything else in the world, it has to be the steroid controversy.
Since that magical baseball season in 1998, the question of steroids has casted a dark cloud over the game of baseball.
In 1998, it was two larger than life baseball figures, one a homegrown California boy living playing his national pastime and the other a young Dominican player who went from rags-to-riches, battled it out over a prestigious baseball record.
The race of 98′ captivated the nation and brought baseball back to the mainstream. Everyday brought headlines of each player coming one home run closer to passing the record.
The 1998 season made both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa heroes of the game. They were considered icons and could do no wrong.
In the years that followed, McGwire never made it back to 60 home runs and would retire after the 2001 season. Sosa would hit 60 home runs over the next three seasons, making him the only player in MLB history to reach that mark four times.
Also in the years that followed, were questions about steroid use in baseball. It wasn’t until 2002 when Ken Caminiti told “Sports Illustrated” about his steroid use.
According to the article, Caminiti started using steroids during his NL MVP year in 1996 and continued to do so for the next couple of years.
“At first I felt like a cheater,” Caminiti told SI in 2002, “But I looked around and everybody was doing it. Now it’s a black market as when I started. Back then you had to go and find it in Mexico or someplace. Now, it’s everywhere. It’s very easy to get.”
When the SI article first appeared in 2002, it immediately sent shockwaves throughout the baseball world.
With every home run came questions, was so-and-so on steroids? Then came the Jose Canseco book in 2005, which led to the naming of names, including McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Bret Boone and Miguel Tejada.
The book led to a Congressional investigation which saw McGwire refusing to talk about the past, Sosa forgetting how to speak English and Palmeiro finger pointing and all, denying that he took steroids.
Months later, Palmeiro would fail a steroid test, lose his credibility and fall into the depths of obscurity.
One player sticks out more than everyone else. Barry Bonds is 20 home runs shy of breaking Hank Aaron’s career home run record.
As each day passes and Bonds gets one step closer to the home run mark, more and more questions pop up about his alleged steroid use.
Bonds somehow manages to deflect all of the questions, the congressional investigations, all the while going for Aaron’s record at the age of 42.
No matter what happens with Barry Bonds this season, there is no doubt that baseball needs to get away from that steroid cloud that has plagued this great game. Then it will be great.
Only James Earl Jones of “Field of Dreams” could best say this about baseball
“The one constant through all the years, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our pastIt reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again”
Info courtesy of SI.com and IMDB.com
All too often baseball players perfect the art of collecting the ball in the pocket of their gloves. This is particularly true for the younger players that are still in the learning curve of using two hands for all catches. An expertly broken in glove will assist in the catching of the ball. Yet relying on the glove to perform all the functions of the catch is just too risky.
The addition of the second hand will help in the control of the baseballs energy but even then a missed alignment can cause the path of the baseball to take just enough geometry to find its way out of the glove. Again, the scramble for control is on.
With predictable proper control during the catch, the rhythm of taking the baseball from the glove and completing the throw action is guaranteed a higher level of success. Repeating a series of events developed through practices and drills is what delivers the baseball from the player who caught the ball to the player who needs to receiver the following throw.
Soft hands allow the baseball player fielding the ball to transfer the energy of the ball into the players arms. The action is similar to that of a shock absorber found in automobiles and motorcycles. Starting fast and out front with the initial contact, then retreating the hands quickly to dissipate the energy put into the baseball from being struck by the baseball bat.
To impart this motion to beginning and younger players, simply toss a ball in the air and let them catch it bare handed. Done correctly, the player will reach for the ball then withdraw their hands to their chest as they grasp it. This an easy catch and the ball will not bounce out of their hands nor will there be any sting.
Once the mechanics of the previous drill are taken to heart, it is time to move onto using the same technique in a fielding drill. Knees bent, bottom down, hands out, the players receive the ball with the same arm action as the over head drill but with grounders provided by the coach. Glove hand takes the line of the ball, off hand covers the ball in the glove, arms retreat quickly to dissipate the energy of the ball.
A key element in the proper use of the soft hands is the position of the baseball glove prior to receiving the baseball. Correct fielding places the glove in a vertical position with heal of the glove at the top and the web on the bottom.
When the glove is less than perpendicular to the path of the ball, any mishap is the fielding process can cause the ball to bounce away and behind the player. Recovery from these events are difficult as the player must turn their back on the field of play and operate under a sense of urgency.
With the glove at a right angle to the path of the ball, mistakes will cause the ball to bounce in front of the player, still within their vision and still playable.
Practice gloves (also known as training mitts, gloves and pancakes) are an excellent tool for both coaches and players. As they have no pocket, two hands are mandatory to field any baseball. An excellent way to reinforce the use of two hands in all catches. These mitts can also be used for drill with pop fly balls with limited height. It is a great policy for coaches to utilize drills that mandate two hands whenever possible.
For the coach training mitts offer the visual cue of the proper hand position and arm action. If the coach can see a full circle outline of the mitt during the drill, then the player is holding the mitt at a right angle as they should. Any oblique circle is a sure sign that the mitt is being held on an angle where the coach can make instant position correction. Balls controlled by the players indicate that they are using soft hands. When the ball bounces away from the mitt then the player is instantly notified of their mistake.
Soft hands is the process of using two hands to catch and control the ball by allowing the hands to retreat quickly as the ball is grasped, as the energy is dissipated, the ball can no longer bounce out of the glove and the player will gain control of the baseball faster and allow them to complete their motion in practiced, predictable way.
It is 1986, and Trevor Berbick, soon to be ex-heavyweight champion of the world is stumbling across the ring like a baby giraffe on vodka. He goes down, he gets up, then he goes down again. He manages to get to his feet but referee Mills Lane calls a halt to the bout. Lane would later say that he had never seen such controlled power from a fighter, that when he looked into Berbicks eyes to see if he was ok, they had rolled right back into his head. His opponent, just twenty years old, had become the youngest ever world heavyweight champ by taking his WBC title in the second round. More than twenty years later, love him or hate him, he is still one of the most recognizable fighters ever. Ladies and gentlemen – really needing no introduction the world over – say hello to Iron Mike Tyson.
On that night in Las Vegas, a new era had begun in boxing. Not since Muhammad Ali had a fighter created so much excitement. He was already famous, mainly due the the fact that he had been rescued from a life of crime and poverty by Cus D’amato, a famous boxing trainer who had managed former world champions Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres. He now had a professional record of 27 fights, 27 wins, 0 defeats and 25 knockouts. Incredibly, 15 of his knockouts had come in the first round. His knockout punch was once measured at being the equivalent of a 16 pound sledgehammer swung at 30 mph. Make no mistake, Mike Tyson could hit! But he was also hard to hit. Never mind that at 5’11″ and 215lbs he was built like a tank, he had the speed of a light heavyweight and his head movement was second to none. Despite being the challenger, Tyson started the fight as firm favourite.
Tyson unified the heavyweight division with points victories over James ‘Bonecrusher’ Smith (WBA) and Tony Tucker (IBF). He was still only 21 years old.
I remember watching him demolish Michael Spinks in 1988 in a fight which many thought Spinks had a chance to win. It took Tyson just 91 seconds to knockout Spinks, who had never been down in a pro fight prior to this bout. This is thought by many to be Tysons best fight. I also watched him knockout a childhood favourite of mine, ex-heavyweight champ Larry Holmes. Admittedly Holmes was past his best, but the way in which Tyson ruthlessly took him out in four rounds was awesome. This is the only knockout defeat Holmes has ever suffered in his entire career.
Other notable title defenses include victories over Pinklon Thomas (TKO 6), and Olympic gold medallist Tyrell Biggs (TKO 7). Tyson carried Biggs who he had hated for denying him a place as a super heavyweight in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He could have finished the job any time from the third round, but instead chose to punish his opponent. In a post fight interview, he laughed as he said that Biggs had been making girly noises as he was hitting him. Sometimes brooding and menacing yet sometimes outspoken, it reminded me of what Tyson had said after beating Jesse Ferguson on his way to the title – “I tried to push his nose back into his brain”.
Being British, I was actually rooting for Frank Bruno in their 1989 bout. Bruno could hit hard, but he was slow and ponderous in comparison to Tyson. By now, whenever Tyson fought there was an aura of inevitability about it all. Tyson was regarded as the best pound for pound fighter in the world – something extremely rare for a heavyweight. It was actually becoming boring to watch Tyson destroy everybody who was put in his way. Tyson finished Bruno in round five.
It wasn’t a great performance and cracks were showing in Tysons veneer. He had been making headline news outside of the ring as well as in it. He had crashed his car into a tree and got into a streetfight with ex-opponent Mitch ‘Blood’ Green. His highly publicized marriage to actress Robin Givens had fallen apart amidst accusations she was a gold digger. He was partying hard and not training properly.
Later that year, the impossible happened. Mike Tyson lost to 42-1 underdog James ‘Buster’ Douglas in possibly the greatest upset ever in boxing. He had gone into the fight with 37 straight victories. He never looked quite the same after that bout. The aura of invincibility had gone.
Wins over former amateur conqueror Henry Tillman, Alex Stewart and Donovan ‘Razor’ Ruddock set up a big money fight with new undisputed heavyweight king Evander Holyfield. The fight never happened – Tyson was imprisoned for the rape of beauty pageant contestant Desiree Washington. He would spend three years in prison before his release.
The buzz when Tyson came back to fight was incredible. Already seen as one of the best ever, Tyson easily dispatched with Peter McNeeley and Buster Mathis Jr, but the old devil had gone. Still a ferocious puncher, the speed he once had had diminished. Prison had taken its toll, and at least some of Tysons prime years had been spent in jail.
Tyson would fight Frank Bruno again. This time Bruno was the WBC champion and Mike the challenger. Going into the fight with a psychological advantage due to his earlier victory, Tyson easily beat Bruno in three rounds this time, regaining the title for the second time. He looked like the Tyson of old, perhaps not as quick but still as strong as an ox. He also beat Bruce Seldon within a round to win the WBA belt. Tyson looked to be back, big time. But the fight we had all been waiting for but had been denied was on the horizon – Mike Tyson versus Evander Holyfield.
Tyson started hot favourite, but in a pulsating candidate for fight of the year, ex undisputed cruiserweight and heavyweight champion Holyfield emerged the victor with an 11th round knockout. This time there could be no excuses, Tyson lost to the better fighter. Already past his prime, he would never again be called world champion.
Tyson would continue to excite audiences however, but for all the wrong reasons. Once the greatest fighter in the world, he was to become a circus sideshow. People would watch him fight due to his unpredictability. This would all begin with his rematch against Holyfield.
In the third round, Tyson spat out his gumshield and bit a chunk out of Holyfield’s ear. Referee Mills Lane who had been there all those years earlier at the Berbick fight, had no choice but to disqualify Tyson. An enraged Tyson, who would later claim he bit Holyfield as a consequence of Holyfield’s constant headbutting, threw punches at security guards and anyone who would get in his way in an attempt to get at a baffled Evander Holyfield. Perhaps lucky not to go back to jail for assaulting a man in front of millions of witnesses while on parole for rape, Tyson gladly accepted a one year ban from the ring.
A return to boxing saw his fights degenerate into farce after farce. It seemed that with every Tyson fight came another controversy – trying to break an opponents arm, knocking down a referee, getting a tattoo on his face just a few days before fighting Clifford Etienne. Somehow, while not the best in the world anymore, Tyson always seemed to generate excitement.
In the pre-fight press conference before his fight with Lennox Lewis, Tyson exploded into rage, screaming at and threatening reporters, and taking a swing at Lewis before biting his leg. Once more, Mike Tyson was in the news. An old looking Tyson lost to Lewis in 8 one-sided rounds.
Losses to boxers who would not be good enough to spar with Tyson when he was in his prime, Danny Williams (KO 4) and Kevin McBride (TKO 6) sealed the deal. Tyson announced his retirement. His professional record stands at 58 fights, 50 wins, 44 knockouts, 6 defeats and 2 no contests.
I certainly hope that baseball isn’t a dying sport because I still enjoy going out to the ballpark. However, I can see how someone would make that argument given the climate of sports today. Still, baseball has remained very profitable and popular, despite some challenges and setbacks. In addition, it has shown itself to be an extremely resilient sport as it has survived world wars, work stoppages, and scandals such as a current steroid issue. Just for the sake of argument we’ll assume that baseball is a dying sport. Here is what might be contributing to its slow, painful death.
LOVE THE GAME, BUT IT IS SLOW
I am not one to complain about the pace of baseball. I have been a fan since I was a kid and I still find baseball compelling, particularly post-season baseball. However, I can see where someone would find it a bit slow. The players do a lot of standing around between bits of action. The batter takes his own sweet time getting ready to hit, and after the pitch he has to step out and adjust every part of his body before taking another pitch. When pitchers are replaced, most of the players have to congregate on the mound for some reason while the overweight manager plods out onto the field. Despite the fact that I enjoy it, I’m sure some would find it rather boring.
NEW SPORTS ON THE HORIZON
Despite baseball’s place in American history, there is nothing that guarantees it’s success in future generation. It is quite possible that the next generation will abandon all the major sports (baseball, football, basketball) in favor of new, more exciting sports. The newer sports that might gain more popularity are the X-Games and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). It would be foolish of us to assume that the next generation will like the same things that we do.
Overall, I think it is a bit early to declare baseball dead. But, if the sport is going to continue being successful over the next few decades, it may need to make a few changes to draw a new fan base. Because of this, the baseball “purists” might have accept that in order to survive, baseball must change with the times.
