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Originally Posted by timmgirvan
Pillow: how can that be? To do nothing about the past relegates the last 30 yrs to suspicion, and does not build a trust for the future for the fanbase! They have to deal with the past,put controls in place, and move on...
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but the thing is eric, when you look at the game of baseball you can take that 30 years and add another 100+ years to it and you have suspicion thruout that whole time period. we could set here and question countless # of fixed games that i'm sure made a impact in the early 20th century on the standings with the black sox of 1919 being in the forefront of them all.and yes they kicked them out of baseball, but the reds are still the ws champs of 1919. it got taken care of and baseball moved on
to spitballs and doctering balls, to the giants and dodgers championship "shot heard around the world game" when the giants might have stold signs with binoculers and used lights from the outfield scoreboard to win that game. and it is true they did steal signs in the regular season just to get to that game. admitted by some of thier own players.but we still marvel at that game as one of the greatest. to corked bats and to even cheating today in one sense but still legal by stealing of signs by the runner on 2nd getting them from the catcher.
as wrong as we want to make it ,cheating has been apart of baseball from the begining, unlike any other sport. the old saying"if you aint cheating you ain't trying" is what some baseball players lived by and still do . from hal chase to albert belles corked bat and sending a player to sneak in the umps room to switch it
like pillow said its to late, the damage is done and your right to put the controls in place right now and move on. it could be never ending, i can sit here and question how many games when barry hit a hr did it help or give the giants a win. did the giants deserve to play the angels in the world series? we would have to assume the team the giants beat in the nl championship game got cheated.given barrys post season record was awful before that world series year but that year he had big hits and played a big part in thier wins to get to the ws.
i think we have to just let the past go and put it in perspective like when maris broke ruths hr single season record. maris hit 61 in 162 games compared to ruths 60 in 154. well who actually was the single season hr leader? was it fair to ruth that maris got 8 extra games, since thay changed the amount of games played? we can find faults with the game wherever we try to look. smaller ballparks now can we still compare them as equal?
i think for us older fans we know what went on and will know the truth and by putting in the controls now will still save the respect of the game for the future and its fans. baseball turned away, it was made illegal in the 80's but they never tested for it, so who is to blame, i think mlb carrys just as much the load as does the players. and in sports they are all looking for a edge.
i agree with you that we need trust but it really is to late in this situation , no use trying to rectify the past, the games have been played and recorded ,bonds hr's will not only count in the grand total but also in the box scores forever. we do need to put controls in place which have been done, though we can debate wether they are strong enuff? and move on, which is what i choose to do.but mlb and its governing body has blown it already,we deal with the past by showing we are controling it now.
dealing with the past will leave still to many unanswered questions in itself. if we don't give barry the title we will still think as fans well maybe he was just that good and wonder ? to hit the ball has nothing to do with steroids,the steroids will give you the amount of power behind it and may give you the home run but barry was cracking these way before this in pittsburgh, mabye the steroids did make the ball travel farther but a hr is a hr wether its a foot over the fence or 80 feet over. barry i believe would have got alot of those over just at a shorter distance but we will never know for sure. we will always question.
but i understand your point and what you would like to see done and if i thought it would matter i'd be for it . but i just dont think its in the best intrest of baseball when the commish won't show up, cause that also says that the last 30 years is a farce also and we will all still think the same way. time will take care of this , i honestly believe baseball will always have its fans, there is something about this sport unlike the rest, its rich history and mlb taking care of the situation now that will allow it to still be americas national pastime no matter what the other sports and thier fans may think. thru it all so far baseball is alive and thriving with attendence at its highest ever, even before the strike in 94. the steroid issue is not going to hurt this sport if mlb takes care of the situation now