Steroids and Baseball

What is the meaning of steroids in baseball? What if anything has the steroid era stolen from us, the fans?

I propose that steroids having taken the excitement out of watching baseball, what do I mean? Twenty years ago, I would relish the opportunity to go to the ballpark and watch player X play for Team X. Most notably I used to love watching Don Mattingly and Dave Winfield play. The last time I saw Dave Winfield play was much like the first time, he hit the ball with authority, such authority unlike anyone else I had ever seen. That all changed in the late 1990's when it seemed that everyone hit the ball with such authority. For discussion purposes only, I will use Bret Boone and Jeff Kent.

Bret Boone:
Year BA HR RBI
2001 331 37 141
2002 278 24 107
2003 294 35 117
2004 251 24 83
2005 221 7 37

Jeff Kent:

Year BA HR RBI
2001 298 22 106
2002 313 37 108
2003 297 22 93
2004 289 27 107
2005 289 29 105
2006 292 14 68

Dave Winfield:

Year BA HR RBI
1982 280 37 106
1983 283 32 116
1984 340 19 100
1985 275 26 114
1986 262 24 104


Of these three players, who would you rather have on your team? Steroids removed the ability and fun of going to the ballpark to see an outstanding once in a generation ballplayer. I wouldn't cross the street to see Jeff Kent or Bret Boone play, but for several years in their early thirties they both had stats equal to or greater than a proven hall of famer. I miss the opportunity to see truly great ball players, instead steroids gave us a bunch of guys that put up hall of fame numbers, but never passed the sight test, meaning if you saw any of these guys in person you were never than impressed, they did what everyone did, hit home runs, they didn't hit the ball appreciably harder than the next guy.


Please stay tuned for Part II.