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April 04, 2005
OK, SO THE BASEBALL PREVIEW SHOULD BE READY AROUND THE ALL-STAR BREAK, BUT AT LEAST WE'VE GOT THIS
Check out Joel Sherman's thought-provoking piece on the just-begun baseball season (and why couldn't they have hit like this in Games 4 or 5 last year?).
Steriod vapors have indirectly addled the brains of most of the mainstream media's baseball writers (not that flexibility was their strong suit beforehand), but this piece seems a happy exception. Whether he turns out right or wrong, Sherman is at least thinking flexibly.
Also, see Jayson Stark's about-face from the "All Steroids, All The Time" mindset that has possessed most of the ESPN types and their media bretheren (Buster Olney, this means you):
We've spent this spring surveying general managers, managers, assistant GMs, number crunchers, players and other assorted experts about what comes next in this sport. Their answers will come as a major shock to everyone who has concluded that steroids are to blame for anything and everything they've come to hate about modern baseball.
...
Here, for your consideration, are their conclusions:
Public hysteria about steroids is raging at least five years too late – because steroid use, these men believe, is actually at an all-time low since their first use.
While steroids were obviously a factor in the offensive explosion of the last dozen seasons, they were only one of many factors. And while baseball can go to war on steroids, those other factors (bats, balls, bopper-friendly ballparks, crummy second-tier pitching) won't change.
At least as many pitchers have used steroids in recent years as hitters – and maybe more, our panel believes. So offensive numbers might not look much different if both groups are cleaning up their acts together.
The percentage of players on steroids probably never was much more than 20 percent – even at steroids' peak – which means 80 percent were always clean.
(Emphasis added.)
Posted by Dr. Manhattan at 12:49 AM | Permalink
