Roger Maris’ Family Wants Baseball to Acknowledge Steroid Era

[Steroid News]

Randy Maris, the son of Roger Maris, recently told the Palm Beach Post that Major League Baseball should officially acknowledge the “steroid era” in the record books. Roger Maris set the home run single-season record in 1961. The record stood for 37 years until 1998 when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa shattered it. Barry Bonds currently holds the single-season home run record. Bonds, McGwire and Sosa have all since been linked to steroids and have become poster boys of baseball’s so-called “steroid era”.

Read more: Roger Maris’ Family Wants Baseball to Acknowledge Steroid Era

 

[ski1969]

I agree with the Maris family to some extent, but performance enhancing drugs are currently used in all the mainstream pro sports. Its tough to single out baseball, and in particular, a few athletes in baseball.

I will also throw in there that baseball was struggling and the HR race between McGwire and Sosa was a huge boost for the sport. I am trying to think of something that has happened since in baseball that drew that much (positive) attention.

Anyway...interesting topic....

 

[Millard]

I agree with the Maris family to some extent, but performance enhancing drugs are currently used in all the mainstream pro sports. Its tough to single out baseball, and in particular, a few athletes in baseball.

I will also throw in there that baseball was struggling and the HR race between McGwire and Sosa was a huge boost for the sport. I am trying to think of something that has happened since in baseball that drew that much (positive) attention.

Anyway...interesting topic....

I don't blame his family for trying to keep his memory alive. The steroids-asterisk-baseball controversy makes it easy for them.

But it's impossible to compare one era to another with or without steroids. There are dozens of things that have changed including changes in rules, ball size, mound height, field size, length of season, available drugs, drug testing, segregation, changes in technology - training, nutrition, drug, etc. - that could result in dozens of asterisks after each and every record.

Should we add an asterisk for every player who has been caught/implicated in any form of cheating too? For example, look at one of baseball's biggest critics of the 'steroid era' - pitcher John Smoltz...

He apparently cheated - used pine tar - but this was an accepted, less-demonized form of "cheating" not to mention having had Tommy Johns surgery (a technology not available to pitchers in previous eras). Yet, Smoltz probably thinks his records/accomplishments should escape the "asterisk" talk yet hypocritically probably feels Bonds records should be asterisk-ed.

John Smoltz Cheated? Leo Mazzone, Former Braves Pitching Coach, Claims Smoltz Used Pine Tar [UPDATED]