As a kid in the 90s and a teenager in the 2000s, I got to watch a lot of great players for most, or all, of their careers. My personal favorites were probably Ken Griffey Jr. and Greg Maddux. There were tons of great players though, Bonds, Clemens and Ripken, just to name a few more. There were a few problems with this era however. One of these problems is determining what was “real” and what wasn’t. Most people think that Bonds and Clemens took PEDs and that Griffey, Maddux and Ripken didn’t. The problem is that we’ll just never really know. There are certain “tells” like the way that a guy’s body grows/ages, certain power numbers and stars having career years in their late 30s, but again we can never be 100 percent certain who did and who didn’t and therefore, what numbers and records are legitimate.
Because of the steroid era, my frame of reference is pretty skewed. You mean to tell me that Pedro Alvarez was a power hitter with 30 home runs last season? (He was) Looking at Baseball Reference for the top 10 home runs leaders in all of MLB, only Jose Bautista hit more than 50 home runs in a season after 2007. From 1996-2007, there were 16 instances of someone hitting 50 or more home runs in a season. That’s 38 percent of all 50+ home run seasons in an 11-year period. Fielder and Kemp tied for 3rd in 2011 with 39 home runs; they wouldn’t have cracked the top 10 from 1996 to 2001 and wouldn’t have made it into the top 8 from 1996-2007.
Career longevity is also kind of out of whack for me. I’ve read more than a few articles in the past few years about how signing players to big multi-year deals on the other side of 30 is very risky. I’ve seen guys in their late 30s have MVP and Cy Young caliber seasons. Not to say that players can’t remain effective into their late 30’s, but those guys usually have some sort of niche or are role players, and aren’t carrying a team. Certainly there are the R.A. Dickey’s of the world who figure things out, but looking at the top 25 individual home run seasons of all time, the only guy before the steroid era over 30 was named Babe Ruth at age 32 and again at 33. There were eight instances of this between 1996-2007 and the Bonds was 36 when he hit 73, McGwire 34 when he hit 70 and 35 when he hit 65.
Finally, you have to think about some of the guys that got overshadowed. Think about the great career of Greg Maddux and his four Cy Youngs compared Clemens and his seven Cy Youngs. Or think about how Griffey’s all-time 630 home runs is 132 behind Bonds and even 17 less than A-Rod’s current total.
These things make you wonder. Who used PEDs? How many more home runs could Griffey have hit if he would have used PEDs like it is alleged that Bonds did, or even used them just to prevent his numerous injuries or recover faster like Pettite said that he did? Anytime someone has a breakout season like Bautista or Melky Cabrera, there’s always skepticism now.
Growing up with baseball in the steroid era provided a ton of entertainment, but it also provided me with a strange frame of reference for the future, a lot of skepticism and a ton of questions.
Article by Christopher Harkins | Photo Credits: KPay.com
