Within the week, the MLB’s ongoing investigation of the Biogenesis Clinic in Florida has heated up immensely. But I want to take a step away from the moral values and the legal issues of this case and look at something else. I want to look at undoubtedly the biggest reasons why you, the fans, watch sports in the first place. Entertainment.
Growing up in the 1990’s, I was immersed into baseball in the prime of the Mark McGwire vs. Sammy Sosa home run battle. I was eight years old in 1998 and, for me, that meant the start of my Little League career. Of course every Little Leaguer wants to do one thing: hit home runs. There was no way around hearing about McGwire or Sosa when the television was on.
The 1998 season was a special one. With baseball fans slowly rekindling their love with baseball after the 1994 strike and cancellation of the World Series, baseball needed something. That something came in the form of a three way race for the home run title. Between McGwire, Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr., a race to end all races was born and fans were brought back to stadiums everywhere. The season ended with McGwire hitting 70 total home runs and Sosa hitting 66. Going into September 26, 1998, McGwire was only ahead of Sosa by one home run. This kept fans on the edge of their seat the entire season. In 2001, Barry Bonds would break McGwires record by hitting 73 home runs with the San Francisco Giants.
A decade later? All three of those players have been involved in numerous steroid controversies.
Since 2001, a player has hit more than 50 home runs in a season seven times.
If you take away the repercussions of those seasons later in life and purely look at what it did for baseball, you can’t argue that it wasn’t a positive thing. Fans everywhere, even non-baseball fans, turned their T.V.s on to watch McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds. When a record is on the line, people pay attention.
Today, the steroids issue is hotter than ever. Commissioner Bud Selig is handing down 100 game suspensions like it’s his only job.
I asked some baseball fans their take on the situation. I asked them if they would rather see a home run battle like McGwire/Sosa or if they would rather see these players suspended for 100 games.
“As a fan, I want to see the home run battles,” Brett Rose, a long time baseball fan, said, “and I want to add that as long as it is illegal that I do agree with the suspensions.”
“Home run battle. It puts people in the seats and makes our worth watching. When McGwire and Sosa were in it, it was extremely popular,” Chris Stewart, a WVU student said.
Sean Manning, a fan who gets so into the game that he can name you statistics about players that you’ve probably never even heard of, said, “As a fan I want the home run battles. Entertainment wise, I’d rather see guys jacking them out of the park then guys being suspended left and right.”
Robert Falcon also had this to say on the situation: “I’ve gotten to the point where I think they’re all juiced.”
But not every baseball fan feels the same way. Von Barclay says that he looks at entertainment in a different light.
“It’s more important to me that the game is respectable and fair, and that my team has a fair shot out there, than it is that some guys are smashing the ball over the fence. We don’t need it. Look at the end of the 2011 season with the Cardinals and Rays sneaking into the postseason on the last day. That was the most entertaining day of baseball I can ever remember,” Barclay said.
At the end of the day, the majority of fans want to go to the ballpark and watch an exciting game. If guys like A-Rod are getting paid a multi-million dollar contract by their favorite team, fans don’t want to pay top dollar to see that player on the bench serving a suspension.
What are your thoughts?
Photo Credit: NY Times
