My Ode to Disgrace Former Sports Heroes

The Provocateur ^ | 06/19/2009 | Mike Volpe

[fiscon1]

When I heard that it was reported that Sammy Sosa had failed a drug test in 2003, I thought it was anti climactic. After all, it was by now common knowledge that Sosa had in fact been cheating for years. Sammy Sosa was my favorite baseball player starting in the mid 1990's. I often defended him against charges that he wasn't clutch as well as a cheater. Finally, when he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles and suddenly saw his production get cut by about 60% even I couldn't be blind to the obvious. So, it had been years since I made my peace with the idea that my favorite baseball player had created most of his success through cheating.

[Gil4]

Don’t forget his corked bat. The question wasn’t “did he cheat?” The question was “did he cheat with steroids too?”

The only surprise to me in the answer was that this is news. There have been so many revealed over the past few years that I just thought he was already outed.

[DaGman]

We saw Sosa in 2001 hit 3 home runs in the once-named Enron Field in Houston. I believe He went like 4 for 5 that night.

[Verginius Rufus]

Back when Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in a season, some people wanted an asterisk next to his name because he had done so in a 162-game season whereas Babe Ruth had hit his 60 in a 154-game season. Now they should have an asterisk next to Maris’s name with the note: “Most home runs in a season without using steroids.”

[Gil4]

For the most part, I don’t care about who cheated and didn’t get caught. Gaylord Perry threw a spitball. I don’t care. Baseball needs to draw a line in the sand and say “this is how we enforce, starting now.”

It apparently was so rampant (and just as common among pitchers) that we’re never going to be able to weigh that era accurately. Don’t try.