Monday, February 09, 2009

Is Baseball Forever Ruined?

An interesting sky-is-falling piece on the state of baseball in light of A-Rod's positive steroid test. While I don't quite agree that the sport is indelibly ruined because of yet another hulking man-monster being revealed as a steroid user (much like with Bonds or Giambi, it's not that hard to tell something's going on when a skinny guy suddenly morphs into a muscular giant, but it does make some interesting points. As Stark points out, if A-Rod's steroid connection keeps him out of the Hall, which is likely considering the fate of McGwire and (likely) Sosa, this means the owners of the following statistical categories will not be in the baseball Hall of Fame:

The all time hits leader (Pete Rose)

The single season home run leader (Bonds)

The all-time home-run leader (Bonds)

The most 60 home-run seasons (Sosa)

The winningest right-handed pitcher of the modern era (Clemens)

The person who will probably break the all-time home-run record (A-Rod)

As I said, I don't think this will permanently destroy the game of baseball, but it is pretty weird that the holders of most of the major records in the sport will never be in the Hall of Fame...

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