What If?

What If?

Today we are going to ask a question that has become prevalent in the world of sports. What if? If something happened that changed the course of history or the outcome of a certain event, how would things be different right now? What would the after effects be? The specific what if question I would like to get into today is this, what if Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens didn’t hold the respective records for all-time home runs and Cy Young awards? Would we still care so much about the steroid era? Would we still ridicule and vilify them?

Before getting into Bonds, let’s go back a little further. The year was 1998 and the whole world was captivated by the home run chase of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Baseball was still digging itself out of the grave due to the strike of 1994 and this home run chase was the shot it needed (pun very much intended). Attendance, ratings, revenue, and general interest sky rocketed and baseball was back at the forefront. One of the coveted records in the game had a chance to be broken by not one, but two men. As we know both men broke the record, and later became embroiled in the steroid scandal, and it came out that both had been using performance enhancing drugs for years. The thing is though, we as fans had a sneaking suspicion while the chase was happening. We all were asking the question, but we were afraid of the answer. These men gave us a reason to get back into the game we all loved so much and reminded us why exactly it was we did love it so much.

Now fast forward to Barry Bonds. In 2001, he broke the record, now being held by McGwire, and once again the nation was captivated by what they were witnessing. This time, unlike in 1998, we weren’t captivated by popular, well liked players. Barry Bonds had always been a conceited, arrogant individual, so people weren’t excited to see him break the record. They were just captivated by the fact this performance was not at all humanly possible. How, at such an advanced age, could Bonds be putting up numbers the likes of which we had never seen? Of course it then came out that later in his career Bonds was using steroids and an already despised player watched his unpopularity soar to new heights.

Roger Clemens was just like Barry Bonds. He took the league by storm and put up numbers that were Hall of Fame worthy even before the steroids came in to play. He was also a conceited, arrogant individual who was not well liked, just like Barry. Fans watched in utter amazement as he dominated the competition at an advanced age, on his way to a record seven Cy Young Awards.

Here now is where the what if comes in. These two men own records in baseball history that are held in such high regard and thought of as bench marks for Hall of Fame candidacy and overall legacy building. What if they didn’t hold these records? They would still be unpopular because of the attitudes they played with but would we as fans be making such a big deal over the steroid era? Guys like Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi have admitted to steroid use but they don’t hold all-time records and are viewed as nice guys and good teammates. It’s almost as if they get a pass. As a Yankee fan, I worship the ground Pettitte walks on, so I’m just as guilty, but the fact remains he still used performance enhancers. What if Ken Griffey Jr. held the home run record? What if Greg Maddux or Randy Johnson won the most Cy Young’s? All three of those guys are clean as far as we know. No evidence has ever come out that they were cheaters. So, if they held the records would we really care as much about steroids? Who cares if guys cheated when the clean ones had all the glory.

I personally think the answer is no. When the cheaters were breaking records we were enthralled with their performances. No one gave a damn how they were achieving these feats. We wanted to believe they were innocent, but there was so much buzz and excitement that we took an attitude of let’s wait and see what happens. Why question it in the moment? It ruins everything. Questions should be asked later when it’s not as relevant. Well, when the news came out, these guys may as well have been Satan reincarnated because they were Public Enemy No. 1. If guys who were clean held these records it would be time to build shrines and pedestals to place them on. Take that cheaters, he didn’t need help to achieve greatness. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are not victims of circumstance; they’re victims of their own attitudes.