John Rocker: Baseball was a 'better game' with steroids
Former major-league reliever John Rocker told a Cleveland radio show that baseball was better when PEDs were a bigger part of the game.
By
Dayn Perry
•
1 min read
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Former major-league reliever John Rocker, who, you'll recall, has always been rather promiscuous with his opinions, recently made an appearance on Cleveland's 92.3 The Fan and had this to say about the none-too-mourned "steroid era" in baseball:
"Honestly, and this may go against what some people think from an ethical standpoint, I think it was the better game. At the end of the day when people are paying their $80, $120 whatever it may be, to buy their ticket and come watch that game, it’s almost like the circus is in town. They are paid to be entertained. They wanna see some clown throw a fastball 101 mph and some other guy hit it 500 feet. That’s entertainment. You’re paying to be entertained.
"And was there anything more entertaining than 1998 – I don’t care how each man got there – was there anything more entertaining than 1998?…watching Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire chase 61 home runs?
"That was a mesmerizing time for every baseball fan out there…the people were getting their money’s worth."
Rocker, of course, was part of that era, pitching from 1998-2003 and even, by his own admission, using performance-enhancing drugs during his playing days.
As for the larger point Rocker is making, I disagree. Look, it's hard to find anyone less outraged by PED use than I am, but I enjoy the moderated run-scoring levels of the current game compared to the late 1990s and early 2000s. What we have now is, in my mind, a pleasing mix of pitching, offense and power. (I would add "defense" to that previous list, but these days we have a bit too many strikeouts for my tastes.) I don't pine for the 10-8 games of a generation prior. Not that any of this is entirely attributable to PED use or the decline thereof.
MLB's rising revenues, both in gross terms and inflation-adjusted, also suggest the paying customer isn't exactly turned off by the current balance of the game.
