Baseball In The 90's Essay

The National League has its own advantages because of its lack of a Designated Hitter. Some National League statistics have always been higher

The MLB didn’t start until 1876 with the National league and then they brought in the American league in 1901. The first World Series was held in 1903 with the Boston Americans beating the Pittsburg pirates 5-3. Baseball hasn’t always been glorified as it was though. It experienced rough times in the 1940’s when African Americans weren’t allowed to play in the major league but thanks to Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby, they eliminated the racial discrimination in baseball and outside the baseball world. Baseball has also experienced rough times during the WWII and Vietnam era. During the time of war, players would go and serve in the military and baseball would have to replace them with less talented players. But Upon return, baseball returned to its once prestige self.

Baseball statistics are meant to be a representation of a player’s talent. Since baseball’s inception around the mid-19th century, statistics have been used to interpret the talent level of any given player, however, the statistics that have been traditionally used to define talent are often times misleading. At a fundamental level, baseball, like any game, is about winning. To win games, teams have to score runs; to score runs, players have to get on base any way they can. All the while, the pitcher and the defense are supposed to prevent runs from scoring. As simplistic as this view sounds, the statistics being used to evaluate individual players were extremely flawed. In an attempt to develop more

During the Gilded age many social class, racial walls and gender bias developed lines walls and boundaries for people. The funny thing about that is as new boundaries, walls and limitations were being built sports and the development of it broke them down or found new ways for the different genders and races to find ways to use sports as an outlet. Women were constantly fighting for their right to be involved in sports and pushing the limits as to what social norm deemed acceptable for them to be allowed to play. Working class women started to compete professionally in rowing competitions; they played crocket and played lawn tennis. The American pastime of baseball was well on its way and all though baseball had a huge racial division as to who could play mainly African Americans not being accepted, but they developed their own league and contrary to the belief that Jackie Robinson was the first pro ball player there was another before him by the name of Moses Fleetwood Walker. Moses was the product of a inter racial relations with a black dad and white mom he also attended college at University of Michigan and was the first African American Pro Baseball player. After that he would venture into entrepreneurism, be a newspaper editor, author as well as an inventor. He was quite the Renaissance man living the "American Dream" despite social and racial ideologies. Collegiate level sporting really started to take off during this time and the development of another

In the summer of 1998, every baseball fan, critic, and writer watched Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa race to break Roger Maris’ record of 61 home runs in one season. The two players both seemed to hit a homer every day of that summer. When the season came to the end of that summer of 1998, both Major league Baseball stars were tied at fifty-five home runs. McGwire and Sosa both surpassed Maris’ record within the first couple weeks of September. The Fans thought this was a once in a lifetime event in baseball because the last home run chase was in 1961 between Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. Baseball attendance and interest substantially increased because of the two sluggers. Home runs became more prevalent in the seasons that

Steroids and performance-enhancing drugs were a prominent item that was, and still, is used in baseball. Many well-known name athletes used PEDs to take their game to a higher level. For a player like Barry Bonds, he was already great before he took steriods. With the flow of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, Barry Bonds changed the perspective of baseball in a negative way. First off, the record book is scared in Major League Baseball. Those who attempted to break records or did break records did it in the clean way. Henry Aaron totaled 775 home runs during his career without PEDs. Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs the right way, which was without steroids. Willy Mays finished his career with 660 home runs without the help any illegal enhancing

Many would argue the game peaked during the 1998 home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. This race jump started the sport and began to heal the tension that brewed between the game and its fans after the cancelation of the 1994 World Series. Of course, this home run race was not the only reason fans came back to the game. The anticipation to see one of the greatest pitchers of all time in Rodger Clemens, one of the most talented baseball players of all time in Barry Bonds, and sluggers such as Jason Giambi and Jose Canseco, were surely going to draw a large viewing. Each of these players has had some connection to performance-enhancing drugs. We can sit here writing articles and opinion pieces arguing why performance-enhancing drugs should or should not be allowed in this sport, but there is no argument when it comes to the stats and when we, as fans, have witnessed the best baseball to ever be played. Any fan of the game will admit that one of the best things in sports is a homerun. In 1996, 17 players hit 40 or more homeruns. In 2008, only two players hit 40 or more homeruns (Rymer 2013). We are seeing better, more exciting baseball during the steroid era, which is considered to take place from the end of the 80’s and continued through the 2000’s, than we’ll ever see during any other era of baseball. Players are hitting more homeruns, while pitchers are throwing their best balls when they’re in there 40s (Pantuosco 2011). PEDs should be allowed in baseball because first, we, as fans, get to see a higher competition level while players are on such drugs. Second, these drugs create an even playing field for all players. And third, do we as fans even care if these athletes take these

Baseball is one of those things that is like a mythical unicorn, just a brief escape to heaven for

Baseball is a poor man’s sport, easy to play and addicting to watch. During the days of Lou Gehrig, whenever there was a baseball game, people usually forgot their worries that day and went to watch their heroes play. 1n 1917, the Americans declared war on Germany. “Even in America’s ballparks, German immigrants sought to distance themselves from their native land” (Eig, 19). In a world of insecurity caused by the jeopardy of war and an ongoing economic depression, Lou Gehrig signified a show of pride and confidence until Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis put an abrupt end to his playing days. When it comes to baseball, there have been a few high caliber players who become American icons. Lou Gehrig became that icon of the era in which he thrived. While he spent much of his career in the shadow of his mentor and teammate Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig would eventually emerge from Ruth’s shadow and represent the values of the 1930’s. During Lou Gehrig’s era baseball served as a distraction from the adversity of the world war and the depression.

In 1991, Performing Enhancing Drugs known as steroids was put on the list of baseball’s banned substance. You would think that, that would put a stop to Steroid use in Baseball, but it did not. The reason why players would keep on using the banned substance is because Major League Baseball did not begin to test players to see if they were using Steroids. There is evidence that there was an intense use of steroids before the testing had begun. Offensive production rose up more than ever. Mark McGwire was known as an offensive workhorse, a monster. He broke the all-time Single Season MLB home run record; this was during the 1998 season. Then in 2001 Barry Bonds at the age of 36 broke McGwire’s home run record by hitting 73 Home Runs in a season, which is the current single-season

Baseball is one of my favorite sports and the fact is that it is so thrilling that when you hit the ball you get a huge adrenaline rush so you run as fast as you can to the base. But later on steroids were introduced to baseball; there were so many athletes that ended up using the Performance Enhancing Drugs or (PEDs) but when people were seeing the hits they did not just go into the field, there were more home runs than the normal record there were in a season. When it first used people didn’t know how people were hitting so many home runs, but it made the game more interesting and people loved it and when people found out it that what the players were doing was basically cheating, some people thought it was okay because it made it more interesting, but there were some people who were unhappy with the players who were cheating.

In the subsequent 50 years, baseball has had a steady increase. The MLB has seen their gross income skyrocket recently earning $8 billion in 2013. A $6.6 billion increase from the 1995 season even though there has been a slight drop in kids and adults playing the sport in the last ten years. This data may show that baseball has lessened its popularity among the younger demographic, possibly because of their short attention spans (Bickley). Baseball’s popularity in the future may be a topic for debate, but what is known for sure is that baseball has been a very popular sport in this country for the past 150 years and has been a large contributor to American culture.

Secondly, using steroids has unfairly helped players smash records, making them huge stars. One of the biggest records broken was the single season home run record, by Mark

The stench of cheating. The stench of hard work being outdone by cheaters and the easy way out. The steroid era was born. “They’re all cheaters to me. Sosa, McGwire, A-rod, Bonds, all of them. I don’t think any of them should make it into the Hall of Fame. I think the records they broke should just be erased. It isn’t fair to the people who played clean. It just isn’t fair. It’s really hard to say that about McGwire since I’m a Cardinals fan, but I mean it. Cheaters are cheaters, and they don’t deserve to have their records stand or to make it into the Hall of Fame. I know plenty of other players that had good careers without the cheating that aren’t in the hall of fame”(Brush). Sometimes a special moment can be taken away after it happened. However, this doesn't take away the original experience that

Babe Ruth was having a historic season and was seen as an icon across the United States of America. According to Richards Vidmer, New York Times sportswriter, Babe Ruth was “bigger than the President.” People around the world watched the New York Yankees as Babe Ruth was hitting home runs left and right, game after game, and just adding up to his historic numbers. Even against some of the greatest pitchers at the time, Ruth stole the show by hitting at least one home run, if not more, against them. Babe Ruth’s play was also inspiring his teammates to play better. New York Yankees pitcher Wilcy Moore, who was “such a bad batter that players would come out of the locker room and venders would pause in their transactions to watch . . .” (Bryson 778) had a home run and numerous hits against the White