Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants, the 2010 Major League Baseball champions.
By wiping out the Texas Rangers, the Giants won their sixth World Series and first since moving to San Francisco in 1958.
It has been a long time coming for the San Francisco Giants. Just how long has it been?
Let’s have a look.
Of all the major pro sports leagues, Major League Baseball’s postseason is the least valid at crowning a champ. This is for a number of reasons. There is good news, however. Many positive tweaks to the playoff structure have already been discussed. Time to shed light on just what is missing, and what actions should be taken.
Baseball season is by far the longest of any of the four major sports. Most teams, barring rainouts, will slog through 162 contests. Hockey and Basketball teams play 82 games in contrast. (In fact, even with half the number of games, NBA commissioner David Stern is considering a shortened schedule for his league.) It’s a pretty large sample survey from which to judge the quality of a team. It’s too large, in fact.
This becomes painfully obvious when you realize how quickly half the teams in the postseason will last. Imagine playing all those games and then getting swept in the first round after three games. All those must-win games, the pennant chase and the buildup. Gone after a weekend.
So one major flaw becomes obvious at this point. To be successful in the regular season, the team must be built for consistency. Pitching staffs generally need quality out of four or five starters, two or three set-up men and a closer. The lineup needs at least a few sluggers, high on-base percentage players and usually at least one speedster on the basepaths.
This is a recipe for long-term success, and after 162 games, suddenly these important regular season qualities lose much of their value.
Once the first round begins, you can throw them out the window. It’s a best-of-five series after all. Most of the time, the losing team will not even get a whole turn of their rotation. It would seem to me that the team built for regular season depth would not even get to showcase that strength. The criteria suddenly changes. Forget a deep 5 man rotation, a three man rotation with 2 star hurlers will get you further.
Doesn’t it seem a little too quick to send a playoff team home after five games at most?
It’s even worse when you consider how many upsets have taken place. Don’t get me wrong, upsets are what gives sports their luster many times. Upsets are not as exciting if they are so easy to come by. In baseball, too many times the fan is left feeling cheated. Many exciting and talented teams have been sent off to the golf course without even getting a chance to play everyone that contributed during the year.
There is a way to ease this issue. Make every round a seven-game series. Obviously there are some logistics to work out in that case. I will get into that a little further down.
The NHL and NBA already have implemented this structure. And in those leagues, the same players compete every night. If any of the sports had an argument for a shortened first round, it would be them since you are essentially showcasing the same matchup multiple times.
In baseball, there are completely new pitchers each day. It makes for a different feel for each game. And in the current format, there are only eight playoff teams. That means that first round matchups are never duds on paper, since even top seeds vs. bottom seeds have more parity than other sports with double the teams in the postseason. That’s why baseball doesn’t get redundant in October.
Another issue that troubles me is how the rotations are set. If your team is still fighting for a playoff spot in the last few games, they will most likely not be able to give themselves the matchups they want when the postseason arrives. Many people have argued that teams that have clinched earlier should get that advantage. Let’s take a closer look.
This year, the Rays and the Yankees fought for the AL East crown to the wire. These teams also had the two best records in the league. It doesn’t matter if the Rangers clinched their weak divisions much earlier; the two best teams still had work to do.
Why should the Rangers, who had a weaker record in a weaker division, get the advantage of setting their rotation while the two higher quality teams in a tougher division could conceivably be stuck with whoever is rested enough?
This would not be such a significant factor if the first round became a best-of-seven, as all of the pitchers would most likely get a chance somewhere in the series. There should be a three-day break before the playoffs begin. That will allow all of the teams to load up and truly play the best against the best, rather than just who is available each day.
A guaranteed two or three-day period between further playoff series should be instituted as well, for the same reasons. Obviously, as it currently stands, there would be scheduling conflicts. If these changes were in place, any other off-days that aren’t designed for travelling should be eliminated. That way, the teams cannot just skip pitchers. It would be a lot more like the regular season for which these teams are built.
Changing the season from 162 games to 154 would be the best catalyst to make these sorts of improvements. People always have a little hesitation when this idea is brought forth. Most of the time they are concerned about the record books and how to judge new achievements. It would be a pretty safe bet to say that if there were only 154 games in a season, then Barry Bonds could feel really good about keeping the home run record.
But that’s just the point. Many of those records are tarnished anyway. Bonds was an obvious steroid case, as well as many others in the last 20 years. We are now at a point in baseball where we need to be honest with ourselves and admit that all records are subject to fallacy.
Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs in only 154 games. Remember that many felt Roger Maris was a fraud since his 61 homers came in 162 games. There is just is no consistency. Once baseball moves on from this naive notion, things can be streamlined.
With only 154 games, there can be a pause to transition from the regular season to postseason. While pitchers are resting up, Major League Baseball can use the time to build some serious media hype. Imagine all those Game 1’s with staff aces facing off against each other. That’s drama. They will also be available for at least another game if the series goes long. Another plus. More superstars equal more ratings.
Baseball is a sport whose outcomes many times are affected by inches. Sometimes the difference between a winner and a loser can come down to a lucky bounce. The more games that are played with the most consistent preparation are a better measure of who is deserving of the title.
Don’t worry though. Upsets will still be plentiful. The only difference (with the new rules in effect) is that upsets will seem much more significant. To grant a much higher degree of validity to the World Series Champion, these changes would go a long way. After that maybe we can get rid of the designated hitter as well, since both leagues should play by the same rules (especially in the playoffs). But for right now, this would be a major improvement.
-Follow me on Twitter (@ChiBdm)
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As a New York Yankees fan it is easy to get to know the players in the American League.
Due to geographical circumstances and interleague play, I have learned more about some of the teams in the National League, like the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Over the past few seasons, the San Francisco Giants have not come to the Bronx and have not factored in the postseason.
The Giants actually resided in New York City from 1930-57, in which the franchise won five World Championships and 17 pennants. Since making the move to San Francisco, the city still awaits for their Giants to bring a World Series title to the Bay.
Mainly known as the home to starting ace Tim Lincecum (“The Freak”), who has won the Cy Young Award the past two seasons, the Giants are another team residing in the NL West along with the Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
The organization’s biggest star, Barry Bonds disgraced the team’s mainstay. It seemed that the last special baseball moment for the Giants was Bonds hitting for his home-run record. It is his record because MLB can’t count it as baseball history when it was unauthentic.
Other than a cheat and a freak, there wasn’t much reason to get to the Giants over the last five seasons, until now.
After watching a few Giants games I understand their team’s appeal. The Giants players are scrappy, good, fundamental baseball players who are darn fun to watch because they never seem to give up.
STRENGTHS:
The team’s biggest asset is pitching. Three aces: Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner, follow Lincecome.
The Giants starters finished the regular season with a 3.36 ERA, which was the lowest in baseball. The Giants rotation also tossed a total of 1461 innings, gave up the least hits with 1279, 546 earned runs, and struck out the most batters.
All stats led the majors for 2010. They tied for third place with the Dodgers and Marlins for the least home-runs allowed with 134 in total.
The Giants have the top closer in baseball, Brian Wilson. A guy I would want on my team. Not only can Wilson shutdown batters, but he radiates a superior, daunting presence from the mound, making batters wince. Wilson led the majors with 57 saves in 73 save opportunities.
The Giants only offensive strength comes from pure, home-run hitting power. It is the only way the Giants know how to win.
Strategy is finding a way to beat the other team by holding up the opponent’s hitters and capitalizing at the plate on the two, three or four mistakes the opponent’s pitchers inevitably make.
WEAKNESSES:
The Giants approach has no surprises.
Slow is an understatement, as the team is tied with the cubs for the slowest runners in baseball stealing just 55 bases on the season.
The batters hit into a lot of double plays and rely too much on home-runs with nothing else as an offensive back-up. It explains how the Giants wins/losses coincide with the starting pitcher’s performance.
It is not a safe way to make the playoffs, as small ball can get a team those extra wins when other aspects are slumping. In many ways the Giants are an upgraded or superior version of the Toronto Blue Jays, as Toronto’s pitching keeps improving so does the team’s record.
How do I think the Giants will do against the Texas Rangers?
The Giants pitchers need to set the tone and dominate the games from the start. Other than Cliff Lee, the Texas Rangers pitching doesn’t hold a candle to the Giants. Keeping the speedy Rangers completely off the base-pads is essential.
I see no reason why the Giants couldn’t win it in six, only because Lee will win both his starts almost without a doubt.
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Ken Burns’ documentary The Tenth Inning aired nationally last week, picking up on his original nine-inning documentary series, Baseball. One of the central themes of the documentary was how rampant steroid use in baseball shaped the state of the game from the post-strike period until now.
Now, I’m not here to review the doc, which was great. I’m here to give a little perspective on steroid use in baseball. My opinion started to evolve this summer while working in the minors as the broadcast and media relations intern for the Kinston Indians, Cleveland’s Advanced-A affiliate. Burns’ documentary only helped to reinforce those new-found beliefs.
I used to be like the majority of baseball fans, disgusted that these macho players had taken more shots than a frat guy on his 21st birthday and were cheating their way into the record books. This past season made me realize that baseball is so much harder than people think. Fans believe that players just show up, take batting practice and play baseball, and have the easiest and best job in the world.
What most fans don’t appreciate is the difficulty of surviving the grind of playing stretches that can be as many as 30 days in a row without a off day. The players go through 140 games in a minor league season and 162 in the majors. I was just working for the team in a non-labor intensive job, and even I was mentally and physically exhausted by the time mid-August came around.
The players, who are going through workouts, batting practice and the game itself, are all afflicted by bumps, bruises and injuries of some sort. There is not a single player that isn’t hurting and/or tired by the time the stretch run comes around.
How much do you think minor league ballplayers make? Sure, early-round draft picks make big bonuses, but after that, everyone might as well be selling popcorn at the stadium for how much they get in salary.
Where am I going with this? There are so many players trying to make it to the majors and fringe major leaguers fighting just to keep their jobs. Those that have a fairly stable spot in the majors, still have the battle to make more money and gain recognition along with winning awards and championships.
It takes so much more than talent to be successful in baseball. Players have to be able to stay consistent through the everyday grind and avoid major injury.
Along came steroids. Here’s a drug that will help your body recover through the long grind of a season, increase strength and muscle and improve baseball performance. That helps players to get to the majors, stay in the majors and make more money. Oh, and everyone is doing it, so if you don’t, the playing field is tilted against you. Good luck making it to the major leagues, young prospect, and good luck staying there, crafty veteran.
I almost forgot to mention, baseball is the one sport where you can do steroids and get away with it! They won’t even test you!
Of course, there are a plethora of short-term side effects and long-term health risks that arise with steroids that still make them wise to turn down.
I don’t know who originally said this but it makes sense: “If you could take a shot or a pill to earn more money at your job wouldn’t you do it?” Baseball players are constantly in the spotlight and are under immense pressure to perform at the highest level.
My intent is not to apologize for the players, but just to present their reasoning. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire are the faces of the steroid era for their record-breaking performances, but there were plenty of unidentified users during that time period who in some way owed their jobs to the juice.
It’s a sad commentary on that time, and it’s refreshing to see some signs that the era is over. There have been six no-hitters in 2010, including Roy Halladay’s postseason no-no on Wednesday. According to Baseball-Reference.com, this season featured the lowest ERAs in each league since 1992 and fewest home runs per game since 1993. The purists are thrilled, but those who grew up in the homer-happy era might start pining for the long ball sometime soon.
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Tonight, a showdown in San Francisco could pop the top off of what up until now may have been this year’s most underrated story in sports: the San Francisco Giants clinching an MLB postseason appearance for the first time since the Barry Bonds era.
The lack of Bonds’ bat seems to be getting filled for the time being by left fielder Pat Burrell, who knocked in all the runs the bay area Tall Boys needed to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday night along with seven nasty innings from pitcher Tim Lincecum.
Burrell, despite his season .250 batting average, is earning his nickname of
“Pat the Bat” at the most clutch possible time for the Giants in the regular season.
The Chicago Cubs helped the Giants take care of business by beating the Padres Wednesday night as well with just a single run scored.
The Giants, currently on a four-game win streak, need only one victory to clinch a playoff spot over the Padres as of Friday night’s game. If SD wins, the Giants will need to finish their series with two victories to clinch.
Though the Giants are hot and the Padres seem to have fizzled—finding just about every way possible to lose in the last days of the 2010 season—the Giants are expecting a juiced San Diego team to face them Friday night.
“We want San Diego to come in,” said Brian Wilson, the Tall Boys’ closer, to news reporters regarding the game. “We want to play good baseball and that’s what we’re going to get. That’s the way the story’s been written this year.”
And what a story it might turn out to be; though the playoff picture has been painted in less exciting colors than many MLB writers and bloggers might have liked, you can bet a raucous crowd will be in attendance throughout the series in San Francisco this weekend hoping the tint turns in favor of orange and black.
Expect the media to jump all over the post-Bonds bandwagon should the Giants and their fans get that wish.
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Last night, after I put my son to bed I sat down on my couch with a beer and my dog and began watching The Tenth Inning, the sequel to Ken Burns’s Baseball.
A quick review is that the documentary is fantastic, and if you haven’t seen it yet, find out what channel you’re local PBS is on and check it out.
There was a lovely segment on my Red Sox finally winning the World Series (after 88 years) in 2004, but the segment that really caught my attention was on Barry Bonds‘ chase of Hammerin’ Hank Aaron’s career home run record.
We all now know about baseball’s dirty little secret, the Steroid Era, and we know who most of the culprits were.
But of course, during the early days of the witch hunt, there was really only one name in baseball synonymous with steroids, and that was Barry Bonds.
Like I’ve said, we now know it went much deeper than just Bonds, but it was Bonds who reached for the sun.
Bonds was very much like Icarus, and flew too close, so of course he got burned.
During this era of baseball (which some people like to label a dark time), I was very much on the fence of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs).
Being a former high school ball player, I knew just how difficult it was to hit a baseball. No matter how big and strong you were, if you didn’t have the hand-eye coordination or the right swing, you weren’t going to hit the ball out of the infield.
Of course that argument falls on deaf ears when it comes to baseball purists.
You know the type, whether they’re at the game or at home they’re keeping score on their own score card. You can mention any obscure player or statistic, and they’ll tell you the history of it.
To these folk, PEDs are the ultimate sin.
These were the sports writers who were at Bonds’ locker after every game asking the same question, “Did you use steroids?”
And as soon as the Balco story broke, they were like bloodhounds after a fox in the English country side.
With each home run Bonds drew one more step closer to the immortal Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, and everyone (except Giants fans) seem to hate him for it.
He would receive racist and threatening mail on a daily basis, as well as the most venomous slanders while playing the field at visiting stadiums.
He even commented on Dodger Stadium, claiming to love playing there, and that one must be really good for 56,000 people to shout “you suck.”
Barry laughed as he said all this, but you could see it in his eyes that he didn’t like any of it.
From his early days with the Pittsburgh Pirates, all the way to the end of his career in 2007 with the Giants, he was always a quiet player, that some labeled as surly and unfriendly with the media, and often he was.
But even when he would go on tangents and claim he didn’t care what people thought of him, you could hear in his voice that he did. You could tell that he wanted to be liked much like his godfather Willie Mays, but didn’t know how to do it.
And once the Balco scandal broke, he had no chance of ever becoming that type of player.
The scrutiny of Bonds became so great that once he was approaching Hank Aaron’s record, Hammerin’ Hank said he wouldn’t attend the possible record-breaking games, and commissioner Bud Selig said he wasn’t sure if he’d be there—and he wasn’t.
Regardless of what baseball and its purist wanted, it was going to happen.
And unlike Mark McGwire’s and Sammy Sosa’s chase for Roger Maris’ single-season record, which is also now held by Bonds, there was almost no fanfare.
Unless you lived in San Fransisco, you didn’t care.
Fathers weren’t waking their sons out of bed to witness history, and unlike other memorable sports moments, most people can’t tell you where they were when it happened. I know I can’t. Much like Arbor Day, it came and went and no one really noticed.
As I continued watching this account, three years removed, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Bonds.
Every question from every reporter seemed like an attack on the man. Maybe he deserved it for using PEDs, but at the same time I can’t help but wonder if Bonds was just some middle infielder not chasing Ruth and Aaron would he be getting this treatment?
Or, if he were a more lovable player with the attitude of say a Cal Ripken Jr. or Ken Griffey Jr., even with the Balco scandal, would he still be getting such flack?
Honestly, I think no.
Bonds was the perfect personification of what people didn’t like about the steroid era of baseball.
Bonds kept to himself and would often become testy with reporters, especially after a loss, and he just made it easy to root against him. I dare think had he not been such a talented baseball player, he could have made a great career as a heel in pro wrestling.
Now that we seem to be on the upswing from the steroid era (only Jose Bautista has hit more that 50 home runs this season) I look on that era with a fresh view.
Baseball, more so than any other American sport, is forever changing.
Since Babe Ruth has played there has been several increases in the number of games played per season, there are West Coast teams now, night games, black, Latino, and Japanese players are now in the game, there have been advances in the way players train, and advances in equipment.
Every single one of those things listed have enhanced the game, and have made it more entertaining to watch.
And isn’t that what baseball, and all sports for that matter, are? Entertainment?
Until all of the grand juries and Congressional hearings, I didn’t hear Bud Selig complain about attendance or all the revenue made by all of the juiced home runs being hit.
In fact, the fans weren’t even complaining.
There are those of us out there who are entertained by a pitching duel, but the vast majority of people out there want to see the long ball.
They want to see players like McGwire and Bonds hit the ball impossibly high and far, they want to see guys hit 50-60 home runs a year and they might pretend they care about steroids, but they honestly don’t.
So what is it that I’m saying?
Are steroids good for baseball?
If you want to talk from a monetary and entertainment stand point, then probably. The more excitement and the more home runs people see, the more the casual observer is likely to come out to the ballpark.
But if you want to keep the game pure (as if it ever was once money got involved), then probably not.
But then again was baseball ever really pure?
Even in the Golden Era, you had gambling scandals like the Black Sox, one of the all-time greatest hitters, Ty Cobb, was a foul-mouthed racist who purposely sharpened his spikes and cleated players.
You had a league that purposely kept black players out, and Saint Ruth was also a womanizing, beer-swilling buffoon, that was more like Kenny Powers, than the lovable big man we make him out to be in all those black and white reels.
So, the steroid era seems like a black-eye in baseball now, but like all other eras when we’re so many years removed from it, we’ll forget about all that bad stuff and romanticize about good stuff that happened.
Like the 2004 Red Sox’s unbelievable comeback over the Yankees, the amazing run by the Colorado Rookies to the 2007 World Series, the farewell of maybe baseball’s greatest player Ken Griffey Jr.
Those are the things that will be remembered 20 years down the road, not the scandals.
Take steroids for what they are. You either care or you don’t, me I’ll admit I loved seeing all those balls fly out of the park, tradition or no tradition, it was fun to watch.
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The ’90s were an interesting time for baseball. We saw the first Canadian world champion and a strike that devastated the game.
We saw the reemergence of the Evil Empire and one of the classiest men in baseball break the consecutive games started streak, and we saw a home run chase that made baseball America’s pastime once again.
This was all fueled by the players themselves. I made this list based on many factors including stats, accolades, impact on the game, and my own opinion, among other things.
Last night, Jose Bautista became the first player in the Majors to hit 50 home runs this season, and, with only a week remaining in the regular season, he may be the last as well.
Wait…what? Who? Huh?
That would be the standard reaction from most baseball fans, spanning from the casual observer to the most diligent follower.
The first question to consider, of course, is, who in the world is Jose Bautista?
Before his breakout performance this season, Bautista was most notable for being the first and only player to be on five different Major League rosters in a single season–the Orioles, the Devil Rays, the Royals, the Pirates, and the Mets.
To be fair, he only ever played for four of those teams that year, as he was traded to Pittsburgh by New York before he ever set foot in Shea Stadium after being acquired by way of Kansas City.
Complicated, perplexing, but impressive nonetheless.
Such goes for his play in 2010 as well.
After hitting only 59 homers in six previous seasons, Bautista is now far and away the Major League leader in round-trippers this season.
Some would say they could see it coming, if not to this extent.
Bautista had long been a highly-regarded prospect among professional baseball scouts, many of whom predicted he could be something of a power hitter if he ever learned to make contact more consistently.
The 29-year-old from the Dominican Republic showed glimpses of his true potential toward the end of last season, when he was given a spot in the starting line-up following the departures of Scott Rolen to Cincinnati and Alex Rios to Chicago. Bautista finished the season with a modest 13 home runs, but 10 of those came in September, while he was playing every day.
Carry that performance over to this season, and perhaps Bautista‘s breakout shouldn’t be quite the surprise it has turned out to be.
Such a surprise, in fact, that it’s difficult for anyone who has followed baseball in the so-called “Steroid Era” not to wonder whether Bautista‘s spike in performance can or should be attributed to performance-enhancing drugs.
His statistically meteoric rise resembles that seen in the career of Luis Gonzalez.
Before joining the Arizona Diamondbacks and becoming one of the most popular players in the short history of the club, Gonzo spent eight years with three different teams, establishing himself as a solid hitter (a batting average of .300) who lacked the power needed to man a corner outfield spot (15 home runs in those eight seasons).
Like Bautista, Gonzalez started to show glimpses of power in the years leading up to his breakout season, smacking 31 homers while hitting .336 in 1999, a performance which he closely replicated in 2000.
Gonzo had his big year in 2001, when he hit 57 dingers, which fell far short of Barry Bonds’ 73 that year but still ranks as the ninth most ever by a National League player.
Though Gonzalez has never been directly accused of or admitted to steroid use, he’s still been linked to the cause, thanks to the inclusion of former teammate Jason Grimsley in the Mitchell Report and his alleged inclusion on the infamous “secret list” of positive tests from 2003.
Even without any actual evidence of PED use by Gonzo, it’s difficult to ignore the uptick in his performance, especially in an era of baseball tarnished by rampant steroid use and abuse.
Which brings Jose Bautista back into the discussion. He, like Gonzo, is a journeyman ballplayer who showed glimpses of potential for years before busting out with a 50-homer season that far outpaces any of his previous performances.
Of course, Gonzo had been a line-up regular before his 2001 anomaly while Bautista had never starting consistently over an entire season until this year.
Add to that the fact that Bautista is just now in the prime of his athletic life and that he’s not the only Blue Jay who’s mashing this season (Vernon Wells, Aaron Hill, Adam Lind) and perhaps the potential for tarnish begins to wear off.
But even so, in this day and age of seeming calm following the storm that sprung from MLB‘s Steroid Era, it’s difficult, perhaps even irresponsible, to ignore the possibility that Jose Bautista‘s landmark 2010 season just another one among a mountain of potentially fraudulent performances.
For the sake of Jose Bautista, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the entire sport of baseball, one can only hope that’s not the case.
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It’s time to make the cuts. Spring training is over, the contracts have been signed. Now it’s time to play some ball.
But who should actually play? There have been a lot of great players in San Francisco Giants history.
Bonds, Mays, McCovey, Cepeda.
The list goes on endlessly. But let’s cut it down to the best 25. How would you put a roster together?
How many pitchers do you carry? How many lefties?
I need a backup catcher, don’t I?
No matter how you build a team, you need to have a solid base and a pitching staff that will carry you the distance.
This will illustrate the entire pitching staff, bench, and starting lineup.
Let’s see what it looks like.
Hank Aaron was recently at the US Open to receive the U.S. Tennis Association’s “Breaking the Barriers” award.
While there he was asked about Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and the steroid era in baseball as a whole.
Aaron was able to sum up his thoughts in a single word:
“Saddened,” Aaron said. “I’m not a judge and I’m not a juror, and I don’t know who’s guilty and who’s what. I’m just saddened for baseball and saddened for Clemens and Bonds, both.”
Aaron said he hasn’t given any thought to whether Bonds’ or Clemens’ achievements should stand as they are or be accompanied with an asterisk.
“I have too much to worry about to worry about Clemens and Bonds,” Aaron said.
Although Aaron probably has a lot to say on this issue, he chose the humble and admirable route of keeping quiet and taking the high road.
Aaron could have easily caused a media scene. He could have said he feels asterisks should be adjacent to the records. He could have said he should still be the “Home Run King.”
Instead, he pushed the issue to the side and, in a sense, told the world he was ready to move on. He admitted he was saddened by what had happened to baseball over the past few years but was reluctant to go into detail.
Aaron realizes that the records are there and his opinion is not going to change them. No matter what Aaron says, baseball will do whatever baseball wants to do, so there is no point in talking about steroids all the time.
This is something admirable and something that needs to be copied by many others. Aaron made the right choice by avoiding the steroids topic as much as he could.
If baseball wants to move past this issue, it is going to need to copy this approach and avoid talking about steroids as much as possible.
Obviously, they cannot ignore a whole era of baseball and questions will continue to be brought up, but baseball should avoid it as much as possible. If someone is caught using them, then talk about it. When Clemens is in court, talk about it. Otherwise, focus the attention on the playoff races and the rest of the 2010 season.
The whole steroid conversation has begun to feel like Brett Favre in that it is something that never seems to go away.
Thankfully at least one person, Hank Aaron, seems to be just as tired of steroids and wants baseball to move forward.
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