With the NBA and NFL on the rise, baseball fans are becoming a rare breed. It appears it's time for the MLB to make some drastic changes for popularity; let's resuscitate the steroid era.
It’s no secret that America’s pastime has fallen in popularity in recent years. For many years, Americans have turned to baseball for entertainment. However, in the past decade, MLB ratings have been at an all-time low. The lack of commercialization of the MLB and its superstars paired with the seemingly insignificant nature of a three-hour game at 9 PM on a Wednesday has turned many fans away and towards the NFL and NBA. The falling-out of many of the MLB’s great rivalries and the pace-of-game issues certainly has also contributed.
But it’s not just the regular season that’s been affected; the past decade of World Series TV ratings has ranked lower on average than any other decade in 45 years of televised World Series baseball. Coincidentally, in 2003 the MLB laid down tougher regulations on performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), thus ending the “steroid era,” as defined by 1992-2003 when drug tests were not performed routinely, if ever.
In this era, MLB fans saw the likes of Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens tear up the league and make games fun to watch. MLB ratings soared. During this time, Major League Baseball closed the gap behind the NFL in both viewership and revenue, and the game was simply more enjoyable. More run production, more tape measure home runs, more physical specimens to marvel at—more marketability.
In August of 1998, as the MLB playoffs approached, baseball fans looked to the well-publicized duel between McGwire and Sosa for the home run crown and the single-season record, which stood for 37 years prior. Both would end up destroying the record of 61 home runs held by Roger Maris, with Sosa totaling 66 and McGwire finishing with 70.
Both of these players, among others, were found to have been using PEDs in 2003 (it only took them 5 years to realize that two players who, in the same season, broke the single-season home run record, might’ve been doping), and even at that, there was no tangible evidence to convict these players in court. Despite the drama that ensued after doping in the MLB became public knowledge, many fans would still testify that 1998 was one of the greatest years in MLB history.
So is it really a coincidence that as soon as the MLB became stricter with their steroid policy, viewership decreased? Today’s MLB certainly doesn’t lack stardom––there are plenty of fantastic talents and big names like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, and more recently Aaron Judge. But the MLB has still struggled with marketing and broadcasting their stars. Whether you’d like to admit it or not, steroids changed the game, both literally and figuratively. It changed the game of commercialization; Sosa, Clemens, and McGwire became household names, which is more than can be said about Trout, Harper, and Kershaw.
Even with today’s ever-present media, baseball still can’t catch a break. Mainstream media outlets latch onto ratings, and nowadays the NBA and NFL are dominating these ratings. So what’s the solution? Bring back PEDs.
First off, a clarification: the term “performance enhancing” is a misnomer and a broad, sweeping generalization that lacks sufficient clarity in the MLB rulebook. This is not to say that the MLB isn’t specific enough with its list of banned substances; it is. There are currently 138 banned substances in the MLB. But outside these 138 illicit substances, there are still many which may enhance performance, such as Creatine. Even Adderall, which can technically enhance the brain’s performance and focus, has been permissible to many MLB players, such as Chris Davis, who figure out that they have ADHD when they are adults.
So, just as the NFL’s “catch rule” has become more unclear as administration continues to change it, the MLB’s substance abuse policy has become arbitrary and inconsistent. The only way to truly remedy this is by completely legalizing performance-enhancing drugs.
Let’s be honest, it would make the game more entertaining. Not only would it help batters destroy the ball, but it would also help pitchers throw harder. As it stands, professional athletes put their bodies on the line to make millions, and since when are we, as fans, concerned about the effect of steroids on their bodies? And if the question becomes “what about the integrity of the game?” then consider this: if the past legal battles, suspensions, and uncertainty haven’t already significantly depleted the integrity of the game since 2003, what makes people think legalizing steroids would change anything? Not to mention the withholding of several of MLB’s best players ever from the Hall of Fame (I’ll get to this another time) simply for using.
Listen, I’m not necessarily advocating for publicizing steroids. I’m simply advocating that the MLB give its players the option to use certain performance-enhancing drugs. Many anabolic steroids are prescribed to treat injuries, anyway.
We already let pitchers enhance their performance by getting Tommy John surgery, so why not give both sides a little more juice? I’m as big a fan as any of pitching duels, but I’ve personally seen too many 1-0 ballgames stretch three hours to say that baseball doesn’t need a jumpstart.
Now, who knows how today’s world may react to players using PEDs again, but as we’ve seen with other sports, teams, and players, any publicity is good publicity––and the baseball world could certainly use it.
(Photo via Odyssey)
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