A thought...
If Bud Selig really wants to put the "Steroid Era" of baseball to rest once and for all... there's one thing he could do as a symbolic first step:
Abolish the DH.
Think about it. There's no position that personifies the overly-bulked-up ballplayer better than the DH. The DH doesn't need to be able to move well or field a position without hurting himself. He just needs to stand there and swing for the fences.
Now before you take me to task with the obvious hole in my plan... yes, I'm aware that most of the biggest names associated with the steroid scandal thus far -- Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Sheffield, etc., don't DH. That isn't the point.
The idea is not to punish those guys specifically, but rather to return the sport to a focus on all aspects of the game: to pitching and defense and baserunning and even the occasional sacrifice bunt.
Do I expect it to happen? Hell no. But I think it would do more for the game -- in returning the focus to the way the game was played before anyone knew what androstendione was -- than any Barry Bonds investigation ever could.
Posted by Charlie at 3/29/2006 7:29:00 AM
