It seemed so sweet at the time. Both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were on their “Magical Mystery Homerun Tour” each doing their best to revive America’s pastime from the dead. Revive is what they did, but no one knew how. Yet, some might have a clue today as to how they went about their business back in that magical summer of ’98. The game of baseball had seemed so innocent at the time. Everyone had been aware of McGwire power ability, and Sosa’s lovability. People were even aware of McGwire taking androstenedione – which at the time was not on the banned substances list for Major League Baseball. Yet, people had no clue what might have been in the lovable Sammy Sosa’s bat. Fans weren’t aware of baseball’s drug all of the players were all seemingly using, and they sure as hell weren’t aware of baseball players’ secret hangout place called BALCO.
Flash forward to the baseball Congressional hearing, where five players who are associated with Major League Baseball were subpoenaed to testify before Congress. Two players are retired from the game, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. The three other players consisted of Rafael Palmero, Sammy Sosa, and Curt Schilling whom all have significant importance to the game of baseball. While testifying, all five players seemed to do so to the beat of their own drum while trying to accomplish two things. First, to try and make members of Congress happy by supplying them with as much information as possible without giving too much away, while at the same time, try and not ruin reputations that had already been somewhat tarnished for some players.
During the Congressional hearing, each player seemed to have had personal questions set aside for themselves from certain members of Congress. The one player whom seemed to have been asked the most questions was Jose Canseco. With the information in which Canseco provided in his book Juiced, it seemed as though he knew more about the topic of steroids than a medical doctor did. One might ask why Canseco is all of a sudden willing to reveal so much information about steroids? The first answer that comes to a person’s mind is the fact that Canseco is retired, and that he has nothing else to gain from the game of baseball except expose it as much as he can. Second, everyone knows that Jose’s in it for the money. All the man is trying to do is make a buck since his career has been over for years, while at the same time, attempting to show off his new tan each and every day.
As members of Congress grilled Canseco on the issue of steroids, his old partner in crime, or Bash Brother, was only sitting four seats to the left of him. Mark McGwire was thought of by most to have completely ruined his reputation while at the hearing. All Big Mac talked about was how he wanted to turn this negative situation into a positive, yet he was the one to have done the most damage to Major League Baseball. At one point, McGwire even wept from reading story of a high school baseball player in Texas who had resulted to taking steroids to better improve his high school career- the consequences for the teenager led to being deadly for the baseball player. Once an automatic lock for the Baseball Hall of Fame after breaking the single season homerun record once held by Roger Maris, now at best McGwire has at best a 50/50 shot of being inducted into the Hall. With a career based only on power, and with a new piece of evidence linking McGwire to steroids seemingly unveiling everyday, the former homerun king might find voters turning the other way when it’s all said and done.
Before coming into the Congressional hearing, Sammy Sosa had already had a full plate of allegations facing him from previous incidents- most notably from the corked bat incident stemming a few seasons back. Sosa, along with McGwire, helped bring fans back to the game of baseball that they used to so dearly love during the infamous summer of ’98. Following that summer, with a string of 60 or better homer run seasons was what landed Sosa in front of Congress. With no previous seasons of any offensive firepower from Sosa, Congress had no choice, but to question him on the topic of performance enhancing drugs.
As far as Rafael Palmero goes, he is a man who blatantly denies of ever using steroids. As far as what fans think, some believe that Palmero isn’t telling the whole truth. Some might question the acts of Palmero, after joining up with the steroid king, Jose Canseco, while playing for the Texas Rangers. After the two uniting as teammates for the Rangers, Palmero ever since has had a boost in his statistics from which he previously didn’t have before joining Canseco. And with Palmero being a member of the 500 home run club, and gaining on the 3,000 hit club, some might wonder if Palmero actually earned all of those illustrious stats.
Among players in baseball, Curt Schilling is viewed as a player who is a man of his word. Schilling, from expressing his thoughts on Quest Tec, to expressing his feelings toward what he felt as though was the best scenario was to shutting up 50,000 Yankee fans, Congress felt as though they could use such a man’s insight and feelings toward the topic of steroids. When being asked if he knew of any players using steroids, Schilling pleaded the fifth claiming that he wasn’t a “Rat”, and that he wouldn’t snitch on anyone mainly because he felt that it wasn’t appropriate. And to what Schilling says about him using steroids, he strongly denies ever using such a substance, and most fans will more than likely believe what he has to say.
As for trying to turn this negative situation into a positive one, that clearly wasn’t accomplished. Testifying before Congress was only an event to give such members an insight on what might be possibly is going on inside of the game of baseball. And from going from the “Summer of ’98” to now, clearly this was a positive that was turned into a negative.