John H Armstrong

World Series 2009

The New York Yankees are the definition of the greatest franchise in all of professional sports. They just won their fortieth American League championship of all time. If you are a historian of the game you know how truly amazing this number is. No one else is remotely close. This year the Yankees dispensed with the Twins and the Angels with relative ease. Now they face the best team they have played so far, the reigning World Series Champion Philadelphia Phils. If I had to pick a winner this evening it would have to be the Yankees. The Phils are tested and strong, especially when it comes to team chemistry and hitting. But after Cliff Lee they are not as solid as N.Y. in starting pitching and their bullpen does not compare.

These have to be the best two starting lineups in baseball. Both can mash the ball and manufacture runs both. And both are always able to come from behind and win when down early in the game by four or five runs. So this could be a great offensive series. Expect more than a few home runs playing in two of the most home run friendly parks in all of baseball.

Both teams have good starters, or at least two good starters. My concern for the Phils is with Cole Hammels. He was dominant last year but has never regained that level of excellence this season. This has carried over into the post-season and now he may be the weak link in the Phils starting rotation. When C. C. Sabathia and Cliff Lee match up the irony is really strong---only a year ago, before the trade deadline, they were both pitching for the Cleveland Indians. Now they square off against one another representing Philadelphia and New York. They should both give us solid starting pitching for at least two, maybe three, games.The "wild card" for the Phils is the old veteran Pedro Martinez. How will he fare against the Yankees?

In my view the bullpen strongly favors the Yankees. Watching the Phils play the Braves a lot during the regular season it was obvious that the Phils bullpen was not dependable. Brad Lidge has not been a solid closer and this could well cost Philadelphia a game in this potentially tough series. Mariano Rivera, on the other hand, just gets it done in the post-season. Advantage: Yankees.

So, my guess is that the Yankees win in six or seven games in a very entertaining series. It could turn out to be a great series of both teams play at their best but I think the Yanks will prevail in the end. Joe Girardi has proven to be a great manager, winning in both Florida and New York. He is the manager the Cubs really wanted. If he wins he does it in his second year in the pressure cooker called New York. I am not a huge fan of either team but I will enjoy the series, as always. Real baseball fans look forward to these games and remember them for a long, long time. "Play Ball."

Baseball: And Then There Were Four

 
Now we know the four teams that will vie for the pennant in their respective leagues. I have said that the Dodgers would win the National League since early in the season. I stand by that prediction more than ever. In seven games their pitching, overall, will beat the Phils. The wild card here is pitcher Cliff Lee, who is dominating at this stage in the season. The Dodgers in seven.

In the American League my heart wants to say the Angels will make it an all-So Cal series but I think the Yankees are just too loaded to lose this year. Yankees in six with the Angels giving them a good run for their money.

If this happens you will have a classic Dodgers vs. Yankees series. That brings back some great history for fans like me who love the game and its long history. LA vs. NY. The two largest cities in America. The network television folks will love it. Prime time stuff. Regardless of who wins the major markets are sure to be represented in this World Series. That is probably good for baseball but again the teams that spent the big money made it. Baseball still hasn't fixed this problem the way football, basketball and hockey have fixed it. I wish they would but it is not likely anytime soon.

The Dog Days of Baseball Are Here

For the die hard baseball fan the month of August is the "dog days." I am not sure where this term comes from but it suggests the idea of hot, sticky, hard and challenging. These are the days that set baseball apart from all other sports because it comes down to perseverance and a strong mental attitude that can endure great odds. These guys have been playing and traveling and grinding it out since late February. But on August 1st there are still sixty-plus games to be played. That is almost as many games as an NBA team, or an NHL team, will play in a whole season.

Real fans get into the game during the dog days. Their team will either die this month or stay in the chase and make the final days really fun. Some teams will fade away and some will rise, as the Rockies did a few years ago. This is what makes the dog days of August so much fun for the fan. If your team is fading you have only one consolation: football is almost here. If you are like me then it is college football you anticipate so you have something to hold on to while your baseball hopes fade away in the dog days.

So, I will go out on the baseball limb and make some dog day predictions. First, I am impressed by the Dodgers. This team learned a ton by making the postseason last year. Their young guns have arrived and they are playing as a real team for manager Joe Torre. Torre is clearly one of the truly great managers in the modern era. My respect for his success in New York has only grown since they won those championships. While many said that anyone could win with what Torre had in New York the truth is that no one else could or did. Torre knows how to lead a team and get them to play together, at least in most instances.

My only angst about this particular Dodger team is Manny Ramirez, one of those players I really do not like. Mike Timlin, a former teammate of Manny's, recently told The Sporting News that Manny will always have a positive and negative effect on a team. I quote Timlin: "He will always care to a point, and then when it suits him he will become the person who will not play as hard or will come up with some injury so he can have time off. I really love Manny. He is a great person and loves this game, but sometimes does not go all out like others do." That is not what you want a former teammate saying in the dog days.

The Phillies are coming on and with the acquisition of Cliff Lee from Cleveland they pulled off a coup. But I think the Dodgers are very hungry and talented at almost every position. They both have good closers but I give LA the nod here as well. The NL clearly has two great teams this year. What about the others? As of today I would pick the Colorado Rockies to be the wild card team and the St. Louis Cardinals to win the Central. The Cubs just keep finding ways to do what the Cubs always do: choke! I still love the sign: "Cubs Magic Number: 9-1-1." The Cubs are just not going to get any love from me, ever. They are not even lovable losers anymore, just a team with problems and personalities that do nothing for me. Think: Soriano and Bradley if you get my drift. Kevin Gregg's two blown saves in Florida a few days ago underscore my point.

Second, in the AL I am impressed by no one yet. I thought the Yankees would take it during July but watching them lose 3 of 4 games to the White Sox this weekend showed me a lot of their weaknesses. I just do not think their pitching is good enough to carry them all the way but we shall see. The Red Sox have had their mini-slump and I think they have snapped out of it again. I also think the White Sox, with the acquisition of Jake Peavey, will win the Central. The Sox have the pitching to be dangerous in the post season. The Angels should win the West but Texas could surprise us. The heat in Arlington will be tough in the dog days. The wild card? Likely the Yankees or the Red Sox since they will battle to the finish line for first in the AL East. Who wins the pennant? The Red Sox or the Yankees. I would guess Boston right now.

If I had to pick, and it is way too early, I would guess the National League, which top to bottom is weaker than the American League, would win the World Series again. Both the Dodgers and the Phillies have the mo-jo that I do not see yet in the good AL teams. Having said this there can always be a huge surprise. Remember, the Tampa Bay Rays won the AL last year. Could a wild card sneak in as is so often the case? You bet. This season is a long way from over which makes it another great season for real baseball fans.

The Greatest Baseball Pitcher I Ever Saw

Greg Maddux, clearly one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, was honored last Friday by his reception into the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame. In four more years Maddux will be chosen by the writers for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. The only reason it will take this long is because the rules for induction require a five-year period following retirement.

Greg Maddux was the best pitcher I saw pitch in my lifetime. I saw a whole lot of great ones pitch in person. I had the privilege of seeing Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Ferguson Jenkins and a host of other great pitchers from the 1950s until today. But Greg Maddux is still the best, at least for my money. He was clearly the smartest pitcher I ever saw perform, which I shall explain in a moment.

For those who don’t follow baseball Greg Maddux was the first pitcher in major league history to win the Cy Young Award for four consecutive years (1992-1995), a feat matched only by Randy Johnson (1999-2002), another first ballot Hall of Fame pitcher. During the four consecutive seasons that Maddux won his awards he had a 75-29 record with a 1.98 ERA. He allowed less than one runner per inning over the course of those four years. I saw him pitch at least six to eight times during this four season stretch. I saw him in Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Cincinnati. There was no one better, including the famed Roger Clemons. Watching Maddux carve up a team was like watching a master portrait painter do his work on a huge canvass.

Greg Maddux is the only pitcher in MLB history to win at least 15 games for 17 straight seasons, thus he was a model of consistency and perseverance.He was also one of best fielders to ever play his position. He won eighteen Gold Gloves. Maddux never threw hard, maybe hitting 90 in his prime, and yet he is eighth on the all-time career wins list with 355 victories. In a record that you do not hear about very often Maddux pitched 51 consecutive innings in 1995 without issuing a single walk. I remember the night the streak was finally broken and how disappointed I was. I felt he could have done it for 50 more innings since he was that good.

Since the start of the post-1920 live-ball era only Warren Spahn (363) recorded more career wins than Greg Maddux. And both Maddux and Spahn pitched for my team, the Braves. What more could a die-hard fan ask for? The games these two greats pitched were usually short, well-pitched and interesting to analyze if you were a thinking fan who really got into the ebb-and-flow of the game.

I had the privilege of meeting Greg Maddux once. (He did not attend chapel when I spoke on several different occasions.) He was a truly gracious superstar who always showed respect for others and the game of baseball. He was raised a military kid and spent a great deal of his childhood overseas. He was taught to pitch by his dad and then trained by a coach in Las Vegas who taught him to throw softer when he was in a jam, not harder. This was one of Greg Maddux’s most unique approaches to pitching. He would take something off a pitch and the hitters would get themselves out. When asked about this philosophy of pitching Maddux said, “I believed it. I don’t know why. I just did.” Besides being a staff ace Maddux influenced other pitchers on his teams over the course of his career, making many believe he would be a great pitching coach if he ever chose to pursue such a career. (It is rumored the Braves would like to hire him to help them next year.)

After being signed and developed by the Cubs (where he won his first Cy Young Award) the general manager of the Cubs made a huge mistake and allowed Maddux to leave the organization, thus he signed with the Atlanta Braves. I still remember the day that I heard the Braves had signed him. I shouted out loud in my car: “We are going to be really good for a long time! This will be fun.” I saw Greg make his Braves' debut in person when he was the Braves opening day starter against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, beating his former teammates 1–0. The fans booed him for the entire game but the Braves fans enjoyed a memorable beginning to a great run of success over the next eleven years.

Perhaps the most interesting game Maddux ever pitched is one that is rarely talked about. On May 28, 1995, he beat the Houston Astros, losing a no-hitter on an eighth-inning home run to famed slugger Jeff Bagwell. What is not talked about is how Maddux pitched to Bagwell that evening. He had told his catcher, Eddie Perez, that he was never to call for an inside pitch to Bagwell all night. In the eight inning, with the Braves leading 8-0 and Maddux having a no-hitter, he insisted they pitch Bagwell inside. Bagwell crushed an inside pitch and the Braves won 8-1. Maddux lost his shutout and, more importantly, his no-hit bid. What is amazing about this pitch was that Maddux was later asked by Perez why he changed his mind about pitching inside to Bagwell. Maddux answered, “I may have to see him in a crucial post-season game so I threw him that pitch when it didn’t matter that much in order to put that into his mind. The next time he sees me in the late innings, and the game might really matter a lot more, he will remember.” Well, Maddux did face Bagwell in the post-season and the bases were loaded with the game on the line. Bagwell was looking for that same inside pitch on a 3-2 count. Maddux refused to give it to him and Bagwell, fooled by the Maddux pitch choice, struck out! I can’t think of a single story that better explains why Greg Maddux’s style and determination are admired by everyone who knows the game of baseball. He knew how to pitch and thus accomplished more with less power and raw ability than any pitcher in our lifetime.

The Braves retired Maddux's number 31 last week. At the luncheon held that day Bobby Cox said, "I get asked all the time was he the best pitcher I ever saw.” And I am asked "Was he the smartest pitcher I ever saw? The most competitive I ever saw? The best teammate I ever saw? The answer is yes to all of those."  From a future Hall of Fame manager that is high praise. As a lifelong fan I have to agree. He was clearly the best I ever saw.

The Sad Legacy of Sammy Sosa

The breaking Chicago news, on Tuesday evening, was: “Sammy Sosa took performance enhancing drugs to become a superstar slugger.” Surprise, surprise! And this is the same guy who told the U.S. Senate committee that he never took drugs. But the June 16 New York Times report on baseball players who tested positive included Sammy's name. Now we know.

Anyone who watched Sosa’s career as I did, living here in the Windy City, knew Sammy was not built the way he became in the late 1990s because of simple hard work. He went from a slender young ballplayer to a huge slugger within about two years. Following the 1997 season, when Sammy saw Mark McGwire getting all those accolades for hitting big home runs, things changed for Sammy big time. Sammy drank up what he saw in the Cardinal star and Sammy needed the same attention. Says Barry Rosner, a great Chicago baseball writer, “Sosa craved attention and drank it up when he got it.” After 1997 he got it. In 1998 he weighed in at least thirty pounds more than he did at the end of the ’97 season.

This Sammy Sosa is also the same guy who corked a bat and then said it was for batting practice only. This Sammy Sosa is also the same guy who walked away from his team before the season ended a few years later. And this Sammy Sosa is the guy I watched run out to right field to the cheers of his adoring fans during his glory days with the Cubs. But this is the same Sammy Sosa who tarnished the sport and ruined his chance for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, an honor he craves.

The sad part is that many feel that Sosa could have been a very good five-tool baseball player who would have been a star without cheating. But Sammy had to have the praise and he was willing to pay the price to get it. Sadly, the Chicago Cubs looked the other way too. So did Bud Selig, the excuse for a baseball commissioner that we have lived with for far too long. Sammy fooled the public for a decade but in the end it bit him.

The Great Home Run chase of 1998, which the commissioner said saved baseball, turns out now to be a farce. Barry Rosner says he traveled with Sosa, knew him and observed him during these years. He writes: “I can tell you that Sosa was nothing like his new 1998 image and that the only thing more overwhelming than his ego and arrogance was his ability to charm when it suited him.”

For those who say, "So what. Everybody juiced up so this should not keep anyone of them out of the Hall of Fame." No way. The Hall is for players who played the game the right way, even if they were not always likable personalities. Look, I have watched Chipper Jones, a player I admire, play through pain and injury and adversity for years. He earned all of the honors he will get from baseball. Can you compare him to Sammy Sosa when it comes time to evaluate true greatness? It discredits the importance of the Hall of Fame to even consider that Sammy could get in. The voters will never do it. The response to Mark McGwire, a sure-fire first ballot choice if ever there was one, proves this to be true. Now Sammy has to watch his reputation go down in flames along with McGwire, Bonds, Palmeiro and a host of others who all cheated the game and their fans.

What a sad legacy. I still recall seeing Sammy hit number 61 and feeling like a kid again. I lived through the Roger Maris pursuit of 61 in my childhood and seeing it done again was a great thrill at the time. I even went to dinner that evening after 61 with several players who told me what a thrill it was to see “history unfold right before your eyes.” It was magical. But it was all a charade. Rosner says Sammy once told him that he hoped that his tombstone would compare him to the great Roberto Clemente. Well, there is no chance of that ever happening. We all know the difference between the two men and Sammy surely was no Roberto! This is the legacy of Sammy Sosa and baseball needs to say so and restore dignity to the game. We could start with an honest admission from Bud Selig but I am not expecting to hear one.

The Big Unit Wins His 300th

The player known to fans everywhere as simply "The Big Unit," 6'10" pitcher Randy Johnson, became only the 24th Major League pitcher to win 300 games last Thursday evening in Washington D.C. He is only the sixth left-hander in that select group. He's also the first pitcher to win his 300th game on his first try since Tom Seaver did it in August of 1985. The next six who reached this great milestone needed more than one start. The six were Phil Niekro, Don Sutton, Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

And at age 45 Randy Johnson is the second-oldest pitcher to reach the 300 mark—behind only Phil Niekro, who achieved the feat when he was 46 years. Johnson accomplished his milestone win against the Washington Nationals, the same team who launched his professional career by drafting him in the second round in 1985 when they were then known as the Montreal Expos. Baseball is filled with interesting ironies.

In his characteristically calm manner Johnson said: "I think I'm satisfied, but I've never been content. That’s probably why I never really got caught up in the . . . personal things because I always tried to excel and continue to do that." Johnson is a five-time Cy Young Award winner and has always possessed a dominating delivery and performance on the mound. But when Randy Johnson broke into baseball he was so wild that most scouts and managers wondered if he could ever gain the composure and control to harness his huge potential. His imposing physical size and his great velocity made him intriguing but unlikely to ever reach true greatness. I have never met Randy Johnson but I am under the impression that he is a fine person of deep faith and a gracious gentleman. He sure seems that way to fans of the game.

Some fans and students of this game actually believe that Randy Johnson may well be the last 300-game winner, due to the present-day five-man rotation which reduces the number of appearances a starter can make as well as the scarcity of pitchers able or willing to play long enough to win 300 games.

But, having been dismissed by many experts as the next to win his 300th when Tom Glavine did so two years ago, Johnson pointedly said, "Don't overlook Jamie Moyer"— the Philadelphia left-hander who ranks second among active pitchers with 250 victories, a goal he also reached only a few days ago.

Johnson didn't record his first Major League victory until he was 25. At age 30 he had won only 64 games, in 1993. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Johnson's 236 victories since turning 30 are the fifth-most in Major League Baseball history. This alone makes his feat all the more amazing, especially considering he was a power pitcher, not a soft throwing finesse pitcher like Tom Glavine, the last 300 game winner.

In his characteristically self-deprecating way Johnson said: "I'd say anything's possible as long as you stay healthy and are driven and continue to succeed.”

My hat's off to a great pitcher and a fine person. Randy Johnson is what this great game is all about. Next stop, when he hangs it up, Cooperstown. There will be quite a few great pitchers to enter the Hall of Fame in a five or six years: Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux and John Smoltz. What is really amazing is that three of these guys pitched for the same team for about a decade. Had the Atlanta Braves had a real closer in the bullpen they would likely have won two or three more pennants and one or two more World Series Championships.

Baseball Heats Up

By this point in the summer the baseball season is far enough along that serious fans begin to take the measure of their team and its chances to win a post-season berth. The really good hitters are generally hitting better by now and the pitchers are beginning to find themselves and their true quality is starting to show. The standings still do not matter that much but they give us some feel for what the future might hold for the fan of a particular team. In the era of the expanded post-season 66% of the teams in first place on June 1 have made the post-season. That is a pretty impressive statistic, at least as a general measure of this point in the season and its importance. But baseball is all about the "long haul."

In the American League the three leaders are the Yankees, Tigers and Rangers. The first is no surprise at all but the second two are a surprise to most fans. The Tigers could win the AL Central (no team with Jim Leyland as their manager is ever dead if there is real talent) but the Texas Rangers are the real surprise. I still think the Angels are the better team. This could prove to be a great race, as will the AL East.

In the National League the races are even more interesting. The leaders are the Phillies, Brewers and Dodgers. The Phillies are no surprise, being the defending World Champs. But I do not think they will repeat. The Brewers are the biggest surprise of all, given their loss of front line pitching. I think the Cardinals or Cubs will win this division. Even the Reds have a legitimate shot. (Yes, Dusty Baker is a good manager even though he may not be the best manager for younger players!) The Dodgers are not the surprise in the West, though their big lead is amazing at this point. The big surprise right now is San Diego, about the worst team in the league last year and a competitive team this year, at least 50-plus games into the year.

This week I will see my first major league games of the season. I wrote in an earlier blog, several months ago, that I could not afford MLB prices. This is still true. In both cases someone bought my tickets so I get to see the Sox play Oakland on Thursday afternoon and Cleveland Saturday afternoon. I do see minor league games about three times a month but at $12 for a dugout seat this is a whole different experience and price.

Real fans love baseball trivia. I was given a baseball trivia calendar (Atlanta Braves) for Christmas this year. Two things stood out this past week on my calendar. On July 2, 1962, my childhood pitching hero, Warren Spahn (left), endured windy, cold Candlestick Park and threw 201 pitches in a 16-inning loss to Juan Marichal and the Giants. A third future Hall of Famer, the great Willie Mays, broke up the scoreless duel with a home run to left field. Does anyone think this will be done again in their lifetime?

The second great trivia I discovered this week was about another old Braves star that I met once and enjoyed talking to when I was only twelve years old. (We were in the team hotel in Cincinnati!) Joe Adcock put on one of the grandest hitting displays in the history of baseball on July 31, 1954. (I was five years old.) Joe hit four home runs at old Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Each one was hit off a different pitcher. He also hit a double, thus he went 5 for 5 that day. Milwaukee won 15-7. What is really amazing is that Joe saw only seven pitches that day in his five trips to the plate. What a day for a hitter! I remember chatting with Joe about a number of his hitting exploits the day we met. He was a great conversationalist and really engaging in dealing with a twelve year old boy. Those were the days.

This is the stuff of memories for real fans. Enjoy the game, if you are a fan, and may this be a great baseball summer for you and your team too. The game has been tarnished but it will survive. It is too much a part of the American experience. What sport got a complete Ken Burns award-winning film treatment that had the impact of his ten-part baseball series?

Baseball is back and spring is in the air, or at least on some days. Chicago has experienced a rather cold spring this year, making me wonder where the impact of Global Warming is in the snow and cold of the last few years. (Please smile, this is not a political statement!)

My hopes often spring eternal when baseball returns but I fear my two favorite teams, the Atlanta Braves in the National League and the Chicago White Sox in the American League, are not going far this year. The Braves have a very full cupboard in the minors and could be on the cusp of another good run soon. (Watch for the 22 year-old pitcher Tommy Hanson when he comes up later this season.) The White Sox have some huge holes in their lineup but could have good starting pitching again. They also have a great closer in Bobby Jenks. But both teams need middle relief, a huge problem in many places it seems. (This is the area where teams try to save money and it shows!)

The Yankees once again bought the best free agent talent on the market but there is no guarantee that this will make them a winner. (Does anyone give Joe Torre the credit he really deserves for winning in New York?) The Tampa Bay Rays are young and for real. I do not think they will fall back to the bottom of the AL East anytime soon. Boston will be there as always. But the Central and West Divisions of the American League seem weaker and could be anyone's to win.

In the National League the Cubs have the talent to roll but I have seen them flop so many times that I wouldn't hold my breath if I were a die-hard Cubs fan. They are the team to beat in the Central, for sure. The West seems wide open again but Los Angeles, with Joe Torre at the helm, has to be the favorite. The East is where the talent seems to be with four teams having a shot at the post-season: Philadelphia, the reigning champions of baseball, the Mets, the Marlins and (maybe) the Braves. No one can look at this season, at least at the beginning, and say, "This is THE TEAM to beat!" I think this is good for the game. It seems MLB got its problems, or at least some of them, worked out. Revenue sharing helps and small market teams can build in the minors and find ways to compete.

I will personally see a lot of minor league games once again. My nearby team, the Kane County Cougars, plays good baseball (Oakland A's Class A team). I can sit right by the field for a very small price. I plan to enjoy major league games on television now and then and see the Cougars in the sunshine. I might even get to a few MLB games courtesy of friends who pity my need for free tickets. (Hint, hint, hint!!!!)

If you love the boys of summer like I do then enjoy this season. My granddaughters carry on our family tradition, as the accompanying photos will show. The White Sox player in the photo at the top left is pitcher Gavin Floyd, a rising young star. The girls enjoyed seeing the third game of the season, even though the Sox lost to Kansas City 2-1. (The photo at the right is Abbie, who loves the Sox mascot Southpaw!) Which reminds me, Kansas City is much improved. I would love to see them enjoy some success again. The same goes for thePittsburgh Pirates, who have the longest string of sub-.500 teams in Major League history, at least if my memory is correct.

"Play ball" is in the air. This is the best time of the year, except for perhaps the fall when college football kids off in prime time.

Baseball is Back: Spring is Official

Spring is official. I know, the real date is officially March 21, but for me the day Spring began is today, March 12th. I will soon be sitting in the brilliant sunshine of Walt Disney World’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando watching the Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals. I plan to soak in the sunshine and relax, enjoy some of the fine culinary blessings, and have good fellowship. I’ve already seen several games this week with my daughter and son-in-law but today’s game will allow me the pleasure of sharing the day with David Gordon, a good friend, and seeing the greatest game under the sun for the fourth time this week. It doesn’t get any better than this if you have endured a Chicago winter. Thanks to the generous special gifts of two very dear friends this trip was made possible when I didn’t really have the money to come here at all. My heart is filled with gratitude to God for these days and thanks for such friends who cared about both my body and spirit enough to let me have a glorious week in Florida. I needed this break from the work. Coming home tomorrow is going to be hard but I can endure the rest of the bad weather to come knowing that Spring has really come, at least in Florida. Soon I will be able to see games in Chicago and all will truly be well. If you can't enjoy this pleasure I promise to not rub it in.

Baseball's Drug Culture

Readers know that I love baseball. They also know that the drug scandals pain me deeply because my love for this game extends to real people both in and out of this truly American sport. I am reminded of a quote that I have made before, given to me by a former major league pitcher who is an earnest Christian: "The culture of major league baseball is no different than that in the wider culture. It is simply a culture that is under a much larger microscope." I still agree with this comment. There are many players who have never used drugs and there are some who have. There are Christians, and non-Christians, in baseball. And there are great guys and bad guys, scattered throughout this entire sport.

Was I shocked by the revelation that Alex Rodriguez used steroids in 2003? No, not really. Little of this kind of information shocks me. If it was John Smoltz or Matt Diaz, two of my favorites, I would be really shocked. But not A-Rod. His personal life has been a moral shambles for some time and the image the fans have of him does not fit the man. So baseball is stained by this revelation but baseball will not die because of it. In many ways this is one more step toward putting the "steroid years" behind us and toward putting the records some players accumulated during the 1990s in the right light. The truth will generally prevail and in this case it is previaiing, or so it seems. Mark McGwire getting only a 21% vote on the first ballot for the Hall of Fame shows that writers will not overlook this stuff.

A-Rod was caught in a year before current rules were put in place. 5% of the players failed the tests in that first year, with the results supposedly to be kept anonymous. Now the steroid tests are regular and the penalties are serious. Both the owners and the union are responsible for this past history. And Bud Selig, who sounds so self-righteous about it all, would do better to keep quiet much of the time. The real problem is that the drug issue has shifted once again. Human growth hormone (HGH) cannot be detected except in blood samples and the players have resisted these tests so far. HGH may be more potent than the steroids of the past. Barry Bonds is presently facing real legal problems because of HGH use. Roger Clemens' trainer says he injected him with HGH. Andy Pettitte, a devout Christian no less, has also come clean about using HGH, as has Miguel Tejada just last week. But without a reliable test it will never be easy to catch violators who use HGH.

But there is a huge problem. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WDA), which supervises the testing of Olympic competitors, has screened 8,500 athletes for HGH since 2000, by using blood tests (the only way to detect it). You know how many violators they have caught? The correct answer is zero. SO what gives us confidence that baseball players will not use HGH, legal or not? Nothing really.

It came to light this week that 100 major league players currently receive treatment for ADD through drug prescriptions. That number was called "incredible" by Dr. Gary Wadler, a WADA official. He adds that there seems to be "an epidemic of ADD" in major league baseball. Not really funny! But remember my first comment. Baseball looks like the culture. What percentage of people are on drugs for ADD in the culture? Probably far too many.

But the clearest path to cheating is not treatment for ADD. It is HGH. When a good test for HGH is developed, and it will be, and MLB then gets serious about testing for it, which it will, then we will then have another round of public scandals. We simply do not know how bad things are in 2009 and will not know for some years, just as we did not know how bad it was when Sosa and McGwire were chasing Ruth and Maris. And then there was Bonds, whose day is coming in a court of law.

Steve Chapman is right: "It's slightly comforting to think we have moved beyond the steroid decade. But the drug-free era hasn't begun, and it may never." The problem my friends is in the culture, not just in baseball.