The date, October 1988. I am 12 years old and I see on TV Kirk Gibson hit the amazing pinch-hit homerun against the Oakland Athletics at Dodger Stadium to win the first game of the 1988 World Series. While I have always been a Dodger fan, I for a long time have hated Jose Canseco, who played outfield for the Oakland A’s. He was cocky and arrogant, and I couldn’t stand him. And now with his new book, I think I hate him even more.
In his new book, which became a best seller on its first day of sales, Canseco charges numerous players of using steroids and owners (including Pres Shrub), coaches, and trainers of knowing full well of their use by players.
Now, I will come out and say that I have not read the book myself. But I am not judging the book, I am judging the author, and while I think Canseco is simply throwing out names to put himself back out in the spot light, the book has come out in a time when steroid use in baseball gets as much press as players reporting to spring training camp this week.
The problem with steroids is that everyone wins. The fans get to see amazing baseball, the owners get increased sales, the players get huge contracts, and the media gets great stories.
Looking at two of those groups, I think we can see part of the problem. Money has played a huge roll in the use of steroids in baseball. For the individual player, huge contracts are guaranteed as long as big numbers are posted year-to-year. The prospect of a potentially huge contract has perhaps clouded the minds of players who fail to see the medical danger that steroids do to the human body.
For the team owners, increased sales are guaranteed when players start posting the big statistics, which mainly centers on the crowd favorite, the homerun. When players start hitting more homeruns, owners start filling the stadium seats. And players are hitting more homeruns. ESPN’s baseball site has tracked a steady increase in homeruns the last three seasons.
So what is my point here? Profit, the need for more money is one cause of the current steroid issue in baseball right now. Profit has led the owners to turn a blind eye to steroid use that some players admit has been happening for decades. Players go blind from the dollar signs that steroids could produce, while not seeing the danger signs that steroids could produce.
I, like everyone else, hope that the new steroid policy created by the players association will stop the use of steroid in baseball. At the same time, the new steroid policy does nothing to confront the real issue, that the use of steroids is profit motivated. Only sports fans, as working class people, can end the need for players to take steroids and for owners to pretend that they don’t exist.
In a socialist society, a society where money is not used, sports will be played for fun and competition, not for money and profit. Sports will be used to build people and communities up, not tear people and recreation down.
Ps. I hate Barry Bonds too.
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