Despite the snow and ice of the Winter Olympics, the sports world offered concrete evidence of spring's coming as Major League Baseball's pitchers and catchers reported for Spring Training to begin the 2006 season.
Two prominent players who have storylines right now are Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds. Sosa, in turning down a one year, non-guaranteed offer from the Washington Nationals, is, in all likelihood, hanging up the cleats for good.
Bonds played in 14 games and had three knee surgeries last season, and he has rehabbed and dropped nearly 30 pounds to come back this year. He will also sit out the World Baseball Classic in the hopes he can better help his team and his chase of Hank Aaron's home run mark (he's 47 short heading into 2006) staying in San Francisco.
With these sluggers nearing (or ending) their careers, a question needs to be raised: How will they be remembered?
Let's look at Sosa's case, in which there are many positives. After 16 seasons, he is fifth on the all-time home run list with 588, has 1,575 RBIs, and holds the record for most 60-homer seasons, with three. There are many images that remain: his embrace with Mark McGwire during his MVP-year, the 1998 home run chase, his crazy kiss/heart pound salute he would do to a camera after every homer, and the way he would sprint out to his post in right field, electrifying the Wrigley fans. He had an infectious, bubbling excitement and attitude and, for a time, Chicago loved him.
For a time.
There are also many bad images: the corked bat, the Congressional hearings and the steroids scandal, and the putrid and injury-plagued 2005 season in which Sosa's body and batting average shrunk substantially. A recent poll on ESPN.com indicated that a majority felt that Sosa should not be a Hall of Famer. In 2005 he made nearly 18 million dollars. The contract he just turned down was for a half a million dollars. His star has truly fallen.
I was thinking about this question in my class, "Sports in American History," as we were learning about the early heroes and stars of baseball. Surprisingly, some of the stars we discussed were less than stellar people.
John McGraw was a player and manager who was involved in baseball from the 1890s to the 1930s. He had a career average of .334 and on-base percentage of .466. He is second all-time in managerial wins, won three World Series, and is in the Hall of Fame.
McGraw also, according to Ken Burns' "Baseball" series, "held far bigger base runners back by the belt, blocked them, tripped them, spiked them." One reporter of the time said, "He uses every low and contemptible method that his erratic brain can conceive to win a play by a dirty trick."
Joe Kelley, a Baltimore Orioles' teammate of McGraw, was also elected to the Hall of Fame for his superior numbers. In class, we learned that he would often run straight across the diamond from first base to third base while the umpire wasn't looking. Talk about a double steal.
Of course, the best player of the era was the most notorious: Ty Cobb. His numbers are as well-known as his character. He finished his career with a .367 career batting average, including 12 batting titles, 4,191 hits, and 2,245 runs. A vicious racist who was hated by pretty much everyone, he was also voted by ESPN.com the "ultimate sports villain." On the field he played dirty and frequently fought.
This is not to say that all old players were bad guys, but a number of baseball's heroes were dirty, dishonest, and disreputable. However, these players are still in the Hall of Fame. Their behavior is put in better terms; instead of being called cheaters, they are discussed as fiery competitors who "would do anything to win." They are viewed with acceptance, almost admirably, and their stories of disobedience on the field are seen as amusing anecdotes and sidebars to their impressive careers. There is no mention of their characters on their Hall of Fame plaques.
So, how will Sosa be remembered in the 22nd century? It is true that he used illegal means to help his play and his team. But so did John McGraw. Will it be said that those who used steroids sacrificed their health for their performance, that they "would do anything to win?" (I hope not). Will there even be a Hall of Fame plaque to remind us of Sosa's triumphant-to-tumultuous career? Only time will tell.
