Do Fans Bear Responsibility For Steroid Era? No.

…to spread the blame.

About the only thing fans might be guilty of is being gullible but, seriously, in the late 90’s how much information did we really have on steroids? I mean, it’s not exactly like the media was blowing trumpets about what was going on.

All of this bare responsibility? Is there a cover? 2 drink minimum?

Sorry to be a grammar cop, but damn, that one’s glaring.

On to the point, the media rationale goes like this: “After the 1994 strike, the fans needed something to bring them back to the game. Lo and behold, in 1998, these two muscular men started slugging home runs at a record pace, and the general public started paying attention to baseball again. Obviously, these two muscular men were on PEDs. Therefore, the simple fan was cheering for PEDs, meaning the simple fan must bear some responsibility for PEDs.”

There are several fallacies within that argument. The most glaring is the modus tollens: That fans were cheering for PEDs implies that the fans caused PEDs. A freshman logic student should be able to see through that.

The next fallacy is one of ex post facto: Obviously, these guys were on PEDs. That may be obvious now, and although there were rumors of such things at the time, there was no proof of anything. What seems like obvious complicity now did not exist at the time.

And then there’s the first fallacy – an argumentum ad consequentiam: Fans had to be brought back into the game, therefore PEDs. PEDs were being used, but that fact does not logically predict that fans would be brought back to game.

The argument is laughable, and my guess is that it is being floated by commentators who have friends or “access”, and they do not want such things to go away. You paid for a ticket to see a game during the PED era – lots of others, myself included, did the same. Were we implicitly condoning PED usage? No more so than someone who bought a ticket to the 1932 World Series was implicitly condoning P.K. Wrigley’s racism.

That is absurd. While the fans do enjoy the homeruns, the players who used did not do it for the fans, they did for their own benefit. I would have thought that was obvious, but apparently I would be wrong assuming that.

From the “going yard”, “touch ’em all” to “chicks love the long ball”, baseball fandom was cultivated in not only enjoying but clamoring for the home run. It’s not anyone’s [the fans] fault. And there in lies the problem; some people (and this is an old story) trying to point their fingers at someone else in order to place blame.

Players saw it and made modifications. Owners saw it and turned a blind-eye since turn-styles were a movin’. The MLB front office exploited the “growing” attendance figures.

Examine the microcosm that unfolded right in front of all of us at 1060 W. Addison. TribCo built the monster Sammy Sosa. Millions of fans crammed the fabled old ballyard to see Sammy hit ‘em out; myself included dozens and dozens of times. The fans showing up to see Sammy hit ’em out (even with the Cubs losing many of those games) fed that monster TribCo built. We’re not guilty of promoting PED’s. Come on, think back to 1998; all of you who were at the games or watching feverishly on TV like me. That night in Houston when Sammy took the lead over Big Mac 66-65. Were a lot of us thinking – especially aloud – Sammy has to be “on something”? Or did we just enjoy the ride, including game #163 when the Cubs played themselves into the wildcard.

Look at this another way. Let’s just say a corked bat makes a baseball travel farther (it doesn’t but lets just say it does). Players find this out and a whole scientific industry forms in making these “special” baseball bats that turn 330’ flyballs into 375’ flyballs. But once it comes to light, would the fans be “blamed” for going to the games? No! The players cheated. The fans didn’t know at the time. So should the fans be held accountable in any way after the fact?

Let us all imagine what Chicago and St. Louis fans would have done to a Rick Telander or Bernie Miklasz back in 1998 has they seriously started pursuing steroids/andro .

There would have been a major outcry and pressure on those writers to shut up. I truly believe the media was cowed by the fans. It would have been like going after Bush on 9/13.

We forget about it now, but 1998 had more going for it than McGwire and Sosa. That was Kerry Wood’s 20k game. The Yankees, in the biggest market, were one of the best teams ever to play. David Wells pitched a perfect game. The Cubs were in contention and so was Bonds’ Giants.

I think fans would have found their way back even if McGwire and Sosa stop at 59.

I’M a Bears fan!

were on something. Prior to 1995, there were only 18 times in major league history when a player hit 50 or more home runs in a season. From 1995 to 2005, there were 19. So yes, I think the fans should take some responsibility.