Published 20:54, May the 31st, 2009
Giving thanks for baseball’s new superstars
Welcome to Major League Baseball: the next generation. Now that they’re picking off all the superstars of the ’90s and the early ’00s like ducks in an arcade shooting gallery, we’re relegated to doubting anything and everything — and everyone. We have to presume that the Steroid Era produced no superstars. That 15-year stain didn’t have a Ruth, a Mantle or a Mays. There were no Teddy Ballgames or Hammerin’ Hanks.
The MVPs included Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Juan Gonzalez, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Caminiti, Miguel Tejada, Jose Canseco and Jason Giambi. The rest of the best included Manny Ramirez, Mark McGwire, Gary Sheffield, Rafael Palmeiro and Roger Clemens. The best players the game had to offer not only played under a cloud; they made it rain. They could have been the Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski and Bob Gibson of their time. But they weren’t. Their time gave us no one and nothing. Only maybes. Maybe Jeff Bagwell or Frank Thomas. Probably Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff.
Keep in mind, 103 players tested positive in 2003 when they knew the test was coming. One in seven players got caught. How many got away with it?
It’s nearing the point where it’s fair to be unfair. Sorry Ken Griffey Jr., but I have to wonder why you started pulling muscle off the bone. Sorry Frank Thomas, but how could you win back-to-back MVPs in the heart of the juiced era without getting some help on the side, or on the backside? Sorry Pedro Martinez, but how does a little guy like you get all those steroid abusers out so easily, and why did your career come to such a crashing halt? Sorry everyone, but it looks like Canseco was right all along.
So, we skip the Steroid Era. We go right from George Brett, Jim Rice and Rod Carew to Evan Longoria, Chase Utley, Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Howard and Ryan Braun. They are the next generation. They are the ones we can pin our hopes to that baseball can once again produce clean superstars. And it would be a very, very good thing if the best of the best, Albert Pujols, can stay away from credible allegations.
Isn’t it strange to think that an entire generation of baseball players couldn’t give us one of the greats? Every decade gave us a small group of amazing players. Stars passing the torch.
Assaults on the record book. New magic. But there may not have been a naturally incredible player since Mike Schmidt walked away from the game in 1989.
Maybe the Next Generation can pick up the torch that this one dropped and let burn out.
