December 6, 2004
Where We Are
By Joe Mammy
This isn’t a “I told you so” kind of thing.
It isn’t “I told you so” because I don’t think anyone who was being honest with themselves was really that surprised.
Except for Barry Bonds if you take him at his word.
I’ve intentionally held off talking about this because it seems that I spend more time talking about Barry Bonds who I dislike than the Cardinals who actually showed up and did something extraordinary this season. I like to think of this season as the year of karma.
-The Red Sox finally rewarded their faithful fans who have been languishing in futility akin to the League of Nations. (Which, appropriately was the final of Woodrow Wilson’s 14 points delivered in the same year that the Red Sox last won a world championship.)
-The Cardinals also reward their faithful fans by owning the league that was supposed to reduce them into a team that words like “rebuilding” were going to be applied.
-The Cubs come with swagger and bravado after being named the team to beat in pre-season and self-destruct under the weight of poor discipline and egos run amok in a final stretch faltering that is all the more satisfying given their smugness over the Cardinal’s similar swoon in 2003.
-The Astros, after being written off by everyone as a result of a disastrous first half bounce back and make their first post-season appearance that doesn’t end in the first round. While eventually falling to the Cardinals, the ‘Stros show fire and class that makes the series more satisfying than the beanball-fest that a highly anticipated Cubs and Cards series would have undoubtedly been.
-BALCO refuses to go away. Names start being dropped and implications raised and no one apparently knows anything. MLB buttresses their “get tough on illegal substances” policy by more or less admitting nothing will be done and looking like boobs in the process.
-Of the big four being named as suspect of drug use, only Gary Sheffield has good numbers and makes the postseason where he’s part of what will be likely remembered as the biggest choke (or rally, depending on which side you’re on, I suppose) in the history of baseball. Sammy Sosa and Jason Giambi are either injured or bordering on futile throughout the season. From tapeworm to sneezes the injuries they manage to amass are nearly comical. Barry Bonds doesn’t make the playoffs, is handed the MVP and is booed when given the Hank Aaron trophy before he scurries like a roach back into the shadows.
-Ken Caminiti’s death gives perspective to the ultimate result of drugs in baseball. With big names on the shelf with freakish injuries, it’s hard to believe that it went unnoticed.
-Scott Rolen arrives in glorious fashion. And is still one of the humblest men in the game.
-Jeff Suppan ends up being one of the most dominant pitchers in the post-season.
-The Expos are finally exorcised from Montreal and given a home where they’ll at least be seen by more than five thousand people a game.
-The World Series is the highest rated in five years and the highest ever by the Fox network.
I think it’s fair to say that, BALCO included, a lot more went right this year baseball-wide then went wrong. The steroid scandal finally hit its (anti-)climax and people still love the game, warts and all. The only thing that came across fully was MLB’s inability to deal with the crises that everyone’s known about for years. It became clear that the Player’s Union is actually going to have to look out for the well-being of its members instead of trying to block each and every attempt to institute a meaningful drug policy in the name of sticking it to the man.
But this year, probably the first since 1994, it really felt like baseball was back. There were records with Gagne and Ichiro, but it seemed like fans were more energetic and knowledgeable across the board this year. And for their patience and devotion they were rewarded with a heck of a season full of great races and highlights culminating with a world series that was anticlimactic but satisfying for anyone with an appreciation for the game.
I’m also a hockey fan and it’s unsettling to see the same mistakes of ’94 being revisited on another sport and it makes me all the more thankful that, for once, MLB seems to be in a better place than those tenuous years following the strike. It’s not perfect and it never will be, but it’s been a good year.
It’s been a helluva year.
