Steroids and Baseball's Walks Record
There has been talk of appending an asterisk next to the records of hitters should they be discovered to have used steroids. Of all the records destroyed in baseball's frankenball era, none is more deserving of an asterisk than Barry Bonds' career record for bases on balls.
The walk is a curious statistic. In pitching it is a clear demerit, a mark noted on the record as an indicator of a pitcher's lack of control. What the walk signifies for batters, however, is less apparent. In one sense a career record for walks is indicative of the fearsomeness of the hitter. This is the case with Bonds. Particularly after he bulked up, he was so dangerous to opposing teams that the team's manager would rather give him a single base than chance giving up a home run. In another sense, though, the ability to draw walks is the hallmark of a batter with a good eye and patience at the plate. Because a walk is often as good as a single, a crafty hitter will test a pitcher's control: he'll make the pitcher earn an out. Ricky Henderson, the previous record holder for career walks drawn, was this type of batter. He was in many ways the greatest leadoff hitter of all time.
A leadoff hitter's main job is merely to get on base and position himself to be driven home. Henderson excelled at all the little things required of leadoff men: he could work the count, steal a base, and advance on a deep fly or a hard grounder to first. The rather arcane record for most walks drawn in a career can be seen as a record of such little things.
Of course it would be unfair to Roger Maris should Mark McGwire and the rest have overtaken his home run record while using steroids. The steroids issue is more insidious, though. Abuse of steroids has caused an explosion of home runs throughout baseball. In doing so it has changed the very nature of the game. Where teams once sought to get a runner on base, advance him into scoring position, and hit him home, they now look for scoring from a single swing of the bat. The subtlety and pacing that make baseball magical have suffered. Though Maris' record certainly deserves its rightful place, that it was broken is a matter of one man illegitimately hitting more homers than another. Bonds' eclipsing of Henderson's walks record is indicative of power hitting overwhelming the rest. That is the real shame of the steroids era.
The walk is a curious statistic. In pitching it is a clear demerit, a mark noted on the record as an indicator of a pitcher's lack of control. What the walk signifies for batters, however, is less apparent. In one sense a career record for walks is indicative of the fearsomeness of the hitter. This is the case with Bonds. Particularly after he bulked up, he was so dangerous to opposing teams that the team's manager would rather give him a single base than chance giving up a home run. In another sense, though, the ability to draw walks is the hallmark of a batter with a good eye and patience at the plate. Because a walk is often as good as a single, a crafty hitter will test a pitcher's control: he'll make the pitcher earn an out. Ricky Henderson, the previous record holder for career walks drawn, was this type of batter. He was in many ways the greatest leadoff hitter of all time.
A leadoff hitter's main job is merely to get on base and position himself to be driven home. Henderson excelled at all the little things required of leadoff men: he could work the count, steal a base, and advance on a deep fly or a hard grounder to first. The rather arcane record for most walks drawn in a career can be seen as a record of such little things.
Of course it would be unfair to Roger Maris should Mark McGwire and the rest have overtaken his home run record while using steroids. The steroids issue is more insidious, though. Abuse of steroids has caused an explosion of home runs throughout baseball. In doing so it has changed the very nature of the game. Where teams once sought to get a runner on base, advance him into scoring position, and hit him home, they now look for scoring from a single swing of the bat. The subtlety and pacing that make baseball magical have suffered. Though Maris' record certainly deserves its rightful place, that it was broken is a matter of one man illegitimately hitting more homers than another. Bonds' eclipsing of Henderson's walks record is indicative of power hitting overwhelming the rest. That is the real shame of the steroids era.
posted by Jason at 6:02 PM
3 Comments:
Interesting point. Worth noting--possibly you were heading in this direction--that baseball's new bulk has not only killed the "little things", as you note, but also the top of the order hitters as a whole. Used to be, your leadoff hitter showed some occasional patience, could put the ball in play and featured some speed. Your number two hitter was typically a low-walk guy with good bat control that could advance the runner into scoring position. Nowadays, the leadoff hitters often have suspect strike zone judgement, decent pop in their bat and aren't encouraged to steal bases (regardless of their abilities). Chances are, the number two hitter swats 20 homers a year and is more likely to knock a double off the wall as he is to slap a seeing-eye single through the hole. Just look at the Cardinals; Larry Walker is the No. 2 hitter for crying out loud. Anyway, Bonds can eat a turd.
Yeah. For all the mistakes the Yankees have made in the past couple of years - high turnover, aging staff, no chemistry, trading away their farm system - I can't help but think that their inability to maintain the dynasty is due in part to Cashman's failure to get a legitimate replacement for Chuck Knoblach leading off.
For the record, my dad said he was is ambivalent about McGwire given that the supplements he took were not necessarily illegal at the time.
If asked, though, I'd bet that he'd agree that Bonds can eat a turd.
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