Friday, January 14, 2005
Another View on the Steroids "Scandal"
Marvin Miller is alive and well at 87, and had a cogent argument about why steroids are a non-issue in an article in today's Boston Globe. With no real interest or axe to grind, but with plenty of trips around the block, it's interesting to note some echoes of some commentary from TDA writers:
- Miller's belief that steroids aren't performance enhancers
- An interesting comparison between Babe Ruth's physical development and that of Barry Bonds
- His belief the whole episode is media-driven frenzy, heightened by political opportunists as a distraction
- His recollections of the collusion of owners in providing amphetamines to players during the 1960s and 1970s
- His observations on the dignity of being told to urinate on command by one's employer
Miller has been discussed in recent years in some quarters as a potential Hall of Fame entrant in the "Other Contributors" category, as the father of the modern union and the person who is most single-handedly responsible for the free agent system. That won't happen: the inner circle wisdom is that this has been bad for the game, even though we've had an explosion of attendance and participation in the sport since free agency, after a steady twenty-five year decline in the popularity of the sport prior to free agency. Miller clearly isn't spending his retirement years sucking up to the establishment to get himself into Cooperstown, that's for sure.
posted by The Crank 3:24 PM
