The Sweet Swing of a Slugger

Nowadays, it’s difficult to think of baseball players without talk of steroids, performance enhancers, or at least strength training. More than a century ago, however, raw skill and equipment formed a power-packed duo that dictated a player’s success. “Sweet Spot: 125 Years of Baseball and the Louisville Slugger” by David Magee and Philip Shirley is […]

Shouldn’t 1987 Raise Eyebrows Too?

There has been an increased raising of eyebrows when looking at or comparing statistics of players in the “steroid era,” which began in the early 1990s. Look no further than Mark McGwire to see how these allegations have hurt one’s Hall of Fame chances. We’ll get another example of this in the upcoming election as […]

Steroids and Kids: Trying to Answer the Unanswerable Question

It started with an innocent question, as are all questions which come out of the mouth of an 8-year-old. Except this question cut at the heart of Major League Baseball – past, present and future. I was at Miller Park, attending a Brewers-Cardinals game with my wife and two sons. Up to the plate stepped […]