Fallen

It seems as though the longer we wait, the more we see how problematic the steroid era had upon the historical impact of the game. If we keep at this pace, pretty soon I'll be recognizing Lip Pike and Count Gedney as the true home run champions. But seriously, who is the home run champion? True, it is Barry Bonds -- but who will baseball purists refer to as the supreme four bagger? The only true player that comes to mind is Aaron.

What makes his enduring legacy truly remarkable is that he achieved this record despite playing his first few years in the Negro Leagues, meaning that the scars of segregation and racism were still relevant -- as the civil rights movement occurred during the prime of his career. Every time a person looked into the record books and looked at the all-time home run champion there would be a paragraph explaining what impact Aaron had upon the game -- how he faced racial adversity and continued to push forward, never giving in to hatred. His greatest legacy is that he did it with grace, honesty and humility.

Now all he have to look forward to is a steroid-using player chasing down another steroid-using player's record. Yay! So now we have nearly every major baseball thumper of the '90s and '00s under serious review as a steroid user. Even the feel good story of the decade -- Rich Ankiel -- was caught receiving HGH.

Now baseball is in a crisis, who is next? Part of the reason that baseball fans and officials had been as accepting of Bonds breaking the home run record was because A-Rod was lurking in the background. They felt that if they could just let Bonds break the record and quietly move on then it would be okay, because A-Rod would be the new home run champ -- and he would have done it honestly. That turned out to be a mistake. Now baseball has to find a new champion, one who is honest, and someone the fans can actually look to help restore the most beloved record in sports.

What is really baffling about A-Rod's current predicament is his timeline. How is it possible for me to believe that A-Rod, one of only three players in MLB history to play shortstop at the age of 18 on a daily basis, when he says he only did it from 2001-2003? Why would I believe that he started taking steroids after he signed the biggest free-agent contract in the history of the game? On that note, why would he stop after winning his first MVP Award in 2003? During those seasons A-Rod hit more home runs during that span than any other player -- except for Barry Bonds. At this point, it would be extremely difficult to believe anything he says from this point on. How many home runs were hit on steroids? Had he been doing it his whole career?

To accurately examine the importance of the home run record, one must trace the history of the home run to the game itself. True, Babe Ruth did make the home run popular -- in fact, his home run hitting dominance saved the game itself. Following the Black Sox scandal of 1919, baseball was at an all-time low. People did not believe the games were legitimate, a problem that plagued the game for the first 40 years. This was much like the other gambling controversies, except this was the first time that a team had taken a dive during World Series play. What Ruth did was to exploit the raw power and force that a mighty swing had -- reaching beyond the great abyss and over the fence. What Ruth did was to popularize power.

But that is not what made the home run great. What truly makes the home run great is much more than that -- it traces back to the origins of organized baseball. Attendance only drew 1,000 -6,000 people until professional baseball became a featured item. When the Cincinnati nine (also known by their nickname, the Red Stockings) came into town, the crowds came in droves to watch men go up against their city's local nine. Owners and proprietors realized that by fielding better players, more people were inclined to pay to watch the game. Thus the concept was born: turn the game professional, make the game more popular.

Originally, baseball games were played on open parks and fields. Since there were no specific dimensions, the baseball could travel as far as it was physically possible. It was not until the 20th century that the way baseball was played truly changed. Prior to 20th century, baseball park fences were either extremely far away (near the 600 ft range) or absent altogether. Many baseball games occurred while cricket matches took place in the deep outfield. Fans stood around the playing field, sometimes standing on boxcars in an effort to get a better view of the action. Seeing how limiting the natural system of playing fields were -- in relation to the increased possibility of potential customers -- baseball clubs began building lots with the sole purpose of playing professional baseball.



With the addition of stadium seating, bleachers, food stands, and other features (such as rampant gambling -- which was illegal), the game rose in popularity. The daily attendance to baseball games rose from hundreds, to thousands, to tens of thousands. Baseball began shrinking the size of the outfield to allow baseball -- which had moved from local parks to city lots -- to be played in the city. Because space was limited and fans could be placed around the playing field, the fences moved to nearly modern-sized baseball parks, with the corners being about 350 feet out, and center near the 450 foot range.



This, in fact, created the baseball boom. The attendance rose rapidly, turning baseball from a niche sport into a national craze. Along with with rise came the inclusion of the souvenir, everyone wanted to have a piece of the game. At one time baseball was played with that -- a baseball. During the early 1870s many games were forced to end early as fans refused to return a ball that had been hit into the stands. Despite being a baseball club, many teams had no more than three or four baseballs to play the game. The clubs realized this and began to carry more -- even then, games had to be called. One newspaper from 1877 reported that a game was forced to end after none of the 150 baseballs hit into the stands were returned to the playing field.

And that is where the home run comes in. It is a piece of the game. It is a unique part of the game. No other sport allows people to walk away with the most important part of the game while in use. Even today, the Bonds baseball, the Bartman baseball, and the Red Sox 2004 World Series baseball have all been major fixtures in baseball's history. The baseball is the game -- many of baseball's most important moments have come from dramatic home runs. In this, baseball's legacy is dictated by the home run. And in this, the truth of baseball is revealed. To tarnish the validity of the home run is equivalent to tarnishing baseball, and for anyone to challenge the spirit of baseball, to challenge all that baseball holds dear -- its history -- is totally unforgivable. What Alex Rodriguez did is irreversible and he may be sorry, but there is no way he could ever fully apologize to the history books.

One can only hope it will not be Aaron who was the last true home run champ. Baseball's records are just too important.