The country was captivated in the summer of 1998 by the home-run chase as Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs and Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals simultaneously chased Roger Maris' single season home-run record. As the season neared a close the two managed to keep the pressure on each other night in and night out to go yard. America was hooked on baseball, tuning in each night to see these two sluggers battle it out to see who would be the new long ball champion.
Fast forward a decade and the fog of greatness is slowly disappearing around many of baseball's former greats as the steroid scandal that has gripped MLB over the past few years is showing no prejudice in who it tears down. In 2005 when interest in steroid use shot up, McGwire, Sosa, and Rafael Palmeiro went in front of Congress to declare their innocence and deny knowledge of other "juicing". All three players sat in front of Congress and swore under oath they had never used steroids, ever. By this time many had begun wondering if McGwire and Sosa's chase in 1998 was steroid propelled. After all, both men had rather large physiques and were big time hitters.
In August of 2005, a mere five months later, Palmeiro was busted for steroid use even after stating under oath that he "never, ever took any steroids". That summer Palmeiro picked up his 3,000th career hit and many believed a spot in the hall of fame, but an asterisk was also put next to his career because he was busted for steroid use. In the time since, other big names have been taken down a peg. Barry Bonds remains in a seemingly endless fight with the government to prove his innocence despite evidence to the contrary. Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettite, Roger Clemens, and Manny Ramirez have all been busted for steroid use. Now, just this week we learned of Sammy Sosa's steroid use, forever tainting one of America's darlings from 1998.
The fight to rid baseball of steroids has proven costly for many athletes. Several less popular players have been caught and served 10 to 50 game suspensions for their use. Some, like Giambi, Rodriguez, and Pettite have faced the situation like men and admitted their wrong doings. Others, like Clemens and Bonds, continue to shot their innocence from the mountain tops, further sullying their good names in the process. So now we wait and wonder, who will the steroid scandal claim next? The list of 104 guilty players in the Mitchell Report still contains 102 unknown names as MLB and the players union have a contract that prevents disclosure of names. We are left to wait for names to be leaked here and there, all the while hoping that more of our heroes aren't knocked from on high and labeled guilty, their careers forever branded with an asterisk.
