Propsectus Part 1

Kyle Kabasares

Prospectus

             
     What are the risks of taking anabolic steroids, and what kind of pressures did Major League Baseball players face to resort to using them? Following the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike, resulting in the cancellation of the 1994 playoffs and World Series, baseball fans throughout the nation were left outraged. Once baseball resumed in 1995, fan attendance had dropped from an average of 31,256 fans per game to 25,008.[1]  The image of the nation’s national pastime became significantly damaged as fans who did attend these games demonstrated their discontent with the players and owners, such as the fans in Pittsburgh who caused a seventeen minute delay by throwing objects onto the field during Opening Day 1995 while the fans in Detroit caused a twelve minute delay while holding up signs that read “Field of Dreams Greed" and "Strike, Owner$ Win, Player$ Win, Fans Lose" on the same day.[2] Suffice to say, fans were not happy with the league, and baseball’s popularity began to plummet in an era that was dominated by a global basketball icon, Michael Jordan.                                                                                                         
   Three years later, in 1998, the game of baseball was purportedly “saved” by two men: Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.[3] The two of them engaged in a home run race that captivated the nation as they began swinging for the fences, and ultimately the single-season home run record, of 61 home runs. The record had been set in 1961 by Yankees slugger Roger Maris, who had endured harsh criticism and threats leading up to him breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 60. On September 8, 1998, Mark McGwire lined his 62^nd home run over Busch Stadium’s left field wall, breaking Maris’s thirty-seven year old record. Once 1998 was over, McGwire had finished with 70 home runs while Sosa trailed closely behind with 66. The task of breaking the new mark of 70 seemed impossible at the time, except maybe for McGwire and Sosa. It would not take another thirty-seven years to find a new record holder, but instead merely three. In 2001, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants slugged 73 home runs to become the new and current holder of the record. The numbers these baseball players were putting up were mind-boggling, as everyone looked on with awe as these players were making their case for a Hall of Fame bid. Fans were completely desensitized to the sure impossibility of the numbers. These numbers were too good to be true. Too good.                                                                                                              

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[1] Associated Press (August 10, 2004). "1994 strike was a low point for baseball". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 21, 2012.

[2] "Baseball The Tenth Inning: Millionaires vs. Billionaires | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/baseball-the-tenth-inning/dark-days/millionaires-vs-billionaires/>.

[3] "Myth of men who saved baseball - The New York Times." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/sports/29iht-fans.html>.