Baseball is a ball and
bat game played between
2 teams consisting
of 9 players each.
Both the teams take turns to
field and bat, the person
who bats, needs to hit the
ball thrown by the pitcher
and run counter clockwise
around the pitch to cross the
four bases and reach home plate
scoring a run for the team.
Likewise the batting team
takes turns to hit the ball
and take runs for their team
while the fielding team
prevents the hitting team to
get runs by getting them out.
Any of the player on the batting
team who has reached the
base safely is allowed to
progress to the subsequent bases
while their team members
bat and have hit the ball.
If the fielding team manages to get
three outs they switch to batting.
Each team gets turns to bat
and to field, the visiting
team gets to bat first and
that is what makes an inning.
There are nine such innings in a game.
The scores of the teams are
maintained, and by the end of
the ninth inning the team who
has more runs, wins the game.
Baseball is a majorly
important game in America
and it is the only game
which has no game clock.
Which means the game is not time bound and
it can take how much ever time to finish.
Baseball can be played by people of average
height and weight, you do not have
to be heighted or weighted to play the
game like in basketball and football.
Like the Americans usually
say - “anything for
the love of the game”they
really do mean it.
There are numerous controversies regarding
the origin of the game, cricket rounders,
and softball are all believed to have
taken shape from primeval public games.
All these games were somewhat played
in the same manner as the modern day’s
baseball, even though there are no
similarities in the name of the games.
There were many other ball
games which had comical
names such as poison ball,
goal ball and stool ball.
Some historical sources have
the mention of Thomas Wilson
a conventional leader in England
who in the year of 1700
had condemned the game baseball
and few other sports to be played
on Sunday’s, for the fact that
lesser people visited the church.
There are many such interesting
evidences connected to baseball.
One such claim seems to have come
from a person named David Block,
he claimed that stool ball was the
original version of baseball.
Stool ball can be traced
back to an even earlier
date than baseball, which
would be in the year 1672.
This claim only grows our curiosity in the
game of stool ball and how was it played.
It is known that a player who
would bat stood in front of the
stool and the pitcher from the
other team would pitch the ball.
If the player who is batting hits
the ball, and the other team who is
fielding catches the ball, the batting
player would be considered out.
Just like in Cricket, if the ball happens
to hit the stool where the player who
is batting stood it is again considered
to be an out for the batting team.
The Origin of Baseball
It is difficult to trace
the precise evolution of
baseball from the older
games of bat and ball.
An old French manuscript dating back to the
year 1344 has a picture of clerics playing
a game, conceivably la soule, a French
game with close resemblances to baseball.
Many other old French games like
the que, la balle empoisonnee
and la balle au baton appear
to be associated as well.
Many had once agreed to it, that, the
game baseball was a development made by
the North Americans to
the old game rounders,
popularly played in Ireland
and Great Britain.
David Block the writer
of the book Baseball
Before We Knew It: A Search
for the Roots of the
Game, does not agree to
it and argues that its
origin comes from the
English game stool ball.
He even falsified the first print appearance
of baseball, which was so long known
to be in the year 1791 as an ordinance
passed in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
He claimed with evidence baseball’s
first printed appearance in an English
book “A Little Pretty Pocket Book”
in the year 1744 by John Newbery.
It comprehends the description of
baseball through a woodcut which shows a
field which has been set up in the similar
manner as the modern day baseball.
The small differences that
were found was that the
field was more triangular
in shape rather than
of diamond outline and
it had posts instead of
the ground level bases
that the modern game has.
David Block also discovered
the first ever noted game of
“Bass-ball” which had taken place
in Surey in the year 1749.
The Prince of Whales played in it.
A recording of a baseball game on an
Easter Monday of the year 1755 in
Guildford, Surrey by William Bray
an English Lawyer was also found.
Such early form of the game seemingly came
to Canada through the English immigrants.
The game Rounders was brought to U.S. by
immigrants of Irish and British ancestry.
The rules of the game were well
established by the year 1796 to earn its
mention in a book on popular pastimes
by Johann Gutsmuths a German scholar.
It described the
“Englische Base-ball”which
involved two teams who
compete against each other,
the batter was required
to hit the ball in three
attempts and run for home
plate to make a run.
Block suggests in his book
that baseball came to U.S.
along with the migrants
in the colonial period.
The Americans developed the
game with some regional
variations to give birth
to modern baseball.
Early in the year 1830 unorganised
bat and ball games were
reported of being played
everywhere in North America.
The games were given local names such as
round-ball, town-ball and even base-ball.
A person who attended the baseball match in
Beachville, Ontario in the year of 1838,
gave a detailed description of the game to
a sports magazine nearly 50 years later.
Alexander Cartwright a member of
the Knickerbocker Club of the New
York City, made the rules of the
Knickerbocker club in the year 1845
which many of the club rules made it look
similar to the modern game, however,
ball caught on first bounce was out and
overhand pitching was not allowed at all.
Some reports have the
mention of the New York
Knickerbocker having
played in the year 1845.
The first officially recorded
baseball game in the U.S. history
is dated to 19th June, 1846
in Hoboken, New Jersey.
The game was played between New
York Nine and Knickerbocker
club, the latter was defeated
by 23-1 only in four innings.
The Knickerbocker club’s rules continued
for a long time for the game, in the
next 50 years the rules kept evolving to
finally form the modern baseball rules.
The Game Turns Professional
By the mid of 19th century
a wave of baseball
craze had hit the metropolitan
area of New York.
Baseball was being referred to as
the national pastime of America or
the National game of America by
the journalists in the year 1856.
In the year 1857 sixteen baseball clubs
from different areas formed the first
governing body of the sport called the
National Association of Baseball Players.
In a years’ time the first baseball
game that charged admission,
took place in Corona, Queens New
York at the Fashion Race Course.
All stars of Brooklyn participated
in the games including players
from Excelsior of Brooklyn, All
stars of New York, Manhattan,
Brooklyn Atlantics, Putnams and
Eckford Brooklyn, Gothams,
players of New York Knickerbockers
included, Eagles and Empire,
this was understood to be the first
baseball games featuring all stars.
In the year 1863 the rules were
again altered and catching
a ball on first bounce was no
more considered to be out.
The Cincinnati Red Stockings
baseball club was formed in the year
1869 and set a record of being
undefeated by the amateur teams.
The National Association of Professional
Baseball Players came to an end in the
year of 1875, so it barely enjoyed 4
years as the first professional league.
The last change in the rules of
the game happened in the year
1901 when the counting foul
ball as strikes was instituted.
In the year 1876 a formal
National League was
originated which was more
formal in nature and
was referred to as the senior circuit as it
was the older most surviving major leagues.
By the early 1890 the African
Americans were barred from
participating in the professional
leagues owned by the whites.
This led to the formation of
professional Negro leagues.
In the year 1884 Overhand
pitching was permitted.
Equivalent to the National league’s
level there rose a league from
the minor western leagues and
named itself the American League.
Both the leagues had eight
teams to themselves and
were big time rivals fighting
for the best players.
A pact was signed between the two leagues
to make relations formal in the year 1903.
Since then the World Series were
started in which the champions of both
the leagues played against each
other, this became an annual event.
The Dead Ball Era
During this period the games were mostly
low scoring and the pitchers dominated.
The famously known pitchers of
that time were Cy Young, Walter
Johnson, Grover Cleveland
Alexander and Cristy Mathewson.
They were such good with the ball
that the period during which
they played from 1900 - 1919 was
known to be the “Dead Ball Era”.
The term also precisely defined
the state of baseball itself, as
each ball cost $3 which was a
pretty heavy amount at that time.
The owners of the clubs were reluctant
in buying new balls for the same reason.
It was uncommon for a ball to have
lasted through an entire game.
The ball would be found to be
covered in mud, tobacco juice
and grass, misshapen by taking
continuous hits from the bat.
The only instance when the
balls were replaced was when
it was hit into the stands
and got lost in the crowd.
The clubs had gone to such
extents as to hiring a security
guard to retrieve the ball
which got hit into the crowd.
As a result, home runs
were a rare occurrence.
The Merkel Incident
In the year 1908 on 23rd September,
the games played between the
American league and the National
League took place in the Polo Grounds.
The games concluded in
an inexplicable turn of
events and is referred
to as the Merkel Boner.
The game was between The New
York Giants and Chicago Cubs.
Fred Merkel was the first baseman along
with his teammate Moose McCormick who was
on his third ball with two outs, and the
game was tied between the two teams.
Al Bridwell struck a single, scoring
McCormick and apparently winning the game.
The spectators ran into the field
assuming the game to be won
by the Giants, which was an
acceptable practice back then.
Meanwhile, Merkel, who was supposed
to make a run for the second
base instead ran to the clubhouse
to evade the mob of spectators.
Johnny Evers the Cubs’ second baseman noticed
Merkel and claimed to have retrieved the
ball and touched the second base, making
him out and invalidating the scored run.
This was brought to the attention of the
umpire Hank O’Day, who declared Merkel out.
Notwithstanding the opinions
of Giants the league indorsed
the umpire’s decision and asked
for the game to be replayed.
The Cubs’ won and Merkel was
condemned to unending criticism.
As per this event, it went down
in history as Merkel’s Boner.
New Places to Play
In the days when there was no
television, if you wanted to watch a
baseball game, you had to go to the
stadiums where the games were held.
In the beginning of the
20th century there was
an extraordinary rise in
popularity of the game.
The spectators increased and so
did the need of bigger stadiums.
Many new stadiums were built solely
dedicated to the baseball games
and many of the existing stadiums
were enlarged for the same,
including Shibe Park, Tiger Stadium in
Detroit, Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, Fenway Park
in Boston, Polo Grounds in Manhattan,
Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park in Chicago.
The Black Sox Scandal
The fixing of the baseball
games by players and gamblers
functioning together had been
doubted from the year 1850.
Players like Tris Speaker
and Ty Cobb were accused
to have supposedly fixed
the outcomes of the games.
The Major Leauge Baseball’s conceit
was ultimately exposed after the
1919 World Series and it was famously
known as the Black Sox Scandal.
The Chicago White Sox had an
excellent season of winnings
and were suspected to win the
world series of 1919 by many.
They were arguably the best
baseball team with a good
defence, deep line up and
strong pitching players.
The game was up with the Cincinnati
Reds of the National League, but nobody
including the gamblers had anticipated the
Reds standing a chance to win the game.
The Reds won the game 5-3 and
left people in disbelief.
Back at that time the baseball players
were not paid very well, they had
to find themselves other jobs during
the off game seasons for survival.
Some of the top city clubs made handsome
salaries, but Chicago was not one of them.
The White Sox was owned and run
by Charles Comiskey, who was
known to pay the lowest player
wages in the American League.
All the players of the team had
a strong hatred for Comiskey.
They were all bound to stay calm because
of the baseball’s reserve clause that did
not allow the players to switch teams
without the permission of the team owner.
Cominskey’s harsh behaviour
had created deep bitterness
in the heart of the Sox
players by the late 1919.
Arnold “Chick” Gandil the first
baseman on the White Sox made
a decision to conspire to throw
the World Series of 1919.
He convinced Joseph “Sport”
Sullivan, a gambler
with whom he had former
dealings, to fix
the match for $100,000 which would be paid
to the player who were involved in this.
Arnold Rothstein, the New York gangster,
supplied the amount through his
substitute Abe Attell who was a
featherweight boxing champion to Gandil.
In the beginning of the 1920 baseball
season, the rumours hit the air
that few players had conspired to
lose the 1919 Wolrd Series purposely.
So a grand jury was summoned
to investigate the matter.
Eight players including
Arnorl “Chick” Gandil
were accused and tried
for conspiring.
The players were ultimately
cleared of the accusations.
Even so, the owners of the
baseball teams could not
bear the damage the scandal
made on the sport,
so they appointed for themselves
a Federal Judge, Kenesaw
Mountain Landis was the first
Commissioner of Baseball.
Black Sox was banned for life from the
professional baseball games by him.
Rise of Babe Ruth and End of Dead Ball Era
It was not the Black Sox Scandal
but a change in the baseball games
and a Player who were responsible
for the end of the dead ball era.
A strict rule prevailing to the size
and shape of the ball was passed.
Spitballs and other trick
pitches were outlawed.
The Umpires were
responsible to change the
ball whenever one got
discoloured or scuffed.
After the death of Ray Chapman,
who was hit on the head in a game
being played on 16th August,1920
by a ball pitched from Carl Mays.
The ball seemed to be discoloured because
of which Chapman did not see it coming.
After his death the rule which was
enforced, was followed even more strictly.
Harry Frazee, who owned the
Boston Red Sox, sold a
group of his star players
to the New York Yankees.
George Herman Ruth also known
as “Babe” was amongst them.
His career reflects the shift of
authority from pitching to hitting.
When he has started his career
in 1914, he was a pitcher.
In two years’ time he was considered to be
a strong left handed pitcher in baseball.
When he got a chance to
bat he proved his worth.
In his last season played in
Boston Ruth hit 29 home runs.
The power hitting capability of
Ruth revealed a new technique
of playing the game, which was
loved extensively by the crowds.
Apart from Ruth there
were other players like
Rogers Hornsby who were
good hitters as well.
The trend was set by Ruth, and
by the end of 1930 all the good
teams had their own home run hitters
commonly known as “sluggers”.
The Baseball Hall of Fames was established
in the year 1936, five players namely:
Walter Johnson, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson,
Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth were elected.
The hall was finally
inaugurated in the year 1939.
The Racial Incorporation in Baseball
When U.S. involved in the
World War II, many players
had to quit the games to
join the armed forces.
However the major leagues
continued to play.
And eventually after the end of World
War II baseball came back to life.
The years after the war baseball perceived
the racial incorporation of the sport.
The African American were
banned from playing on
a white owned baseball
team since the year 1890.
However, the American society approached
for the integration after the war.
This was partially possible as a
result of the eminent military
services provided by the
African Americans in the war,
through units such as 366th Infantry
Regiment, Tuskegee Airmen, and others.
The renowned actor and athlete
Paul Robeson who was an African
American campaigned the incorporation
of the sport in the year 1943.
Several baseball team owners
considered recruiting
team members from the Negro
League post the war.
Few of the baseball team owners
were interested in the services
of few good African American players
and wished to sign them up.
Kenesaw Mountain Landis the powerful
Baseball Commissioner was a steadfast
segregationist and opposed any such
efforts made by the team owners.
After his death in the year 1944
a major obstacle for the African
American players from playing in
the major leagues was removed.
As the years passed
the African American
participation in the
baseball games increased.
Major Leagues Move West
The baseball games have
been in the west for as
long as the American and
National Leagues have.
It made a league of its own adding
the Los Angeles Angels, Hollywood
Stars, Portland Beavers, Oakland
Oaks, San Francisco Seals,
Sacramento Solons, Seattle
Rainiers and San Diego
Padres, together known as
the Pacific Coast league.
The PCL was a member of
the National Association
of Professional Baseball
Leagues, it kept
selling its best players
for less than $8,000 a
player to the National
and American Leagues.
PCL was more independent than
many other minor leagues
and protested against the
Eastern Masters continuously.
The president of the PCL
demanded the baseball
commissioners Happy Chandler
and Kenesaw Mountain
Landis an even-handedness
in the major leagues
and later to form a
separate major league.
Both the commissioners
refused his requests.
Chandler and other major league owners
conspired to terminate the PCL.
Baseball in the years 1953 - 1955
The baseball franchises of the
major leagues were mostly confined
to the North-eastern parts of
the United States until 1950s.
This was mainly because
the locations of the
teams had remained
unchanged from 1903-1952.
Boston Braves were the first team in fifty
years to have relocated to Milwaukee
in the year 1953, and the club set their
attendance records there ever since.
The trend was then followed by other teams
like the St. Louis Browns who in the
following year moved to Baltimore and
renamed themselves the Baltimore Orioles.
The Philadelphia Athletics in the
year 1955 moved to the Kansas City.
National League leaves New York
New York market was torn
apart in the year 1958.
The New York Yankees of the American
League were becoming a leading attraction.
At that time the West had numerous
fans of all age groups and it seemed
to be a comfortable market for the
esteemed teams of the National League
such as the New York Giants
and Brooklyn Dodgers.
The strategy was to place these two dynamic
clubs in any two big cities of the
West, destroying any ideas or endeavours
by the PCL to form a third major league.
In the eagerness to bring the famous teams
to the West, the owner of the team Dodgers,
Walter O’Malley was given a helicopter tour
by Los Angeles for him to pick a spot.
On the other hand the team Giants were
given to the PCL San Francisco Seals
accommodations on lease and the Candlestick
Park was constructed for them.
This is how the National League left
New York and moved west instead.
California
The New York Giants and
the Brooklyn Giants were
known to be rivals when
they were in New York.
It makes it logical that they chose their new
cities to be Los Angeles which is Southern
California by the Dodgers and San Francisco
which is Northern California by the Giants.
Both the cities are known to already have a
fierce rivalry, dating back to the founding
of the states, because of political,
cultural, economic and geographical reasons.
Later in the year 1961 the Los Angeles
Angels brought the American League to the
Southern California, it was known to be the
first team in California to have expanded.
1961 - 1998
Other teams followed the path on Angels
and expanded their teams, the Washington
Senators joined the American League who had
moved to Minnesota to be called The Twins.
The year 1961 was also a year well noted as
the year in which Roger Maris hit 61 for
the New York Yankees and broke the record
of Babe Ruth’s one season home run record.
The National League added teams
in 1962 to keep in pace with the
American league who had expanded
it league by adding teams.
New York Mets and Houston Colt 45s were the
latest additions of the National League.
The year 1969 saw the American League
expand again when the PCL teams
Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots
were given entry in the league.
The Pilots remained in the league for
just one season which was held in
Seattle then moved to Milwaukee now
famously known as the Milwaukee Brewers.
The National League also
added two teams in the
same year, San Diego
Padres and Montreal Expos.
With this the PCL best
teams were all gone to
either the National or
the American League.
However the Coast league survived,
it moved to other markets
and endures to this day with a
new name as Class AAA League.
In the year 1977 the American
League expanded to 14 teams.
It took years for the National League to
match up to that, finally in 1993 National
League was able to expand to bring more
teams under the league to make it 14.
In the year 1998 both the
leagues had 15 teams each.
Milwaukee left the American
league to become a member of the
National league to make the number
even between the two leagues.
Pitching Dominance and Change of Rules
The pitchers were being more favoured
than the hitters in the year 1960s.
In the year 1968 the player who won the
American League batting title was Carl
Yastrzemski with the average of 301, so far
the lowest in the History of Baseball.
Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers won
31 games as a pitcher the same year.
The major baseball
leagues had to make some
changes in the rules
considering such events.
In the year 1969 the
strike zone was reduced
and the pitcher’s
mound was lowered.
Invalidating the Reserve Clause
Since the foundation of the major
leagues, the control of the
game and the players were in
the hands of the team owners.
Despite a few player organisation
that had transitory lives, the
owners’ absolute control over the
game lasted for nearly 70 years.
In the year 1966 the players sought the
help of Marvin Miller an activist in the
Labor Union to create the Major League
Baseball Players Association - MLBPA.
Following this, Don Drysdale and
Sandy Koufax, well known players
of the Los Angeles Dodgers
denied to renew their contracts.
The end of reserve clause was near, which
had held the players to play for one team.
The MLBPA fought for the rights of
the players in the court, and lost.
But the damage was made and
even though the reserve
clause survived, it had
been irreversibly weakened.
Finally in the year 1975 Dave McNally
and Andy Messersmith players of
the team Montreal Expos played
without signing contracts for a year
and later declared themselves to be free
agents as per the arbitrator’s ruling.
The owners had no other choice than
to accept the terms of the MLBPA.
With this the reserve
clause was successfully
replaced by free agency
and negotiation.
The Marketing Era
Many changes were seen in the
1980s, the major league games
were effected drastically
from the mixture of effects
conveyed by television broadcasts
of the games, free agencies,
changes in the science of sports,
advertisements and more.
These in turn led to fan dissatisfaction,
steep rise in prices, change
in the game plan, use of steroids
by players for better performance.
Science of Sport
In the period of 1980s the need of
workout and exercises increased.
Body training equipment were
improved in the weight rooms.
Doctors and trainer introduced
healthier schedules and diets
to make the players healthier,
stronger and bigger than ever.
Another change in the game was the
implementation of pitch count.
In the history of Baseball
it was a usual thing
that one pitcher pitches
through the entire game.
Now the coaches made sure that
one pitcher does not pitch
more than 125 balls, for
the safety of their arms.
Therefore, more pitchers were
trained, few hurlers with
high velocity pitching,
middle relievers and closers.
Television
All the games had been watched
live since the 20th century.
After television sports was
introduced in the 1950s all the
attention of the major leagues
went on increasing their revenues.
Initially the broadcast was
limited to the local area.
It effected the independent
and minor leagues badly.
People choose to stay home and
watch the renowned Maury Wills
rather than visiting their local
ballparks to watch unknowns game.
The Major League Baseball controlled
the rights and charged fees for
all the games that were broadcasted
on television as well as radio.
It added to their revenue flow, in
addition to the attention of the people.
When the television networks opened
the national channels the games were
broadcasted on national television, the
baseball games had a larger audience.
Sponsorships and Endorsements
Huge media coverage on
newspaper, magazines and
television to attract
the attention of the
new generation and
increase their interest in
reading, also helped in
attracting sponsors.
The players were given financial
opportunities to do advertisements,
which would ultimately benefit
the baseball games itself.
Baseball souvenirs and memorabilia
and player autographs of the
players were sold on the internet
in the late 1990s for big prices.
Big brands like Nike
fought to get their logos
on the sportswear of the
players on the field.
By the end of the 20th century
during a live game, the
backstops of the fields were
covered by the advertisements.
The Player Influence
The baseball players who were once
poorly paid were now living in
an age where they were paid
extremely well for their services.
Side deals - the players were approached
by big companies for baseball
card sponsorship, commercial
endorsements and athletic shoes deals.
Sports agents - there were sports
agents who figured how more revenue can
be generated by the players because
of their popularity among the people.
They figured which of the players are most
popular among the general crowd and put them
up with the television contracts to energize
the shows, and earn revenue in return.
Business and strategy plans - the
high salaries of the players
also became a reason for many
change in the game strategies.
Even if the players did not perform well
they were not sent down to the minors.
Other players who could only
rise by the means of good
performance were trapped because
of these overpaid stars.
To make the media happy
became the main aim,
as the major revenue
flow came from there.
Owners and Players Feud - in the
1980s contractual disputes between
the players and the owners
reached to a serious situation.
There had been strikes by the
baseball players earlier
as well which caused disturbance
in the game seasons.
So the owners locked the
players out of the spring
time training over a
dispute of free agency.
The owners wanted to tie the players
to contracts which the players found
unacceptable, as they recently got their
freedom for the bondage of reserve clause.
They set on a strike which
lasted for more than a month
ending up with the owners
agreeing to the players terms.
Strike two - this happened in
the year 1994 when the owners
wanted to renegotiate the
free agency and salary terms.
The players went on strike once
again on 12th August 1994.
The Major League Baseball
declared the World
Series to be cancelled
on September 1994.
Home Run Mania - the
Americans were infuriated
by the cancellation of
the 1994 World Series.
The fans had stated the strike to be war.
There was outrage on part of the
fans, however, the attendance
numbers and broadcast rankings
went down in the year 1995.
The players played extremely well breaking
old records in the years from 1995 to 2001.
In the year 1998 Mark McGwire the first
baseman of the team ST Louis Cardinals
and the outfielder of Chicago Cubs,
Sammy Sosa, engaged in a home run race.
McGwire set the mark
on 70 which was later
beat by Barry Bonds of
San Francisco Giants.
Bonds broke many records,
but with his involvement
in the BALCO drug scandal
it only makes sense.
McGwire was admitted for heavy
steroids intake after his retirement.
The Age of Steroids
Steroids impacted the
game of baseball because
of the immoral powerfulness
that it allowed.
It sways the health of
the players, and changes
the appearance and
atmosphere of the game.
The drug gives a contemptible
advantage to players
which breaks the social
bond of having a fair game.
It has many side effects to it, such as
liver deformities and many other problems,
but the tempting power and strength it
gives is often more attractive to some
consumers and therefore predominates
the enticement to, to take the drug.
Moreover, steroids influence
baseball's atmosphere as it
effects the capability to equate
players of different ages.
With steroids, players are
able to achieve many personal
strength objectives, home
runs come in abundance,
superstars are made, but
there are also long
term penalties that they
would have to suffer.
The Players were tempted
by the big money, which
let them to perform to
their full potential.
The baseball drug act was no secret.
In 1960s the tiring schedule of 162
games per season compelled the players
to take amphetamines in the form of
energy pills also known as “greenies”.
Almost 2 decades later new
performance augmenting drugs
like ephedra and other
steroids were introduced.
The Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent
in the year 1991 has strictly
prohibited the use or sale of any
kind of illegal drug by the players.
Anyone involved was subject to
permanent expulsion from the games.
In the year 2003 Steve
Bechler, an overweight pitcher
died while playing due to
heavy intake of the Ephedra.
Many other players who were extraordinarily
good were found to have been on steroids.
BALCO Scandal
In the year 2002 a major
scandal was uncovered where a
company named BALCO - Bay
Area Laboratory Co-operative,
was found to have been
producing a steroid
which could go undetected
on the drug tests.
The name of the steroid
was designer steroid and
were available in two forms
the clear and the cream.
The company had its connections
with the trainers of few players
as well including trainers of
Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi.
On detailed investigation
on the company many
famous sportsmen were
found to be involved.
The Power Age
With the use of the steroids
there were a lot of power games.
However, there were
many other factors that
helped the players to
hit so many home runs.
The size of the ballparks were
smaller than that in the past,
the baseball balls were manufactured
in a way that it was wound up
in a tighter manner which allowed
the ball to travel even further.
Watering the pitches also helped a lot.
In the year 2005, in a baseball
game the players easily make 40
to 50 home runs in a season, which
in the 1980s was a rare thing.
