Big Mac...Slammin' Sammy?

In 2010's first "Well, duh!" moment in sports, Mark McGwire came out to announce that he had, in fact, taken steroids and Human Growth Hormone, throughout most of the 1990's.

So, Mark McGwire is no longer the last man on earth denying his steroid use. We all knew. Everyone on ESPN knew. Everyone on the Cardinals roster knew. So, no shock and no suspense-relief there. However, this opens the door and gives way to the question: What about Sammy Sosa?

Did Sammy do it? Most likely. So, if he did, perhaps its time for Sammy to clear the air as well. I think everyone who earned major prominence during the "Steroid Era" should go ahead and come clean. Cal Ripken, Jr., might have used some supplemental support to make that Iron Man streak a reality...who knows? The thing is, at the time, such supplements were NOT ILLEGAL. So, it is not like rules were violated.

Yet, there are purists who are arguing that steroids, regardless of the rules of baseball, are a black mark on the history of baseball. Many think that any records or marks made by those guilty of participating in the Steroid Era should be somehow erased or covered up. Some would wipe the books clean of any mention of the steroid users and their impact on the game.

I would argue that, despite your feelings on steroids and whether the fact there was no rules broken at the time they were taken, both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Put an asterisk or a parentheses and explain the Steroid Era, but put these two in, and even give the same treatment to Barry Bonds. However, McGwire and Sosa deserve to be in the Hall, and here is why.

Whether they get enshrined or not, McGwire and Sosa need to be included in the story of professional baseball and the Hall of Fame. Four years after a season that ended on August 12, cancelling a World Series, baseball was reeling. Ratings were hurting. Baseball was becoming a footnote.

Mark McGwire was consistently teasing us with the home run record, but could not push over the hump. It was fun to talk about it, to dream about seeing number 62 go over the fences. Yet, there was no buzz. The country did not take notice of baseball. We needed a reason to get excited about baseball again.

Then, June 1998 happened. Sammy Sosa drives 20 long balls and suddenly, the chase for Roger Maris is a two-man sprint through the summer. McGwire and Sosa spent the summer playing "Anything you can do, I can do better!" And the nation, and the world, took notice. Baseball was fun. Baseball was exciting. Baseball was BACK!

The 1998 season was a magical year. In May, a young fireballer, sharing the same lockerroom as Sosa, named Kerry Wood turned a lot of heads with his 20 strike-out performance against the Houston Astros. Wrigley Field would soon become the stage for a year of history. In baseball's second oldest stadium, some of the most memorable moments of all time would occur.

Kerry Wood's 20 Ks started it all, but Sammy Sosa's 20 dingers in June caused baseball fever to spread faster than H1N1 hysteria. For about 3 1/2 months, America, and the world, watched magic happen.

Sosa. McGwire. McGwire. Sosa. Back and forth. Day by day, history inched closer. Who would finally cross the threshold?

The fun, excitement, and joy that all of baseball experienced that wonderful summer saved Major League Baseball. McGwire and Sosa took baseball and carried on their broad shoulders back to glory. Major League Baseball would not be anything close to what it is now were it not for 1998 and the McGwire-Sosa Home Run Derby.

So, put an asterisk, footnote, parenthesis, or some other denotation to make note of the Steroid Era; do what you will. But, McGwire and Sosa deserve to be in the Hall of Fame for their contributions to baseball. Barry Bonds, on the same grounds, deserves that as well.