bowling night, so a lot of random thoughts before I go ;-)
there have always been performance enhancers....whether in the form of a protein shake pep pills of some type...
I don't doubt that steroids were used, but steroids won't make you hit the ball any better (just further when you do manage to hit it)...I wonder if steroids helped Canseco knock that ball over the fence that bounced off his head when he played for Texas...too bad there isn't/wasn't a drug that could have made him a better fielder...
the andro McGwire was taking may have been a "performance enhancer" but it wasn't illegal at the time he took it....
The homerun boom could also have to do with the baseballs (as PD pointed out). Remember, before Babe Ruth was swatting homers (the deadball era) it was almost of unheard of see a guy with even 20 homeruns. So MLB made the balls different so they'd fly further. Players are also using better equipment now: better bats, balls, etc. There are better conditioning programs and weight training that just wasn't around in the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc.
I truly believe the reason baseball didn't act sooner in instituting steroid testing is because they were in love with the homeruns...think of what it took to get baseball "back on the map" after the strike of '94...Sosa and McGwire's home run chase...it put asses in seats and sold a lot of tickets.
So, if we blame someone for this, who? the players? the owners? the fans? We can all share blame...when more home runs are hit, revenues go up...it's business...
I'll share more of my thoughts after beers and bowling
