March 2, 2005
I've been thinking about the problem in Major League Baseball, and with spring training here and the sport commanding front page headlines, this is a perfect opportunity for the League to make peace with its millions of fans.
Let's face it. The statistics are totally out of whack. Future generations will have no way to compare eras because genetically, things have changed. We can't determine how good today's players would have been in the past if their chemical make up is fundamentally different. Likewise, the past greats should not have to have their accomplishments diminished by modern players who have changed our perception of the game. I see only one way out of this conundrum. Baseball must draw a line in the sand.
This line should be drawn between the years 1946 and 1947. All statistics before the color line was broken should be eliminated from our future discussion of baseball. Any reasonable sports fan would agree that legitimizing records of players who participated in what amounted to a fraternity league not only negates today's feats, it also perpetrates the myths of supremacy and purity, two things that baseball before 1947 clearly lacked.
It's obvious to the open minded. How could we have been considering Christy Mathewson (373 career wins from 1900-1916) as one of the all time great pitchers when, come to find out, he was playing intramural ball? Of course Ty Cobb's punk ass could average .366 from 1905-1928. He was playing in a country club league. Baseball is asking us to believe Joe DiMaggio could have hit safely in 56 consecutive games (1941) even if he had faced such firemen as Vida Blue and J.R. Richard.
It would be music to my ears to hear an announcer say some August afternoon, "..and Ichiro has a legitimate shot to become the first man ever to bat .400." You see, the same year Joe D went for his 56 in a row, Ted Williams batted .406.
These "accomplishments" from this hateful period equate to steroid use by subtraction. Race exclusive records were tainted when they occurred and there is no place for there acknowledgment in the modern debate.
