The Chicago Sports Review catches up with Rich 'Goose' Gossage, the legendary relief pitcher from the White Sox, Padres, Yankees and other MLB clubs. As with any ex-player these days, the reporter pops the steroid question:
CY: A former New York Mets employee has pleaded guilty to distributing steroids from 1995-2005 to many major league players. As a former major leaguer, why do you think we have new incidents of players taking steroids?
RG: Well, I think there needs to be light shed on it. I don't know what's going to come out of the investigation that's going on with the Major League Baseball and the government. You can't compare. It's not a level playing field for Hank Aaron. You are talking about the most important single record in sports history really is the homerun. It's always been a sacred thing in baseball. Obviously the offense they put in the game today, I don't think there is any number the homerun means what it use to mean. The homerun use to be a big deal, today it's been watered down with the smaller ballparks, the
more lively ball, the lack of pitching, the lack of pitching inside. You come close to these guys today and you are kicked out of a ballgame. All you have to do is scare them. You don't even have to hit them. It's a different ballgame and they wanted to put more offense in the game. I still love the game and it's still great game, but you can't compare the numbers of yesteryear to the current numbers of what's being put up today.
Gossage reflects many fan's opinion about sluggers from Baseball's Steroid Era: it isn't fair to compare stats post-Canseco to the Pre-Canseco numbers. That PEDs, although not the only factor, contributed to much more offense.
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