The home run's fall from prominence

In 1927 when Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs, nobody besides himself had ever even hit more than 41 home runs. Anybody that knows baseball can tell you that there is Babe Ruth and then there is everybody else. Nobody dominated an era of baseball like he did. He was and is the Michael Jordan of his sport. But it was really more than that; Ruth out homered entire teams. Even Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez for all of their cheating, could not do that.

From the Roaring Twenties through the revolutionary sixties the home run was a show stopper. It was a big deal when Maris hit 61 ding dongs in 1961 to break Ruth's single season record. Of course Ruth did it in 154 game season and Maris did it in a 162 game season. Anyone that did the math knew that Ruth was still the gold standard. Perhaps our belief that he was so great is due in part to the folklore belief that he could have reached unbreakable records if he was not a heavy drinker and partyer and would have did even better were it not for his off field antics. 

But perhaps that is just hero worship on our part. Nonetheless, hero is the optimal word. Baseball players were the envy of the world at one point. In Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece, The Inglorious Basterds, the American soldier brags that he is Teddy Ball Game while he bashes a Nazi officer's face in with a baseball bat. 

But now?

Well now, I could not even tell you who leads the league in home runs, nor would I care to look it up. Even in 1989, it was fun to watch a spike in home runs when Kevin Mitchell hit a mere 46 jacks. Fifty two years after Ruth's epic season; in smaller ball parks and with better equipment, we were happy when a guy came within 14 home runs of Ruth! In 1991 when Cecil Fielder hit 51 jacks we were ecstatic that someone in our generation broke the 50 mark. 

Even at the beginning of the 90's, the home run was still the king. We rooted for those guys. Race was not a factor then (not a real factor). We could care less, but when Barry Bonds came along later and was suspected of cheating somehow it all of the sudden was a factor.

Over and over again we have celebrated the image of two white men running on to the field and patting Hank Aaron on the back for breaking Babe Ruth's then all-time record of 714 home runs. And hardcore baseball fans even remember that Ruth hit three of his home runs for the very same Atlanta Braves. Race did not matter. We respected Ruth and Aaron both for their epic accomplishments.

Then came Mark McGwire. He hit 47 home runs as a rookie. He grew into his body and reached Ruthian status by the time he hit 70 in 1998 and crushed Ruth's old record of 60. But we ignored the writing on the wall. We ignored his increased bulk as well of his buddy, Sammy Sosa. Sosa went from being a string bean as a rooki to being The Incredible Hulk when he hit 66 that year. We did not care because we were happy to see the wooly bully mamoths crush records.

But then came Bonds. He weighed about a buck sixty when he came to the majors. But he also had a lightning quick bat and fast running speed. We certainly appreciated his natural talent. But when he became the undisputed power king over night, our steroid suspicions were way too strong to ignore. We shook our heads when we watched him mis-hit a ball (can of corn) and it still went over the fence by thirty feet. We were angered by the enabler's (media) arguments that steroids does not increase the hand eye coordination. But clearly MLB was turning a blind eye and soon we had to hear the media tell us that the fan truly did not care and that it was merely a witch hunt. Half truths dominated and the baseball purist was left for dead.

By the time Alex Rodriguez was busted for steroids, almost nobody even cared anymore. Well not for long that is. We cared from a what's the latest scandal standpoint. But the home run had already been given its last rites. When David Ortiz was exposed for steroid use, we only asked why it took so long to expose him? We watched a fat pile of blubber turn himself into Babe Ruth overnight. The Minnesota Twins were not stupid to trade him. They knew of his pre-steroids ceiling. 

And so what about when A-Rod hits his 600th home run? So what? We don't care anymore. Major League Executives are millions richer. Baseball is no longer America's pastime (The NFL is). It's just something to kill a few hours. Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio? Where indeed.

To read another well written perspective on this - Click here.