The Expanding Shadows
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by user I am a cpcp
ESPN.com asked for readers to send in their thoughts on steroid use in baseball. This is the letter I sent in:
I remember going to Cleveland Stadium when I was about six years old. My parents gave me their camera for the day I and took pictures of everything -- the parking lot, the outside of the stadium, the ceiling above the seats -- I mean everything.
Since I was that little leaguer in the days of Brook Jacoby, Corey Snyder and Joey Belle, loving every detail about our city's crappy team, I've loved baseball. As I grew up my family went to more and more games each year, all the while the Indians got better and better. Eventually we ditched our yearly trek to Upper Michigan and went to 10 or so baseball games each summer. Eight in Cleveland (that was the most single games you could get, this was when the Jake was selling out every game), one or two in Cincinnati and sometimes one in Pittsburgh. (Three cheers for interleague play!)
Finding out now that all of these memories have the (strong) possibility of being tainted by steroids - something that at that age I though only professional wrestlers got into - is heartbreaking.
How many of these guys that I followed over the years were frauds? How far does this go?
I saw Nolan Ryan pitch his Cleveland farewell game in 1993 when he was 46. This was one of the highlights of my childhood. With these new reports that steroids extend a pitcher's career, does this mean that I have to question whether Nolan Ryan... NOLAN RYAN was a user? Unfortunately, it does.
The NFL and NBA have strong loyalties, but real baseball fans really, really love baseball. When there is cheating involved in love, there are severe consequences. Like many baseball fans, I'm trying to forgive the infidelity and keep the relationship going, but as new stories arise daily, it's becoming very hard.
The one thing I'm thankful for is that this came out into the open while I'm still young (24). If baseball can't find it in it's heart to change and find a way to become pure again, I have time to move on and find a new sport to love. There's always the team across the Gateway Plaza.
Date
Tue 06/27/06, 9:54 pm EST
