MLB '09

[Strangler Lewis]

I'm not sure why Scaeagles is limiting his question to porn addicts, but I'll weigh in.

Baseball is odd in that the statistics are revered to a degree they are in no other sport even though the basic dimensions of the game are not standardized from field to field and keep changing.

Yankee Stadium was built with its short right field porch for Babe Ruth, and the ball was livened up in the '30s-1930 in particular-producing a spate of 50-homer seasons. In 1968, the mound was raised for a year, Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA and Denny McLain won 31. That was not deemed exciting, so it was lowered again. In the '90s, the ball was livened anew, ballparks got smaller and foul territory started disappearing.

I don't like the view that the owners/powers that be can turn the sport into whatever slow pitch, beer league offensive circus they want to but that players who use performance enhancing drugs somehow damage the integrity of the game. I'm un-libertarian enough to support a view that their use should be banned because they're unhealthy, kind of icky, and you don't want to be encouraging millions of young kids to use them, but I don't think statistics should be thrown out. It is, however, amusing to imagine Mark Reynolds and Adam Dunn asking to have their strikeout records thrown out because they were on drugs.