McCarver's Book Deserves a Second Look
The Perfect Season Has Questionable Stars: McGwire, Sosa, Canseco
May 19, 2009
English teachers always tell their students how much more insight can be gained when reading a book a second time. Never has that been more the case, in the genre of sports literature, than with books written during the height of baseball's steroid's age.
The first of a two-part series will examine Tim McCarver's The Perfect Season: Why 1998 Was Baseball's Greatest Year. The book documented among other events the memorable battle between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, the year both surpassed Roger Maris' record 61 home runs in a season; the resurgence of Jose Canseco; and Roger Clemens winning his fifth Cy Young Award.
When read now, in light of McGwire and Sosa's infamous discussions with Congress; the revelations of Canseco; and Clemens' current legal battle involving performance-enhancing drugs, it is at times riveting and at others comical.
McGwire vs. Sosa: Competing or Cheating?
McCarver, baseball analyst and former big league catcher, not only considered 1998 the greatest season in baseball history but also "the greatest any sport has ever enjoyed" in the book he wrote along with Danny Peary. To be fair, the book also chronicled the end of Cal Ripken Jr.'s streak; a comeback by one-handed pitcher Jim Abbott; and the passings of Harry Caray, Richie Ashburn and Dan Quisenberry.
But considering the increasing evidence that a number of players have used illegal substances to get an unfair advantage, it is hard not to wonder how McCarver feels about the season today. At the center of the issue are McGwire and Sosa. In a 2005 hearing with Congress, Sosa denied using steroids while McGwire sidestepped the issue with claims he "was retired" and was "here to be positive about the subject."
Ironically, when McGwire hit his 62nd homer to move past Maris, it was pointed out it was his shortest of the season, just 341 feet. But in the booth, Bob Brenly said "If you figure the distance between St. Louis and Cooperstown, it's his longest." It isn't looking like McGwire will be enshrined in Cooperstown anytime soon, if ever.
McCarver ended his chapter on McGwire and Sosa with this nugget: "Yet, these months later, you still shake your head in disbelief as you look at those two mind-boggling stats. Seventy home runs for McGwire, sixty-six home runs for Sosa."
"Magical" Season for Clemens
Discussing the great numbers put up by Sosa and Clemens, McCarver said it was as if they "were sprinkled by the same magical dust because, eerily, they went into superhuman overdrive at exactly the same time."
Later, he wrote "In Clemens' case, it has taken more than a strong arm, competitive drive, and imposing glare to have kept him at the top of his profession for so many years. I think the key to his success each year and over his entire career has been his work ethic." The question is, did illegal substances help him keep that work ethic intact?
Canseco's Last Hurrah
Canseco, one of the few players to admit using performance-enhancing drugs, no doubt leaned on them at the age of 34 when he, in McCarver's words, "unexpectedly hit a career-high forty-six long balls." Canseco was picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays for a small salary at the urging, ironically.
Of Canseco, McCarver wrote "He was a victim of the game being too easy for him. He shows us flashes of amazing talent, but not the discipline to play the game properly."
(Note: This the first in a two-part series reviewing books written in baseball's "steroids era." The second will be on Josh Suchon's "This Gracious Season: Barry Bonds and the Greatest Year in Baseball" which chronicles Bonds breaking McGwire's single-season home run record in 1991)
