Gollum and The Faith of Fifty Million

The Minnesota Twins start post season baseball tonight.  Nowadays there are rounds of Wild Card, Division and League playoffs as preliminaries but 100 years ago the top finishers in the American and National Leagues just got together and played the World Series.

Hmmmm.  100 years ago.  Ah yes, 1919.  The Year of the Black Sox Scandal.

In The Great Gatsby this attempt to “fix” the Series was alluded to in the line:  “It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people..”   

A century ago the Unthinkable Act was that players would dishonestly attempt to perform at less than their human abilities.  Fast forward to the 21^st century.  Now we wonder if players might be attempting to perform at more than human abilities.  I’m talking PEDs, or Performance Enhancing Drugs.

I shall be very careful to not allege anything that is not a matter of public record.  It is for instance simple fact that of the seven major league players suspended for PEDs in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, two are Minnesota Twins.  It is also true that of the players suspended in recent years about 70% are from the Dominican Republic.  The stories are always basically the same.  “Some guy gave me a diet supplement.  I did not know what was in it.” Yah, that pretty much sums it up.  Implausible of course but in general the League and the individual clubs involved accept this.  It is after all a matter of maintaining that “Faith of fifty million”.

There are a number of compilations out there…photos of players before and after admitted steroid use.  The ones of former Yankee slugger Jason Giambi are particularly impressive.  A skinny kid turns into a hulking Neaderthal.  But what I remember is how weak and ineffectual he looked when he came back post suspension.  Most PEDs are very bad for you long term.  And coming off of steroids in particular is physiologically brutal. 

For a time there was a pair of identical twin brothers playing pro ball. One was widely acknowledged to be “juicing”.  The other was more of a scientific control specimen.  Until later he too was implicated.  Both are retired now and they once again look like twins.  (Not it must be said, like Twins). 

So why do they do it?  Why reach for that forbidden Ring of Power that corrupts the soul and tortures the body while promising you abilities beyond that of mere mortals? 

Desperation perhaps.  In particular the players coming from the Dominican are generally from poor backgrounds.  This is their big chance in life.  Desperate people take bigger risks for lesser chances every day.  They and their children will get on leaking boats and cross oceans for an opportunity to live in a better refugee camp. 

But tonight none of this will be mentioned or thought of.  The lights of Yankee Stadium always shine extra bright in the crisp fall air of October, leaving no darkness where shadows lie.  The Twins and the Yankees, two of the best teams in baseball will square off in something that is clearly more than just a game.  It will be glorious and exhilarating, and the pinnacle of many professional careers.

And somewhere in tin roofed sheds on muddy back streets there will be lean, intense young men watching on beat up old TVs….and dreaming.  Dreaming of that World Series Ring.  And never seeing the fiery letters that might be burning on it.