A new book by Tom Clavin and Danny Peary, Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero, along with re-runs of Billy Crystal’s HBO’s film 61*, could help the effort to bring Maris his due. But I’m not optimistic about baseball cleaning up its act, and I’ll believe a Wall Street cleanup when I see the final score. Meanwhile, it’s business as usual at the Hall of Fame and at Yankee Stadium.
Credit default swaps and performance-enhancing drugs seem to be in the same league ”” destructive and unethical instruments that need to be heavily regulated, not just repackaged.
Let’s at least shape up the pastime, because the nation will be a tougher task. Let’s put Maris in the Hall of Fame and get a true accounting of who took steroids and how it impacted the game. Then we can move on. The alternative is to give up and root for the Yankees, the corporate champions.