Former MLB pitcher and performance-enhancing drug user John Rocker believes that drugs made baseball a better game to watch.
In an interview with Cleveland’s 92.3 The Fan, Rocker went on to say, “Honestly, and this may go against what some people think from an ethical standpoint, I think it was the better game. At the end of the day, when people are paying their $80, $120 [or] whatever it may be to buy their ticket and come watch that game, it’s almost like the circus is in town. They are paid to be entertained. They wanna see some clown throw a fastball 101 mph and some other guy hit it 500 feet. That’s entertainment. You’re paying to be entertained,” CBS Sports reports.
“And was there anything more entertaining than 1998 — I don’t care how each man got there — was there anything more entertaining than 1998?…watching Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire chase 61 home runs? That was a mesmerizing time for every baseball fan out there,” Rocker said. “The people were getting their money’s worth.”
Rocker was part of the steroid era of baseball when he was a relief pitcher from 1998 to 2003 playing with the Atlanta Braves, the Cleveland Indians, the Texas Rangers and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.