History Of The Black Sox Scandal

The Black Sox scandal was soon laid aside as the expansion of the social world of baseball continued to expand. Major League Baseball created a farm system allowing owners to hire players, at a lesser salary, to be groomed in the minor leagues. The farm system gave more young men exposure and allowed the team owners to groom undeveloped players into major league players. Players in the farm system had each other for support; only they understood the burning desire to break into the major leagues. Many of today’s elite payers got their start in the farm system playing in the minors before moving up to the major leagues.

The 1920s became the era of the great hitters; players such as Bae Ruth and Lou Gehrig dominated the game. The New York Yankees

One of those teams is the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals originated in 1882 and were known as the Brown Stockings (St. Louis Cardinals, n.d., para. 2). The St. Louis Cardinals’ success has been second only to the New York Yankees. Some of the elite players on former Cardinal teams are Roger Hornsby Stan Musial, Dizzy Dean, Ozzie Smith, Mark McGwire, and Albert Pujols. In1998, the Cardinals were dealt with the blow that one of their elite stars was using illegal drugs. The use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs became prevalent in the 1990s in the baseball social world. Several teams suffered the embarrassment and disappointment of having players investigated for using drugs, Mark McGwire was among those players. During the 1998 season Mark McGwire was chasing and broke Roger Maris’s home run record. Cardinal fans were beyond excited with McGwire’s accomplishment. The fans were devastated when it was reported that McGwire was one of those being investigated. Fans would question if McGwire success was due to the steroids. Eventually, McGwire admitted to using steroids, and his baseball career was over (McGwire, 2010, para. 2). Like other teams, the St. Louis Cardinals had to work hard to earn the respect and esteem the team had enjoyed since team’s beginning. The St. Louis Cardinals were followed by many young athletes, and like other professional teams, they had a responsibility to provide good examples for these young athletes. The Cardinals would recover and went on to be a World Series team again, but the stain would remain