I know it's not a popular opinion because of the steroid issue, but I'd vote for McGwire. The great home run race between McGwire and Sosa in 1998 reenergized baseball, and in fact, steroids just might have saved baseball.
After the 1994 baseball strike the fans were fed up. When play resumed in a shortened 1995 season, attendance, as compared to the full 1993 season, dropped by some 12% on a per-game basis across the league. And that was even while clubs kept ticket prices down. Fans still weren't showing up in 1996, when attendance was about 9% off the 1993 mark.
Then in 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought fans back to baseball to witness their battle to win the home-run race and pass the long-standing Maris record. Suddenly baseball became popular again. From 1995 to 2001, attendance at games was up 44%. The average ticket price for a baseball game had gone from $10.65 to $18.99 -- a 78% increase. Major League Baseball revenue increased by some 115%. Americans had fallen back in love with baseball. League revenue grew from $1.4 billion in 1995 to $3.7 billion in 2001. Plus, the average value of an MLB franchise went from $115 million in 1995 to $286 million in 2001 -- an annual growth rate of 15.3%.
I don't believe the players should be punished for something that everyone knew was going on. The owners were happy to let it happen because of the increased revenue. No doubt about it, home runs put people in the seats. The steroid era was a black eye for baseball on one hand, a savior on the other.
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11-08-2016, 04:23 PM
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