The Spectrum

Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: AP Photo/ Chris Park Bonds thrived in the old steroid era, but has not been appreciated in this one.

White Sox starter Mark Buehrle reared back and whipped his left arm downward to deliver to Grady Sizemore this past Sunday night and the new era was underway. This particular era of parity is very unique because it is the first time baseball was living in a good stage for the game since the early 1990's.

Baseball has endured a long battle against steroids, and despite the new uprising from Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams' new book entitled Game of Shadows and how it describes Barry Bonds odyssey involving steroids, its overwhelming effects on the game are over.

Commissioner Bud Selig honored Congress' request to make the punishments harsher for positive testers and investigations on Bonds and other players will eventually bring out the truth and make an example to those who want to take performance enhancers. The majority of lies are over, the needles are gone, and the bulging muscles don't resemble those of a body builder as much anymore, or again.

The mid 90's to the turn of the millennium was owned by the New York Yankees and the evil empire headed by king George Steinbrenner, and many issues were addressed at this period of time regarding all the aspects of baseball that were wrong. People felt that each team needed a set salary cap so teams with unlimited financial resources couldn't window shop their way through the winter free agency period and ultimately win a world championship.

The Bronx bombers won four out of five fall classics, and were named the Team of the Century by various New York newspapers. By 2001, the Yankees experienced the sour taste of defeat and haven't won a ring since 2000.

Since the turn of the new century, a World Series winner has yet to perform a repeat, win more than once in a three year span, or win a post season game the following year after a late October celebration.

Now, things have changed. Major League baseball has forgotten that change can be a good thing, since the only changes it has seen in the past decade were that the Yankees' payroll went from 195 million to 204 million, or it seemed like 75 percent of players suddenly gained 25 pounds of muscle in a single off season.

Parity is the great common ground that every team is somewhat equivalent, despite money issues. The Yankees and some other teams have learned the hard way that money doesn't buy championships, so complaints of financial restraints have calmed significantly.

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