Ted Williams weighed 205.

For those who don't follow baseball lore, he was the last man on the planet to hit over .400 for a season. That was in 1941. He then proceeded to spend roughly three years of his life serving as a World War II combat pilot, effortlessly sacrificing what easily could have been the three most productive years in his baseball career in order to fight for his country.

I'm six feet tall and weigh roughly 200 pounds. Ted Williams was 6 foot 3 inches tall. The point is, he wasn't a huge guy- no one would have confused him for a wrestler or running back. He was a baseball player, one of those lean spry guys who take to the field like children every year. Someone the father in the stadium could relate to.

Things have changed in the world of baseball. Since the mid '90s, steroids have ruined the sport I used to love. I watched Mark McGwire change from the ball players of old to a heaving hulk of a man who had trouble fitting the batting helmet over his head. To watch him bat, even as a kid, reminded me of a grotesque circus show. I couldn't relate to him.

Same goes with Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa. Sosa might be the most glaring example of all. In 1997 he batted 642 times and hit 36 home runs. In 1998 he batted 643 times and hit 66 home runs. Sure, players improve, but increases of 30+ home runs in a season were unheard of before the 90's.

Bonds, who has admitted taking a clear cream his trainer gave him, also has a more than interesting stat sheet. Before hitting 73 in 2001, he had never broken the 50 mark. He never hit that mark again, either. If you placed the data on a line chart, his numbers started to skyrocket upward in 2000.

I'm idealistic, but I don't think it's a coincidence that three individuals in baseball have all managed to break Maris' record within a few years of each other- a record that stood for almost four decades. Sure, nutrition and science advances, but there are only so many ways you can make a muscle grow. Sweat will only carry you so far. Anyone who believes those guys on the muscle mags aren't poppin' pills are insane.

That's where the steroids come in.

I used to love baseball- the slow deliberate pace; the fact that no clock determined the course of play; how no one player could carry a team to victory time and time again. Now it's forever tainted, and I fear I will never be able to see it in the same light. The game that I feel used to contain the ideals of America has joined the rest of the world in tarnishing them.

I used to like watching farm ball, but something tells me they are only working hard to get to the money one day. I think I'm going to form my own baseball league, where guys like me play for $30,000 a year. There will be no pay raises and everyone will make the same amount of money. I think the fans would want to watch people play who do so only for the love of the game. When records are broken, it would be with honesty, and men that remind you of yourself would shake your hand after the game.

It's come to the point in my life where I'd rather watch somebody with real passion do poorly than watch a steroid freak hit 100 home runs a year.