I guess it all depends on how you shape, polish and designate a piece of metal. Yes, it is true that the Trophy is a piece of metal, so why not take away this Piece of Metal!
When looking up past World Series winners, several things stick out. Looking through this list, besides finding early names of clubs or a clubs former city, you can find that a World Series was a Best of 9 series at one time and that a World Series game could end in a Tie. Beyond all that, two things, no… two years stick out (3 if you are an Angels Fan 2002). Not the 1927 “Murderers’ Row” Yankees and not the 1975 “Big Red Machine” Reds, but most eye catching is that you will find two blank years.
1904 and 1994.
Why? Because in those two years there was no World Series of record.
No World Series in 1904 (the NL winner refused to play the AL winner) and the Players Strike of 1994.
Two Years of Shame in MLB with two more on the Horizon.
An open spot in the years 2017 and 2018 would be damning to an organization, their players and their Fans. It would speak volumes to teams that would think of cheating again. MLB has historically turned a blind eye to cheating the game when the Cheater or Cheaters have not been officially caught. If the Steroid Era didn’t teach you anything of how lenient MLB is on cheating, the Houston Astros Cheating Scandal and the up coming Boston Red Sox slap on the hands and keep playing punishments should have or will enlightened you.
What should MLB do?
Take back what the Teams and the players Hold dearest. Take back the Trophy, the rings and the bonuses paid. Put an asterisk next to all stats from those players in those years. Most of all MLB needs to make a statement like back in 1919 that you can not cheat the fans of a World Series.
Photo credit: KA Sports Photos
Since you can’t touch the players that did this, and the owner seems to only care the he has his WS title, this seems like something that should be done. Blank spots in those two years would say more than anything for the integrity of baseball, but sadly Manfred doesn’t have the Marbles to do something like this.