Editing Baseball (section)

==== Attendance records and the age of steroids ====

In 1975, the union's power—and players' salaries—began to increase greatly when the reserve clause was [[Seitz decision|effectively struck down]], leading to the [[free agent|free agency system]].<ref>Powers (2003), pp. 178, 180, 245.</ref> Significant work stoppages occurred in [[1981 Major League Baseball strike|1981]] and [[1994–95 Major League Baseball strike|1994]], the latter forcing the cancellation of the World Series for the first time in 90 years.<ref>Powers (2003), pp. 184–187, 191, 192, 280–282.</ref> Attendance had been growing steadily since the mid-1970s and in 1994, before the stoppage, the majors were setting their all-time record for per-game attendance.<ref name="Simm">Simmons, Rob, "The Demand for Spectator Sports", in ''Handbook on the Economics of Sport'', ed. Wladimir Andreff and Stefan Szymanski (Edward Elgar, 2006), pp. 77–89.</ref><ref>Koppett (2004), pp. 376, 511.</ref> After play resumed in 1995, non-division-winning [[wild card (sports)|wild card]] teams became a permanent fixture of the post-season. Regular-season [[interleague play]] was introduced in 1997 and the second-highest attendance mark for a full season was set.<ref>Koppett (2004), p. 481.</ref> In 2000, the National and American Leagues were dissolved as legal entities. While their identities were maintained for scheduling purposes (and the designated hitter distinction), the regulations and other functions—such as player discipline and [[umpire (baseball)|umpire]] supervision—they had administered separately were consolidated under the rubric of MLB.<ref>Koppett (2004), p. 489.</ref>

In 2001, [[Barry Bonds]] established the current record of 73 home runs in a single season. There had long been suspicions that the dramatic increase in power hitting was fueled in large part by [[Banned substances in baseball|the abuse of illegal steroids]] (as well as by the dilution of pitching talent due to expansion), but the issue only began attracting significant media attention in 2002 and there was no penalty for the use of performance-enhancing drugs before 2004.<ref>Rader (2008), pp. 254, 271; Zimbalist (2007), pp. 195, 196; {{cite magazine|author=Verducci, Tom|title=To Cheat or Not to Cheat|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/magazine/05/29/baseball.steroids/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601005751/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/magazine/05/29/baseball.steroids/index.html?|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 1, 2012|magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]]|date=May 29, 2012|access-date=May 30, 2012}}</ref> In 2007, Bonds became MLB's all-time home run leader, surpassing [[Hank Aaron]], as total major league and minor league attendance both reached all-time highs.<ref name="MajorAtRec">{{cite web|title=MLB Regular-Season Attendance Just Shy of Last Year's Record|url=http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/124427|work=Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Daily|access-date=January 29, 2009}}</ref><ref name="MinorAtRec">{{cite web|title=Minor League Baseball History|url=http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/|publisher=Minor League Baseball|access-date=January 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120173052/http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/history/|archive-date=January 20, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>