Pujols and Fielder should rememember to thank McGwire and Sosa

Prince Fielder is leaving the Milwaukee Brewers after six seasons and is getting a nice, big fat, nine-year, $214 million contract from the Detroit Tigers.

When I heard Fielder was headed to Detroit, my first though was, "Oh, well, that fits. His dad (Cecil) played there."

But when I watched ESPN's Outside the Lines on Wednesday and one of the analysts said baseball is as strong and financially healthy as it's ever been, I had a different thought. Why is baseball so healthy right now and has been for the last 10-plus years?

When Major League Baseball canceled the World Series in 1994 because of a labor dispute, what followed was three seasons of mediocre attendance and financial struggles for most teams. Then came the 1998 season and the home run hit parade put on by both Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.

Those two have since been ostracized for their supposed use of steroids that led to McGwire hitting 70 home runs and Sosa 66. But what is forgotten is that Sosa and McGwire saved baseball. Attendance spiked in 1998 because fans wanted to see the duo wherever they played. Baseball was back and McGwire and Sosa were the catalysts.

Fast forward a couple years and Texas gives Alex Rodriguez the first-ever $200 million contract. The Rangers couldn't handle the contract and then dealt A-Rod to the New York Yankees. Then other teams had to keep up and salaries spiraled out of control. And now we have Albert Pujols leaving St. Louis for a mega-contract from the Anaheim Angels and Fielder's deal with the Tigers. A pair of contracts worth more than $200 million in less than a month and the same pundits who want to keep McGwire and Sosa (and Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro, etc.) out of the Hall of Fame are lauding the Angels and Tigers for making  free-agent splashes by landing the big fish.

Those hypocrites forget that the Hall of Fame is a museum for the history of baseball. Like it or not, the so-called "Steroid Era" is part of that history. If you keep one of those players out, you keep them all out - the likes of Ken Griffey included. That's not right. Nobody knows for sure who was using and who wasn't using, so you don't discriminate.

You especially don't shun Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. You thank them. You thank them for saving baseball. And Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and every other player who gets that mega deal need to remember to thank them as well.