In 1991, Cecil Fielder hit 51 home runs, and, at the time, it was an absolutely incredible accomplishment. No one had hit 50 in decades, and the baseball world fell in love with this pudgy designated hitter from Detroit.

However, with each year that passes, Fielder’s accomplishment fading into oblivion. It is very likely that newer baseball fans don’t even have a clue who he is. With Mark McGwire, Cal Ripken Jr., and within the past couple of weeks, Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball has experienced an unprecedented surge of shattered records, leaving the likes of Fielder in the dust.

Within the past five seasons, records for consecutive games played, home runs, walks, wins by a team, runs, and slugging percentage have been broken and, in some cases, re-broken. The game has changed in ways that seemed unimaginable only a few short years ago, and fans wait to see if the effects will resonate positively or negatively.

To discover why this change occurs is no easy task. One can argue that the quality of conditioning has improved over the past few years. However, that fact alone can’t explain the huge progression of performance by individual players.

Therefore, an answer must lie in the condition of Major League Baseball itself. Statistical records that remained strong for decades break at the hands of players who play extraordinarily well. So, a fan can conclude that today’s superstars qualify as some of the greatest hitters, pitchers, and defenders ever. This may be true, but perhaps, with huge salaries and corporate endorsements, baseball itself becomes compromised and records set now can’t compare with the uphill battles of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and others.

Regardless of the cause, Major League Baseball faces the problem of becoming diluted. If records continue to break en masse, fans will become disillusioned and the statistical pinnacles will lose their meaning.

When Cal Ripken Jr. broke the consecutive games record, people went crazy and television ratings jumped through the roof. With McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s chase of the elusive 61 homerun mark, baseball received a shot in the arm and fans flocked back to stadiums and to the television screens.

However, as the records continue to break, people slowly become immersed in the extravagance of America’s pastime and not in the game itself. Television networks and team owners push for better ratings and stadium attendance by over-marketing the potential of a game to include a "historic" pitch, hit, run, walk, or bunt. With time, the average viewer will become accustomed to these usually rare occurrences, and the aspects that make baseball great (superb pitching, clutch plays, etc.) will lose their draw.

As with the adverse effects upon fans, the statistical records themselves will suffer a loss of importance. Before Roger Maris hit 61 home runs, the baseball world viewed Ruth’s mark of 60 as something sacred. As McGwire smashed the record with 70, fans recognized him with a new pinnacle that would stand for decades. Yet now, only three years later, Bonds hit 73.

The first problem with these new records is their qualification. When Ruth set his mark back in the 1920s, he hit more homeruns than whole teams put together, but now a mediocre player can have a lucky season and hit 40. Therefore, the records set now become inherently less timeless and amazing.

Also, everyone must look at where baseball will go from here. Essentially, two paths appear. First and less likely, the quality of players will continue to increase until every record breaks and re-breaks with every decade that passes. This outcome can easily trivialize baseball as a whole, as fans will become bored if  the emphasis remains on drama over substance.

The other option lets the marks set by Bonds, Henderson, and Ripken stand and baseball revert to normalcy. These circumstances are more likely, and they come with their own positive and negative effects. With time, the records will regain their importance and meaning, as long as fans are allowed a good amount of time to appreciate the mastery of current players. However, the fans that McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds all brought to the game through their recent performance will have difficulty in the change from hyped up, record breaking drama to pure, simple baseball.

Now, Major League Baseball faces a fork in the road, and the organization alone can’t determine the direction they’ll go. As people who appreciate and enjoy the game, fans must understand that every season won’t resemble the drama of 2001. Nonetheless, great games will continue to take place and great players will continue to smack balls over fences. If the baseball world can avoid the hype associated with broken records, the sport will survive and flourish for what made it great in the first place: the unpredictable fun it brings.