Luis Gonzalez hopped in the air as he reached first base when his single landed at the edge of the infield dirt.

Gonzalez had just won game seven of the World Series with a soft line drive over the head of the most marketable player in the game, Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. The Arizona Diamondbacks were streaming out of the dugout before Tony Womack could even touch home plate.

Bank One Ballpark, the Diamondbacks' home stadium, was empty and silent.

That is what Major League Baseball would be without its fans.

Suddenly, the crack of the bat doesn't seem that important.

The issue of steroids in baseball means nothing if fans do not have feelings or do not react to the problem.

"We feed the system," said Charles Yesalis, professor of health policy and administration and exercise and sports science. Fans still go to the games even when most understand there is a problem in Major League Baseball, Yesalis said.

"I think fans want to see home runs," said Philadelphia Daily News sportswriter Marcus Hayes, who covers the Philadelphia Phillies.

"It's obvious they use steroids," said Kevin Schroeder, a Penn State graduate, "Everybody knows they use." Schroeder said he does not care about the steroid issue because it makes the game more interesting.

Schroeder, like many fans, enjoys the amazing feats ballplayers can do, whereas some fans have said steroids have given baseball an unlevel playing field. Baseball is a sport where today's players are often compared to the ghosts of yesteryear.

Hayes said fans want to see players do things the fans themselves could not do.

Yesalis agrees, saying that fans watch the home run derby before the All-Star game because sluggers attract fans. "Drug use has been lucrative," he said.

Yesalis, as a fan, does not like the results of what he calls an epidemic in the sport. "You have guys breaking the records of my heroes," he said.

Penn State assistant baseball coach Randy Ford is a fan of Major League Baseball. He said the issue gives people a bad taste in their mouths.

"Sometimes it's obvious," Ford said. "You can predict who is on them and who is not."

Yesalis said the Major Leagues will not do anything until the fans stop going to games or watching them. He said he doesn't attend major league games anymore, but that he used to go to up to 25 games a season.

Brendan Roach (junior-economics) is a baseball fan who also believes it is easy to see who is on steroids. He said it is obvious when a player bulks up after spending a lot of years at a smaller weight.

"I'm not going to say I'm not going to watch it, because I'm a fan and I still do," Roach said.

He said the steroid issue, as well as labor disputes, affects his feelings towards the game.

"I don't think they really cared," said Hayes, regarding reactions from Philadelphia fans.

Hayes said the issue bothers him as well as "ultrafans," but that the regular fan does not have any concerns about the issue.

Fans who really cared about the purity of the game might stop watching it, Yesalis said.

Whether fans watch the games or not, the major issues surrounding steroids -- testing at the professional level and keeping amatuer athletes clean -- need to be answered.

Although it is unlikely fans would turn away from the game because of the steroid issue, the game would not be the same if fans turned away.

Without the roar of the crowd is there a need for a crack of the bat?