Absolutely! As far as I'm concerned, Maris is still the single season home run champ. LOL! If I were a pitcher, I'd plunk him in his big fat steroid swelled head every time he came to the plate. It would be purely by accident, of course...
i've got to admit, i'm partial to mark mcgwire, in his case it was what he didn't say that got him in trouble. however, everything that he took was legal at the time, and he even showed it off on his locker shelf. 60, 61, 66, 70 and 73 are all incredible numbers. however, let's face it, if it weren't for the home run chase of 98, would baseball still be as big of a sport as it is today?
Part of the problem is that baseball buried its head on this issue. The sport was really suffering after the strike and cancelled World Series, and in 1998 they willingly rode back into the limelight on the backs of juiced homerun hitters. Selig is a patsy of a commissioner, and the problem he faces is twofold: he knows he can't turn around and vilify the players' union or the individual players responsible for the sport's revival. For too many years we have seen tolerance for the "you can't prove anything" attitude in the sport. Testing is always years behind, and they should tell these players that if they admit it now, they will allow their stats to stick but they have to retire. And take blood and store it. When they are able to properly test them in the future, if they test positive, all records will be stricken and they will be banned from ever entering the hall of fame. He may not have been conclusively found to take steroids. But OJ was never found to have conclusively killed his wife, either.
you make some good points jack. selig's tenure really took a sour turn after the 2002 all star game was called off. (although the reason he had was justifiable, and i agreed with him giving the winner of the all star game home field advantage, one of a very small handful of things that i've agreed with him on) about pete rose, what he did was beyond comprehension, but i would tend to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to guys on steroids. i think he should be let into the hall, 4,256 hits is an insane number, and one of those records that will more then likely not be broken.
He's one of the greatest players of all time regardless of the steroids issue. He has one the greatest swings I've ever seen and makes every homer look almost effortless. That said, he's still a cheater no matter how you look at it. He violated the rules of the game and shouldn't hold the record if he does pass it, which is really quite sad because he probably could have broken the record without steroids.
Maybe, maybe not. I liken him to Darryl Strawberry, but puffed up. Darryl had one of the sweetest swings in a long time. Too bad he got so swept up in the wrong things. But in a case like Bonds, it's hard to know if he would have threatened the record naturally, seen a lot of his hits land in the gloves of outfielders, or become an extra-base hitter who challenged for the all-time hits record.
I don't know the history of baseball, but are the fences today closer in or further back than they were 50 years ago ? I know it's one or the other.
i believe they are actually smaller, however, at&t park actually has the shortest distance to the left field wall, and one of the shortest distances to the right field wall in the nl
Yeah, I think they're generally shorter. In the late 60's and early 70's you saw a lot of super stadiums built, which have been replaced since then by the more intimate "boutique" stadiums. Good riddance to the caverns--the only one I don't get is Houston with the "hump" in center field. Here's one more much, much more important fact about baseball now versus then that doesn't get mentioned as often as it should. Aaron played most of his career in an era when the pitcher's mound was a foot higher than it is now. That's significant.
So they would be illegal if his doctor didn't prescribe them, right? When he was using them before the ban, did he get them from his doctor?
interesting article, but then again, i guess it's legally his stuff, so if he doesn't want to part with the bat that breaks aaron's record, it's his choice. rickey henderson's recent foul ball comes to mind...
I think he will get it but he does not deserve it when he is tested positive every season for steroids
Maybe his fans here can fill us in on which steriods he was taking. You know, to clear the air on their legality and all...
well, i just found out that i have tickets for the july 8th cards-giants game, during the weekend that has been predicted to be the weekend of the record breaker. if i see it, i have no idea what i'll do. i don't know if i'll cheer, boo, or what
An "unnamed" friend of mine that is now retired from MLB: "If I took steroids and was better than everyone else, they can't say I had an advantage over then them because at that time everyone in the league was using them, so I was still better." Also, he says that Barry Bonds is the best baseball player in history, much better than Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron ever were, no question about it either... also, with the skill level of todays pitchers, Bonds' homers are much more impressive than Hank's were. Bonds should be in the record books, the people throwing up argument over it are "armchair quarterbacks" and need to get a life. edit: Also, all of Bonds steroid use is still "allegedly" and unproven.
probably, but aren't you forgetting something? it's world champion cardinals fan. i highly disagree with what he said about being the best player in history. there is ABSOLUTELY no way you can compare him to players like joe dimaggio, lou gehrig, ted williams, babe ruth, stan musial, bob gibson, honus wagner, and anyone else from any era pre-1980's/90's.
