I swear the biggest legacy of the steriod era will be how it rendered the record book irrelevant (which is really the big deal with baseball - this is why no one cares about it in football or other sports - the numbers don't mean as much) and brought out the stupid in players, owners, and fans. I mean, some of the comments - Day-yam.
The point is! He did it without cheating. nuff said!! I have yet to see the expression "nuff said" at the end of a sentence containing everything that needed to be said. a) Roger Maris' career home run pattern by season: 14, 28, 16, 39, 61, 33, 23, 26, 8, 13, 9, 5. b) By the end of 1961, Maris' hair was falling out in clumps. He died of lymphatic cancer at the very young age of 51. c) Dianabol was approved by the FDA in 1958. Stanozolol, sold under the name Winstrol, was developed by Winthrop Laboratories in 1962. d) One of the listed possible side effects of anabolic steroids is accelerated baldness. And prostate cancer. Now, looking at that home run progression, Maris' physical and emotional behavior in '61, and noting the development of steroids in that time period, are you sure, are you positive Maris was clean, that he wasn't using steroids or even some other type of experimental product not yet released by the FDA? You can't be. I have no interest in staining the good name of Roger Maris. I personally am convinced he was clean. The fact is, though, that we don't know who was cheating, with what they were cheating, when they were cheating, or even if it was technically cheating when they were doing whatever they were doing. And, in the era of supposedly rampant steroid use, it's still true that only three of the 1000+ players between 1998 and 2002 broke the 61 HR mark. Steroids or no, it still takes a spectacular hitter to reach that mark. (Here is where I run out the very tired fact that none of the players who broke 61 have ever tested positive for anything or been convicted anywhere for cheating. All those who "know" the real deal may do their ritualistic eye-rolling.) I guess we could just hang the ones we want to hang and reward the ones who were sly enough to dodge public scepticism. It worked well for a slew of players before the Black Sox scandal. If that's your bag, feel free to buy a copy of Total Baseball and insert the asterisks as you see fit. Keep your hands off mine, though. On preview: I swear the biggest legacy of the steriod era will be how it rendered the record book irrelevant (which is really the big deal with baseball - this is why no one cares about it in football or other sports - the numbers don't mean as much) and brought out the stupid in players, owners, and fans. While I respectfully disagree with the first legacy, the second is dead on.
Barry Bonds has not been caught using anything so his record should stand McGuire where he looks like a complete idiot saying, "I don't want to talk about the past" while sweating like Patrick Ewing in the 4th quarter What exactly did Big Mac test positive for?? He might have been taking Andro, but it wasn't banned at the time, neither was the Cream, the Clear, or HGH, all supplements Barry took. I don't think you can separate the two of them like you just did. No double standards.
Even more impressive was his ability to take advantage of Yankee Stadium's 295-ft. right field line while swinging a 42-ounce bat. All baseball parks should have the same outfield dimensions as other sports have the same dimensions of the entire playing surface.
Indeed. Baseball needs to make more of an effort to conform so that it is like every other sport. The absence of a play clock needs to be looked at, too.
Don't hockey arenas have different length rinks? At one time I know they did, and of course, golf, with it's varying venues and holes, still compares records from one site to another. Cookie cutter ballparks? Bah.
All baseball parks should have the same outfield dimensions as other sports have the same dimensions of the entire playing surface. What kind of narrow-minded boring ass sports do you want to watch? Blecch. This is the opinon of a person who does not watch/like baseball.
Hey jhkaplan, only one of those quotes were from me so please, if ur going to use a quote, make sure that u get the right person who wrote it. U must write for the NY Post. What exactly did Big Mac test positive for?? Big Mac didn't need to test positive for anything except that he positively made himself guilty in the public's eye. IF Barry Bonds used any type of steriods, he's doing a hell of a job denying it. I'm not saying that IF he cheated it's all good. But at the same time, he's not the one looking stupid as hell saying the he doesn't want to talk about the past in front of Congress where ur sworn in to tell the truth. Period
Nice post, BullpenPro. Now I too don't think Maris was using steroids, but we certainly don't know that. And he probably was using amphetamines, like the majority of the players were at the time. If we're going to reset the home run record, we'd have to go back and reset the hits record too, since Rose was using lots of amphetamines. Aaron was probably using amphetamines too, though, unlike in the case of Rose and Willie Mays (Mays was also a dealer), I don't recall anyone ever declaring that publically. Nash and Zullo's Baseball Hall of Shame books reported about 15 years ago that Ruth used testosterone, though I'm not fully convinced of that. But if that's true, we'd have to think about giving the all-time home run record to some 19th century guy.
Home Run Baker, hooray!
The NFL conducts approximately 10,000 steroids tests a year, or about 7 players per team per week. Of the Panther players who tested positive, all but one has since retired, and the one still active is facing a possible career ending suspension based on the outcome of the current investigation.
One thing I didn't see mentioned is that football avoids some of the vitriol that baseball doesn't simply because they got on the problem sooner than baseball did. The NFL made a decision to be tough on anabolic steroids, specifically, and other PEDs to a lesser degree, and they've had years to perfect their testing apparatus. Major League Baseball, because of the greed and hubris of the owners and officials, is just now getting a policy with teeth in place, and it will take years to win any kind of public trust.
