MLB, Bud Selig and baseball writers get over yourselves, screw the record book, there will always be records that need an asterisk by it. With all the previous odd eras, nobody throws out those records. Does anyone say put an asterisk by any pitchers records during the dead ball period? Or by any player pre integration? Players in every era looked for an edge, legal or otherwise. I’m not one to discount every sluggers numbers during the last decade. Basically because if you look at the suspensions since testing took place….um it ain’t the sluggers who are failing it is pitchers! 10 out of 16 since the start of 2005 were pitchers.

Back in the early 90s I was a huge baseball fan (my friends and I mowed some farmers overgrown soy bean field and created our own field of dreams). At that time the Oakland A’s were great, with Rickey Henderson, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Dennis Eckersley, Dave Stewart the list goes on. They were an exciting team, and I fell in love with them. Naturally being from South Jersey, the Phillies were really my favorite team, but I was a fan of Rickey. He was and still is my favorite player of all time. Anyway, at that time the A’s were the Bash Brothers. Looking back even my friends as teenagers suspected something was up in baseball. Never really thought about steroids, but I remember friends of mine who started using Creatine, cause they heard of Brady Anderson of the Baltimore Orioles used it, and he was a pretty nice player. Never hit for big power numbers….until 1996. When he more than doubled his career high and hit 50 home runs. Want to know who else was on that team? Manny Alexander (snagged with steroids) and Raphael Palmeiro (failed steroids test). Just a coincidence? Let’s connect more dots. Raffy in 1993 with the Rangers broke out, prior to that year he was a solid player capable of hitting 20 hrs, about 80+ rbi’s. 1993? Saw him jump to 37 and 105. For the next 10 years he hit hall of fame worthy numbers. So what happened in 1993? Well, in 1992 Jose Canseco was traded to the Rangers, so a self professed steroids user spends the off-season with Raffy and bam he’s a stud? Coincidence. Maybe.

In 1990, Cecil Fielder (father of Prince Fielder) joined the Tigers after a one year stint in Japan. That season he became the first player since George Foster in 1977 to hit more than 50 home runs. So in 23 seasons, not one player hit 50 home runs. I’m not suggesting Fielder used steroids. He was pretty much a big fat guy who just muscled home runs. From 1991-1995 not another player hit 50 (although a player or two may have reached it during the strike shortened 1994 year). Albert Belle, another of my all time favorites) hits 50. So from 1977-1995…two players hit 50 home runs.

Here’s the rundown after that:

  • 1996 – 2 – Mark McGwire (52) and Anderson (50)
  • 1997 – 1 – Ken Griffey Jr. (56)
  • 1998 – 4 – Mark McGwire (70), Sammy Sosa (66), Griffey (56), Greg Vaughn? (50)
  • 1999 – 2 – McGwire (65), Sosa (63)
  • 2000 – 1 – Sosa (50)
  • 2001 – 4 – Barry Bonds (73), Sosa (64), Luis Gonzalez? (57), Alex Rodriguez (52)
  • 2002 – 2 – Rodriguez (57), Jim Thome (52)
  • 2003 – 0
  • 2004 – 0
  • 2005 – 1 – Andruw Jones (51)
  • 2006 – 2 – Ryan Howard (58) and David Ortiz (54)

So from 1996-2002 there were 16 50+ HR seasons. Surely A-Rod and Jr. were near their norms, they regularly hit in the mid-high 40s in their careers. But Greg Vaughn? Luis Gonzalez? I’m supposed to believe MLB when they say “We had no clue?” Hello? someone hit 70 and another hit 73, smashing all time records. Think about it, that is a about 115 percent of the Roger Maris’ 61. The 61 number was surpassed 6 times in 4 seasons. And it took about 5 years for MLB to get with it?

As much as people want to vilify Bonds for his breaking Hank Aaron’s home run record, he’s not alone. I brought up only those who hit 50. How many hit 40 and were really just 30 HR guys? How many pitchers extended or improved their careers? We all know the big name suspects, Canseco, Bonds, McGwire, Palmeiro and Sosa. But were they alone? Of course not, and unless baseball is willing to expunge statistics for everyone over the past 10 years, there is no legitimate recourse to taking back history. The steroids era wasn’t just about the sluggers who hit more home runs. It was also about the average player who hit more home runs and was able to gain popularity and large contracts because of it. Luis Gonzalez hit 57 in 2001 with 142 RBIs, and helped lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series. He never hit more than 28 in any other season. And he’s made a ton of money since then. Not sure when he signed an extension, but from 1999-2003 he made $18 million. From 2004-2006 his made $28 million! I’d have to believe most of that was due to his great 2001 season. Not saying he doped, but I can’t rule it out.

I’m not George Mitchell. I don’t have access to players, GMs, trainers etc. But if the league really wants to expose the truth, then they need to move past the Bonds and Jason Giambi’s. Go look down at the average players, or the minor league retreads who suddenly become MLB regulars.

I for one am looking forward to Bonds breaking the record. If for no other reason then maybe to break baseballs love of records. It’s a shame for Aaron, but really if Griffey were to have stayed healthy, he might have hit 800. A-Rod surely will break Bonds record if he stays healthy. Records are there as goals and are meant to be broken. So get off it really, Bonds likely cheated, but look at his career numbers, he was, is and always will be a GREAT player. Before his 73, he was regarded as one of the all-time greats, top 10 player of any era. He hit for power, he stole bases, golden glove outfielder…he apparently still didn’t have enough and did something dumb. He took steroids. It is common belief that if he did it, it began after the 1998 season. Let’s just completely wipe his 2001 season off the map. Every other season of his career, was well within his norms, somewhere in the 35-45 home run range, 100+ rbi’s, decent average.

Wipe out that season he still has these numbers: 2,776 Hits, 680 HRs, .299 average, 1841 RBIs, 2073 Rs, 501 SB. Does anyone in history match those numbers? Yeah, his god father, Willie Mays, 3283 Hits, 660 HRs, .304 avg, 1903 RBIs, 2062 Rs, 338 SB.

Go for it Barry, I’ll be rooting for you.

I used statistics from baseball-almanac.com, mlb.com and baseball-reference.com