Quote:
Originally Posted by tbob
Roger Maris will always be the legitimate holder of the single season home run record and Hank Aaron the career home run record.
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+1. I give Bonds and McGwire credit for being the best of their era, in which literally hundreds of players were juicing (see the book written by Kirk Radomski, the Mets' clubhouse attendant, who was supplying them!), and by all accounts, those two were the hardest working (it takes more than just injecting the juice to maximize the results). But the fact remains that what they were doing was a felony offense under the laws in effect at the time (although it was seldom policy to prosecute illicit users, as the criminal justice system focused upon dealers), and the fact that major league baseball had no rules against it is totally irrelevant. That having been said, for any of us who have, like me, stood out there at the plate, 60'6"
away with bat in hand from even a good college pitcher, or former pro throwing 90+ and good breaking stuff, it is readily apparent that the achievements of Bonds and McGwire were truly amazing, regardless of the tools employed. But by no means do they stand on an equal footing with Maris and Aaron.
It is also interesting to note that Roger Maris and Babe Ruth had an almost identical number of plate appearances: Maris had 590 at bats plus 90 walks, for a total of 680, while the Babe had 540 at bats and 138 free passes, for a total of 678. I don't know the number of HBP's or sacrifice flies, but would think that would not make any significant difference. Maris also faced one heckuva lot more pressure than the Babe in accomplishing his feat, since the Babe was only surpassing his own previous record of 59.
Finally, the Babe was clearly the GREATEST homerun hitter of all time, despite the fact that his totals have been surpassed (Aaron, as fabulous as he truly was, had more than 3,000 more at bats than the Babe, by my recollection).
Josh Gibson was certainly great by all accounts, but remember that in the days of the Negro Leagues, these teams also played a number of games each year against semi-pro teams. His greatness simply cannot be ascertained with any degree of certainty at all, and must consequently be based on speculation and conjecture.
Just my $2.00 worth!
Interesting thread, as it will probably always be.
Best wishes,
Larry