Posted By:
Al CrisafulliGood points all, but I forgot to mention one thing about baseball that has probably seen the biggest change of all: the media.
In 1960, or 1930, or 1890, there were no 24-7 sports radio & TV stations. There were no 200 channels of cable, following around athletes and trying to dig up dirt on them. Journalists respected a player's right to privacy, and didn't disclose their personal shortcomings.
So to answer your question about whether Mickey or Aaron or Williams cheated - I don't know. We like to put guys like that on a pedestal, and think they were above reproach in every way, but the bottom line is that we just don't know.
Here's what I do know: if a CURRENT player never hit more than 39 home runs in his career, and then all of a sudden one year he hit 61, people would speculate. If he had a reputation for being surly, the media didn't treat him well, and (as previously noted) it was well-reported that his hair was falling out in clumps, and then his career abruptly tailed off due to injuries? People would look at that player as an unquestionable user of steroids.
-Al