Barry Bonds can't be punished, and his records can't be expunged, if nothing happens to Mark McGwire.
There is a difference between evidence and innuendo. Evidence is Bonds' grand jury testimony saying he took the cream and clear steroids but thought it was flaxseed oil. That's testimony under oath, and that's evidence. Forget the flaxseed oil crap, that's for cool-aid drinkers.
And as far as I'm concerned, evidence is McGwire taking the fifth during his Congressional testimony. Couple that with the fact he took andro - even though it was legal - and that's all I need to give him an asterisk.
Some people seem to want to punish Bonds more because they feel he's less likeable. To me, that approaches racial motives, and besides, as far as I'm concerned McGwire was just as unlikeable. He was a huge cheater.
And then we come to Sammy Sosa. There has been no evidence that Sosa took steroids, except for common sense. And that's enough for me. What he did at Congress was pathetic and deceitful, but probably in some way, it was smart. Taking the cinco seems better than taking the fifth.
Palmeiro is a proven cheater, same with Canseco and Giambi.
And who knows who else was juiced, and that includes some of these pitchers miraculously finding peak form in their 40s.
So let's define the entire era as starting in 1997 and ending after last season and put one big, fat, stinking asterisk next to it. That way, the lessons won't be forgotten.
That is a reflection of the point of this whole arguement exactly. Who can say which player is clean and which is not. The bottom line is until we have some documented proof beyone innuendo, spurned mistresses, "anonymous sources and numerous writers that have no more proof then I do, I take the wait and see approach. Fact is, Roman is correct. McGwire is a proven cheater based on multiple factors. Sammy is a coward for playing the "me no engles" card before Congress. Palmeiro has been caught. Clemens is older than Bonds and he is still throwing gas along with Randy Johnson. Pudge Rodriguez shrunk immensely when testing began but no one is talking about that but a few sports guys. Brett Boone went from 37 HR's to nothing after testing began. A couple of 165 pound guys were busted for steroids. Steroids didn't make them any better. Face it, the world just doesn't like Bonds and we already have one black guy ahead of Ruth. Who wants two. Especially one that fits a few racial stereotypes. Defiant, arrogant, stubborn, physically overpowering and unflichingly sure of himself. I mean, why do I keep hearing guys mentioning the records as Ruth and Aarons'. It is Aaron's record alone. Ruth was passed more than 30 years ago. Dan Patrick had the nerve to mention that Roger Maris was a victim also. When McGwire was shattering that record, he couldn't keep the guy off of his radio show. We saw the andro sitting in his locker. Sosa corked a bat but Bonds is still the brunt of the blame for the era of cheaters. We have 3 proven cheaters with HOF credentials but only Bonds hasn't been caught. Until he is, no asterisk.
Since we will never be certain who was using steroids, the asterik is the correct way to handle.
Common sense tells us that once steroid probe was in place, what a surprise, all the big numbers dropped pretty much back to normal numbers.
So all the home run/rbi records should have a asterick included, saying that during these years, there was considerable evidence of steroid use. The fans can then draw their own conclusions.
We need more to go on here. Just taking a quote from an anonymous source saying there MIGHT be a ruling doesn't mean Bonds will be suspended.
There's a really simple solution to the steroids issue:
Declare all records "Pre-Roids" complete and sacrosanct - that is: that "Book" is now closed (effective with all accomplishments through 1995).
The open a "New" record book Beginning 1996 forward. All single season records from that date on are in the "New Era" of the game.
Any player with a career spanning pre-and-post 1995 will have an asterisk next to their name to denote that their records spanned the two "Histories".
In this manner, all the pre-roids records will remain the holy grail of MLB, and all the reocrds from 1996 forward can be judged on the individual achievements regardless of the purity of their blood.
We can then compare one "Record Era" against the "Other" without compromising the integrity of anyone nor would we have to pull the plug on the American Pasttime. In this manner all the greed in the world won't matter, AND if players want to destroy their health and "juice up" - who cares? WHile we're at it, let's make all the ballparks the same dimensions and move the fences in 40-50 feet and really watch the launching of historical numbers. Who know, maybe we can even legalize the underhanded pitch or Hitting "T", and make it even easier. Maybe we can bring in the fences to just behind the infield grass line and enable the owners to cut the three outfield positions. That should save clubs around $45 Million a year in inflated salaries.
Just some thoughts.
While we are talking about asterisks, lets put an asterisk behind any record set before 1947, before blacks were permitted to play. The Negro League is recorded to have beaten the Major Leagues in barnstorming games about three out of four times. Which means that we have been celebrating the records set by, what may have been, the lesser league. And while we are at it, lets put an asterisk behind any record set during the era when players used those little, tiny gloves, allowing for those inflated batting averages. And then, lets put another asterisk behind any record set after the pitching mound was lower in 1969. And lets put an asterisk behind any player who played in a smaller ballpark. Get the point. We can go on forever. There could be an asterisk behind ANY record if you thought about it long enough. The biggest question we should be asking ourselves is: why are baseball records so darn important to us? What is the big deal? Yeah Bonds cheated. So did McGwire, so did Sosa and Palmiero and Giambi and who knows how many more. But if our main concern is the sanctity of the baseball record book, a book that few people even care to read, then all of this is vastly overblown.
please
where do you draw the line?
do you take back every home run that was hit off of Whitey Ford when he was half in the bag?
How many homers did Ruth hit off drunk pitchers?
Heck, how many did he hit while he was drunk?
Do you take away every record set from 1950 to now because players were using amphetatmines?
I think baseball has to do what football did
Admit that we are leaving the steroid era and move on.
And they need to make at least an attempt to stay ahead of the chemistry
because we haven't seen anything yet when it comes to performance enhancing drugs
What SHOULD come out of this is guys like Andre Dawson should be IMMEDIATELY escorted to the Hall of Fame and issued an apology from the league for ignoring their greatness
There are a lot of problems with the asterix issue. For one thing, the pitchers of this steroid era may have been on steroids also. Meaning pre-steroids hitters were facing lesser pitchers.
Steroids didn't start in 1995. They've been around for longer. So, we don't know who in history used them. People were popping drugs for sports back in the '60's.
The Negro Leagues asterix is also legitimate. Records achieved prior to the black AND latin athletes seem fuzzy. (I don't like how black always gets mentioned and not latin. God knows how good the latin baseball player is.)
Next, why do people bring up the NFL? Are they blind? Practically every single player in the NFL is on steroids. It's a joke. I bet more football guys use than baseball.
Finally, the thing that gets lost the most in all the Barry Bonds talk is this ridiculous number 73. Barry didn't hit 73, he hit about 150. No one has ever been walked like he was that year. Also, no one has ever been in the zone that he was in. He didn't just beat Big Mac's 70, he crushed any sense of single-season home run history. You threw a strike, he hit a homer. Had he been pitched to properly, he'd have hit at 120 home runs. Easily.
The '90's and early '00's will be remembered for steroids. The statistics will remain. Whether or not there's an asterix, people will know about this era. I just feel bad for the guys who I think DIDN'T use. Jim Thome, Jim Edmonds, The Big Hurt... and let's never forget a little guy who competed through this era, Greg Maddux. One of the greatest pitchers ever.
About Bonds and steroids.
Everyone writes that nothing can be done about him, because using steroids was not against baseball rules when he was using them.
What everyone seems to forget is that steroids were obtained and used illegally according to state and federal laws.
The solution to the problem?
Let the legal authorities take over and charge and convict Bonds, as they should. That would give the commisioner the power to suspend or ban Bonds for actions detrimental to baseball.
It's really very simple.
frazier forgot about adrian beltre and mike lowell getting off roids and D-Lee getting on'em
n how does spitty think taht frank thomas was off roids, he looked like bo jackson
Seriously, this is the problem with the "steroid issue" so what he hit the ball 500 instead of 450, it only has to go 330 feet to get a ball out of most major league parks, correct? Also steroids don't improve hand eye coordination, the biggest factor when it comes to hitting a baseball. The press over-exaggerates the effects of performance enhancing substances when it comes to baseball. its a proven fact that if you are too big it slows down your bat speed and range of motion, which in result limits the amount of " power" you can use. mass x acceleration= force , not how strong, its how quick they can swing, and forget the technology of baseballs, bats, and the over all work ethic of these players are higher than don't back in say Babe Ruth's time period. supposedly, he used to drink beer and smoke cigars in the dugout, you don't see these guys doing that do you? Yes, there is steroid usage, and regardless of how much the media rants and raves, its not gonna change, deal with it. Stop writing about it and let them play the game instead of having to worry about getting criticized for everything they do.