It has been stated by several sources and is begrudgingly accepted by the baseball community that the use of performance enhancing substances was the rule rather than the exception.  One well known 2B and all star, Wally Backman, said that he felt like he was letting his team down because he refused to take anything.  He often felt like the pariah that Bonds is now.  He hit 10 HR in a career that spanned 14 seasons.

Prior to the BALCO blowup, there were no rules established by MLB banning performance enhancing substances.  The use of Androstinedione, human growth hormone, etc was LEGAL.  The only issue arises when you consider that anabolic steroids are a controlled substance and therefore civally illegal. 

The list of hall of fame and otherwise prominent and successful pitchers who have been caught scuffing, tarring, or otherwise doctoring baseballs is long.  Names include but are not limited to, Joe Niekro, Whitey Ford, Gaylord Perry, Orel Hersheiser, Don Sutton, Kenny Rogers, Mike Scott.  In his book, Perry specifically details the techniques and substances he used.  He is in the Hall of Fame.  For most of his career, Elston Howard, a former Yankees and Red Sox catcher, used buckles on his shinguards to cut balls at critical times in games.  This indicts virtually every Yankee pitcher and the entire organization for that matter from 1955-1967 along with the 67-68 Sox.  Todd Jones said that he used pine tar every time he has pitched in Coors Field (he was on the Rockies) to "level the field" because of the mile high elevation. 3 of those pitchers are in the hall of fame, and the others have numerous Cy Young awards among them.  These are not by a long shot the only ones, even the only hall of famers, who were suspected or caught red handed doctoring balls.

These offenses, unlike performance enhancing substances, were acually ILLEGAL according to the major league rulebook.  Incidentally, doctoring baseballs became illegal in 1920.  There were 17 pitchers who through such pitches be they spitballs, rosin balls, etc that were "grandfathered".  In other words, they were allowed to play the rest of their career doing what had been deemed illegal for other pitchers to do.  3 of those pitchers are in the Hall of Fame, without asterisks. 

Incidentally 1920 was the year Babe Ruth's home run total went from 29-54.  1920 also marks the end of the period in baseball traditionally called the "dead ball era."  None of this is coincidental.  Doctoring baseballs gives the pitcher a huge advantage.  If caught, a player receives a 10 game suspension.

Norm Cash batted .361 with 41 HR in 1961.  He played in the all star game.......and later admitted to using a corked bat all season.  Amos Otis played in several all star games and admitted to using a corked bat most of his career.  And then there is Albert Belle and Sammy Sosa.  These are just the ones who admitted or were caught with corked bats.  Very prominent players, all.

I am not at all suggesting that any form of cheating (breaking a law or rule to gain an advantage) is right.  They are all very much immoral and unethical.  And there is really no way to justify cheating of any kind.  That being said, baseball players have a LONG and, until recently, mostly ignored history of using any means necessary, fair or otherwise, to gain an edge.  Baseball fans are deluding themselves if they think the game was pure as the driven snow before Bonds, Palmeiro, and company showed up.  If it is decided that the cheater label should mean asterisks and denial of honors, then baseball has a problem.  Many of its hallowed heroes and legends would need to be asterisked and removed.  Wiped out like 8 men out.  It will not happen, and it should not.  Right or wrong, it is a part, an era, in the history of baseball.

Though they did the same thing, it is entirely unfair to compare Bonds and Aaron.  They come from different eras and different baseball worlds.  Roger Clemens is considered by many to be the best pitcher of this generation and the one previous.  However his career numbers pale in comparison to Cy Young's 511 wins.  But we never compare present day pitchers to those from Cy's era, nor do we compare apples and oranges.  So it should go with the steroid and pre-steroid era.

Barry Bonds, like Hank Aaron and The Bambino before him is ahead of his peers by leaps and bounds.  And Barry is not the only one, hitter or pitcher, during this generation who used perfomance enhancers to gain an edge.  Many, many hitters and pitchers did it, and Barry is by a long shot the best.  Even Alex Rodriguez's numbers in terms or OBP and OPS are juvenile compared to Bonds. 

Apples and oranges, I say.  And hail one more Home Run King (not THE Home Run King) to put next to Ruth and Aaron.

Very eloquent Kovacs. Thank you.

Very well said, Kovacs, but I'm not buying it. I know very well that baseball has historically been anything but clean. It has, as you pointed out, been littered with cheaters who are in the hall of fame. The sport has been in a steady decline for years because of it.

It's time to clean it up and the "juicers" are a fine group to make this point clear. If bicycling can do it, so can baseball.

Quoting Dan W:

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Very well said, Kovacs, but I'm not buying it. I know very well that baseball has historically been anything but clean. It has, as you pointed out, been littered with cheaters who are in the hall of fame. The sport has been in a steady decline for years because of it.

It's time to clean it up and the "juicers" are a fine group to make this point clear. If bicycling can do it, so can baseball.

Yes, but the answer is to learn from it and fix it, not ignore, strike records, and whitewash it.  And they really can not legally go back and ban those who did it when it was not illegal.  They have a good start with the 50 game suspension for first time violators.  There have been only 4 players caught since this penalty became effective after the 2005 season.

I'm not suggesting anything be whitewashed.

The truth is, nothing will be done to Bonds and the others unless the fans decide to stop going to the games or voicing their opinions in a manner which decreases revenue for baseball even more than has already been noticed. I think it would be great if the sponsors would stop backing baseball or any other sport until they clean themselves up. At least ending any endorsements and associations with those players would be an improvement over what is being done.

As long as players like Bonds are allowed to stay in the game, I feel that each of these "juicers" should have an asterisk added to their stats which will never be removed. If that means most of the league (all of them if need be) from a given era has to be asterisked, then so be it.

To allow someone like Bonds to cheat and then have their stats not be marked in some way is insulting to all of the other players and the fans.

Quoting Dan W:

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Quoting 8ballMax:

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Quoting Lopek:

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None, I don't watch football - nice stereotype though.

Who is stereotyping? football happens to be the most popular sport in the world. Not my fault you're a whimpy bookworm  .

Well, actually "American football" is not the most popular sport in the world. That honor belongs to what us Americans call Soccer. It just happens that the rest of the world calls "soccer," football.

Ah, well, what can you do with a bunch of people who like to watch people run around in cute little shorts?  It's like watching basketball being played with the feet.  They call badminton a sport, too!  Cucumber finger sandwichs and Earl Grey tea... ewww!       

The truth of the matter is nobody knows whether or not Bonds was cheating.  Most people are bandwagon jumpers who don't like him simply because he is Bonds.  Proof of this was the pass Sammy Sosa got when he was caught using a corked bat during a game.

Hank Aaron has been quoted as saying that he doesn't believe the drugs helped Bonds hit the home runs.  What they did was help him recover faster after games.  If Aaron doesn't believe they helped him hit the ball, well that is good enough for me.  I would think he knows a thing or two about the issue while the rest of us are just speculating.

For the record, I don't like Baseball so I honestly don't care that he broke the record.  My sport is football and Dan Marino is my king.