Think back to 1998. This was the year where it was two best friends, Mark
McGwire and Sammy Sosa, battling head to head to overcome Roger Maris’s single season home run record of 61. They both managed to pass it, as fans would watch everyday and other games would be interrupted to show each of their at-bats. Mark
McGwire beat Sosa 70-66 and won the homerun race, and held the record until 2001 when Barry Bonds beat his record with 73 home runs. “Mark
McGwire was cheered in every park on his march to 70 home runs in 1998 by fans hardly concerned about his reluctant admission that he’d used androstendione, an over-the-counter supplement that reputedly has the muscle-building-effects of steroids” (Verducci). Although
McGwire has retired, his image has disappeared from the game of baseball. No one cares about him anymore, and using this supplement tarnishes his 3-year record. Andro is now listed as a steroid in the new policy.
“’We’re playing in an environment in the last decade that’s been tailored to produce offensive numbers anyway, with the smaller ballparks, the smaller strike zone, and so forth” Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling says, and “when you add in steroids and strength training, you’re seeing records not just being broken by completely shattered” (Verducci). Steroids in the past decade have created home run races and explosions of offensive numbers. Home run records have been demolished, and the all-time “untouchable” career home run record is being chased by Barry Bonds.
Hank Aaron set the all-time record on April 8, 1974, passing Babe Ruth’s number of 714. Hank finished his career with 755 total homeruns. Barry Bonds is quickly approaching this number, holding 708 home runs under his belt this off season. Bonds has played his last few seasons, including his record breaking season, in SBC park which is a “classic urban ballpark with an old-time feel and all the amenities of modern ballparks. Inspired by Wrigley Field and Fenway Park and modeled after Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Jacobs Field and Coors Field” (The San Francisco). After comparing SBC park to Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, where Hank Aaron played the majority of his games, the field dimensions are very similar. Moreover, Hank Aaron played 23 seasons, as Barry will be entering his 21st season in 2006. Bonds doesn’t have any clear advantages over Aaron; however, there are leaks from the BALCO case that Bonds has used a rub-on ointment steroid that is hard to detect.
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants is often cited as a player who dramatically altered his size and his game, growing from a lithe, 185-pound leadoff hitter into a 230-pound force who is one of the greatest home run hitters of all time. Bonds’s most dramatic size gains have come in the past four years, over which he has doubled his home run rate. Bonds, who insists he added muscle through diet and intense training, has issued several denials of rumors that he uses steroids, including one to a group of reporters in April in which he said, ‘You can test me and solve that problem [of rumors] real quick.’ (Verducci).
Barry has indeed changed from a thin base-stealer to a thick power slugger. I believe it is obvious that Bonds has been on steroids, as many other fans do too. His trainer has gotten in big trouble for selling steroids to clients, and is being tried with BALCO with Bonds. Bonds has denied over and over again that he has used steroids. He has never been well-liked by the media, as Bonds avoids them and skips interviews in the lockerroom. For this reason, Bonds as well as baseball has got to brush away the debate that Bonds is on steroids. With the rub-on ointment that he supposedly uses, scientists can’t detect this with regular urine tests that they usually perform while searching for enhancements.
Where will Barry be playing if he does break Aaron’s record? He has been struggling in left-field, and there is no designated hitter in the National League. If he were to move over to the American League, where he could be a DH, he would bring much publicity to that organization. Could he go to Boston, with the short right field? If this happens, Bonds’s record will not be legitimate, for he'd pick a ballpark where it is easy to hit a homerun. Along with the short fence as well as the steroids debate, his new record needs to be printed in red to warn fans that this record was set while steroids were a problem.
Ken Caminiti, a former MVP, was interviewed for "Steroids in Baseball" article in Sports Illustrated. He claims that at least half of the players in baseball use steroids, and there is nothing wrong with it.
‘I don’t think [steroids put] an asterisk by my name,’ he says, referring to his 239 homers and .272 career average. ‘I worked for everything I’ve got. I played the game hard, gave it everything I had. Nothing came easy. I could sit here and lie and try to make myself look like a better person, but I’m not going to do that. I take responsibility for what I’ve done. I’m guilty of some bad behavior. It’s embarrassing, some of the things I’ve done. But like I said, I don’t consider steroids to be one of them’ (Verducci).
Caminiti had to pay a big price for using steroids. He was “legally prescribed weekly shots of testosterone because of his body’s continuing inability to make the hormone in sufficient quantity” (Verducci). He would also get depressed and feel lethargic. Caminiti also had struggles with alcohol and cocaine, and died in 2004. Some think that this may scare athletes away from using steroids, since he died at such a young age of 41 with heart problems due to his substance abuse.
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