Single season HR record

[autocut]

No question about it. Barry Bonds. Just like Pete Rose is banned from baseball, but he is still the Hits King. Personal opinions will never change that.

I think the fact that 39% of the people polled (so far) chose Maris speaks volumes about how baseball fans view the steroids era. Less than half of the people polled chose Bonds as the single season HR king (47%). The voting between the two is about what I expected: people are pretty much split between Maris and Bonds, but most people feel Bonds is the true HR king.

David

But that's the thing. If Bonds had Derek Jeter's personality, that % would be higher. A lot of people (not all) vote against Bonds because they don't like him. Has nothing to do with steroid use or not. That's what I meant about personal opinion.

 

[Adamsince1981]

I understand why the OP used them, but McGwire, Sosa, and Ruth shouldn't be options.

You either feel Bonds holds the single season HR record or Maris does.

Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire all did steroids.

Ruth didn't do steroids.

"As the history of anabolic steroid unfolds, one would find that in early 1930s, German scientists discovered the drug in modern pharmaceutical form - albeit accidentally."

My guess is that Maris broke the record on a steady diet of comfort food and cigarettes...oh, yeah, and hitting in front of Mickey Mantle.

May I add that Maris was treated worse than ANY steroid user has been treated simply because he wasn't the guy that was supposed to break Ruth's record.

I voted for Maris.

 

[fengzhang]

From the perspective of fairness, it's impossible to equalize the variables. Bonds took steroids and they definitely boosted his power. It took Maris over 100 more at-bats to hit 61 than Bonds took in 2001 to hit 73.

My personal opinion: each era has its quirks. The 1990's and 2000's represent the steroid era. There were no punishments against steroids. This wasn't an isolated incident of one player defying the rules. Hence, take the records at face value instead of trying to predict what stats any of these players might have put up without steroids. That's like trying to predict Babe Ruth's stats if he had to face non-white pitchers. It's just impossible to do.

True record holder: Barry Bonds

It doesn't make him the greatest HR hitter ever. But, it does make him the record holder.

 

[smapdi]

The whole point of the thread is kind of silly. It's basically if you think the MLB rulebook counts or not, and whether the issues in one era are comparable to the issues of another. There's varying asterisks that can be applied to every era, and varying degrees of cheating in every game played, so the real record holder is probably still Roger Connor, and he gets several asterisks of his own.

It is interesting considering rules changes through the years, especially pre-WWII. I read something once where it supposed Ruth had at least 716 homers. In one instance, he lost a homer to a rained out game during a period where unofficial games didn't count for individual stats. In another, the stadium had an overflow crowd covering part of the outfield, held back by ropes. Ground rules had been established that a ball hit into the crowd would be a triple, but one hit over the fence was a homer. Ruth promptly hit one into the crowd, of course, and hit something hard and bounced back into the field. It was debated whether it went over the fence or not, so they gave him a triple, but a it was more than likely a homer. I'd love to see that sort of thing happen today.

 

[Lars]

Hasn't MLB been using the instant replay in the last week or so to confirm whether or not baseballs hit were home runs or not?

The whole point of the thread is kind of silly. It's basically if you think the MLB rulebook counts or not, and whether the issues in one era are comparable to the issues of another. There's varying asterisks that can be applied to every era, and varying degrees of cheating in every game played, so the real record holder is probably still Roger Connor, and he gets several asterisks of his own.

It is interesting considering rules changes through the years, especially pre-WWII. I read something once where it supposed Ruth had at least 716 homers. In one instance, he lost a homer to a rained out game during a period where unofficial games didn't count for individual stats. In another, the stadium had an overflow crowd covering part of the outfield, held back by ropes. Ground rules had been established that a ball hit into the crowd would be a triple, but one hit over the fence was a homer. Ruth promptly hit one into the crowd, of course, and hit something hard and bounced back into the field. It was debated whether it went over the fence or not, so they gave him a triple, but a it was more than likely a homer. I'd love to see that sort of thing happen today.

 

[bodiaz]

Easy, Barry Bonds. Every ERA has differences. Honus Wagner had 500 foot fences, Ruth had a 300 foot launching pad built for him. Wagner had to hit against wet, scuffed up dirty baseballs, all other ERAs have nice clean white baseballs. Ruth did his in 154 games, Maris on have had 162 games. Funny noone has a problem with all the Yankees and their 300 foot fence aiming players owning the single season list! People want to cry unfair? That is one of the most unfair things in baseball, and has been for years. If people want fair bring back the cookie cutter stadiums where it is 400 foot fences all the way around. That will be the only way you get "fair".

 

[bikerider60]

WOW didn't think that Bonds would get a vote, steroids are kool I guess.