STRAYCAT’S DOGGONE BLOG

Barry Bonds Breaks Baseball Benchmark

August 7, 2007 on 11:36 pm | In Miscellany |

Last night Barry Bonds bashed a benchmark baseball into the bleachers in front of his ”hometown” crowd in San Francisco. #756*.
There is a cloud controversy about the validity of this record, because of Bonds’ alleged use of steroids. In my humble opinion, this has no merit. Even if he did use steroids, they were not “illegal” at the time. “Major League Baseball” turned a “blind eye” to steroid use for decades. Only when steroids went “out of vogue” did “Major League Baseball” take a stance against their use. When Mark McGuire, surpassed surpassed Roger Marris’ single season home-run record of 61, he was allegedly on steroids too. When Barry Bond’s then broke McGuire’s single season record a couple of years later, establishing the current record of 73, he broke a “alleged steroid user’s” record. When Roger Marris broke Babe Ruth’s single season record in 1963, there were 30 more games per season than when  “the babe” played. Babe Ruth played in just over 8,000 games in his career to hit his 701 home-runs. Hank Aaron played in just under 12,000 games to set his record of 755. Also, Hank Aaron had the additional benefit of the “improved”, “live” baseball toward the end of his career. 
You can put all the ******** you want behind these records, they are still the records.
CONGRATULATIONS BARRY.  

* This record may not stand for too long anyway. Alex Rodriguez just hit #500 last weekend, and he is just 34 years old, the youngest player to ever reach this milestone. If his career lasts into his 40’s, which is not uncommon, he will almost certainly break Barry Bond’s record.