I've got points for and against Barry, but first the for...
-never been convicted. the feds are chasing him, and can't get him
-look at Barry during the strike shortened season with how many home runs he was on pace for.
-many great aging players have increased their home run totals as they got older... look at a non-home run hitting Tony Gwynn... he DAMN well bulked up later on.. and AMAZINGLY how does a PUUUUUUUUUURE hitter go from 5.5 HRs a year for 12 years into someone hitting 14 or 15 a year during the twinight of his career?
- the answer to the above is the strikezone... which leads me to........
The Babe got his record without blacks in MLB
But Hank got his record during the era of the large strikezone. Pitchers weren't forced to throw it near the sweet spot.
I invite you to view the following:
Year-by-Year League Leaders & Records for Home Runs - Baseball-Reference.com
SERIOUSLY if you read one part of my post, take this....
Mays hit 50+ in 1965....
The next guy (my era) was George Foster to hit 52 in 77.
YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL... that only two guys could post 50+ for almost THIRTY FUCKING YEARS!!!!!!!!
Cecil Fielder touches 50, then THE STRIKE HAPPENS...
that is the biggest turning point in our modern era of baseball.. for all you IT WOULD BE BETTER IF GRIFFEY JR had the record (and I like Griffey Jr,.. though he had been a china doll for awhile).
The strike happens in 1994... baseball is in a CRISIS.... what do to turn the days of 3-2 Ed Halicki vs Dave MacKay duldrums into a typical American Jr scoring fest...
...what...can....we...do...to...make it...more fun.... produce...more runs..... and fun...
Griffey goes on a tear to avg 50+ for 5 straight years... everybody talks about how he'll catch Hank inside of 2001. Nonames like Troy Glaus, Dante Bichette (was it the roid or altitude.. i forget) ... gallaraga... and so on.
So maybe performance enhancing drugs help (shoudl we ban oxygen on the NFL sidelines... if you can't produce your own oxygen, then why should you artificially supplment yourself, seriously), but clearly the last 15 years have been benefactors of something..... baseball purists call it a re-calibration of the strike zone.
The purist always love to say "the best games are 2-1 pitching duels of zones, bunting, pinch hitting, speed, where fielding REALLY matters, coaching decisions... yet the fans and moreover the $$$ want the fireworks. Blame yourselves, or the ppl you sit next to.... that don't fork over for the boring team, but drop extra for razzmatazz.
Don't funking hate the playa, hate the game. Where was everybody during the lovefest of McGwire/Sosa??????. about 5% of you fans were calling these guys out for roids, much less the mockery of the strikezone that was made by the MLB.
Selig is an owner with the biggest money interest of all MLB commissioners of yore, and that is worst travesty.. he doesn't do what's best for the game, he does what's best for the $$$. There is your bigger crime... they knew yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeears ago.
Regardless if Barry did or didn't... don't be mad at him, be mad at the system and the ultra-liberal baseball players union (as do most unions) that prevented any clean "thought" from prevailing the minds of the fans.