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Will Bonds' HR Record be valid?

Is Barry Bonds' homerun record chase valid?

  • Total voters
    40
iSaint

iSaint

macrumors 603
Original poster
May 26, 2004
5,225
2
South Mississippi y'all, near the water!
I remember Hank Aarons' homerun record shot back in the day. Somehow, it seems there's too much of a shadow cast on Bonds' attempt because of all of the steroids issues. I can't get into the chase.

So I ask, is Bonds HR chase valid? Or should there be an asterisk by his name when/if he breaks the record?
 
Cassie said:
Who cares if he used steroids? So have many other baseball players. A home run record is just that unless there was some major cheating going on.
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Yes, others have used steroids. But now that they're finally cracking down on the users, if someones record is attained by using steroids, the stats should be invalid.
 
I'm pretty conflicted on this. Do I think he used steroids? Yeah, I do. But everything was juiced in the late 90s, early 2000s: the hitters, the pitchers, the balls, the ballparks, everything. So, I think it's as valid as any other record that's been written in the record books the past 10 years (or more).

The part that I find simply remarkable is that Bud Selig doesn't want any part of this- at all. The biggest record in all of sports, and the sport's own commissioner is virtually hiding from it, pretending it's not happening. I find that completely crazy.
 
He definitely used steroids. I really hope he at least gets a star next to his name, even though it probably won't happen.
 
zioxide said:
He definitely used steroids. I really hope he at least gets a star next to his name, even though it probably won't happen.
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The asterisk is NEVER going to happen. That opens a Pandora's Box whereas almost every major record will have an asterisk next to it for some reason or other. Did or did not Aaron, Mays, and most of the other 60's stars take amphetamines? Do you evict Gaylord Perry and dozens of other pitchers from the HOF for doctoring baseballs? Do you put an asterisk next to Babe Ruth's records because they built smaller ballparks and made baseballs livelier during his career, thus depriving Gavvy Craveth of his rightful place in baseball lore? Or, on the other hand, maybe an asterisk next to Ty Cobb's triples because he played in huge ballparks?

Truth is, Bonds has never failed a steroids test, and even in this era of greater vigilance towards the presence of steroids, he's still going out there in his mid-40s and hitting home runs. You want to know where his physique comes from? Try looking at some photos of his father in his prime playing years. I don't think another player has ever had all the physical gifts that Bobby Bonds had. Bobby had a pretty good career, but was out of baseball at age 35 and was largely considered a disappointment, and I've always thought that was Barry's #1 motivation.
 
Cassie said:
Who cares if he used steroids? So have many other baseball players. A home run record is just that unless there was some major cheating going on.
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THat's BS. You gotta remember guys like Mickey Mantle who played better than ANY of these "atheletes" on steroids...and he was DRUNK most of the time (not really, but he was a heavy alcoholic). Guys like Mantle and Aaron on steroids would be super human. Bonds is a joke, plain and simple. If you can't hit a home run on your own, you can't hit a home run.
 
Nope,nor should McGuire's record. As far as I'm concerned,Maris still holds the record for most HR's in a season. I believe Bonds said that he never KNOWINGLY took a steroid..Yeah right. You're gonna take a pill or a cream from a trainer or Dr. no questions asked?Yeah,sure he wasn't on anything :rolleyes: All guys in their late thirties, early fourties get that big that fast naturally. And they all have heads the size of a watermelon and veins popping out of the center of their forehead. I've been around enough guys that have juiced at the gym with everything from andro spray,to needles to the new designer stuff out there (like Superdrol and Halladrol and Epastane) to see the results and effects of it..They all have that bulky,bloated "cut" look.Not that hard chiseled look when you do it naturally..And when you're done with a cycle,if you don't do a post cycle pill or another cycle,you lose all your gains.Like a vicious circle...
Another thing not helping Bonds at all is Barry himself. The fact that he's an obnoxious,self absorbed,self centered,pompous,arrogant cantankerous prick isn't helping his case either.If he was the least bit likeable,people may tolerate him more...
 
Lot of good points made in this thread.

I think there should be an asterisk next to bond's name when he breaks the record. They'll never disqualify his record, but they should denote it somewhere that he was a(n) (ab)user.

Foxsports is running big articles about this, talking about what should be done and whatnot. The latest one I read brings up a great point, lets look beyond bonds and embrace the next HR king. It names A-Rod as the future record holder, but with the events over the past 24 hours I don't know if I hope for that outcome either. It needs to be an admirable character like Aaron was (and is).
 
fotografica said:
Nope,nor should McGuire's record. As far as I'm concerned,Maris still holds the record for most HR's in a season. I believe Bonds said that he never KNOWINGLY took a steroid..Yeah right. You're gonna take a pill or a cream from a trainer or Dr. no questions asked?Yeah,sure he wasn't on anything :rolleyes: All guys in their late thirties, early fourties get that big that fast naturally. And they all have heads the size of a watermelon and veins popping out of the center of their forehead. I've been around enough guys that have juiced at the gym with everything from andro spray,to needles to the new designer stuff out there (like Superdrol and Halladrol and Epastane) to see the results and effects of it..They all have that bulky,bloated "cut" look.Not that hard chiseled look when you do it naturally..And when you're done with a cycle,if you don't do a post cycle pill or another cycle,you lose all your gains.Like a vicious circle...
Another thing not helping Bonds at all is Barry himself. The fact that he's an obnoxious,self absorbed,self centered,pompous,arrogant cantankerous prick isn't helping his case either.If he was the least bit likeable,people may tolerate him more...
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And Ty Cobb and Larry Bird were racist pricks as well. That is irrelevant.

A record is a record.
As per the MLB's rules, he has not been caught doing anything and thus gets the record.

If they want to go back and asterisk, remove, demote, etc, all the records for all the players that used drugs, it is going to take a long time and be bascially impossible.

I don't like Bonds anymore than I liked McGuire or Giambi, but until the organization that gives out the records does not do something drastic to clean up their act, then who cares.
 
The record will stand but public opinion will be the judge of his legacy.
 
MacNut said:
The record will stand but public opinion will be the judge of his legacy.
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I think this is about right. I couldn't justify making any of the choices offered in the poll. The record is just a number, so obviously it will be "valid," but history will be the final determiner of whether Bonds really was the game's greatest home run hitter.
 
MacNut summed it up. He can have his number, but it will be society will say whether he deserved it or not, and it will be noted anytime that his record is mentioned.
 
I think one of Yahoo's sports writers said it best when he said (about caring about the record) "I don't care about whether he breaks the record or not because obviously the MLB doesn't care about steroids" and that's the truth. :eek:
 
zero2dash said:
I think one of Yahoo's sports writers said it best when he said (about caring about the record) "I don't care about whether he breaks the record or not because obviously the MLB doesn't care about steroids" and that's the truth. :eek:
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MLB only cares about steroids because it is bad PR and the government is making them care about it.
 
IJ Reilly said:
I think this is about right. I couldn't justify making any of the choices offered in the poll. The record is just a number, so obviously it will be "valid," but history will be the final determiner of whether Bonds really was the game's greatest home run hitter.
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I couldn't settle any of the poll choices either. On both sides of the ball, fans and players alike will follow his asterisk out of the park.
 
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