If Ryan Howard hits 62...

[AppGuy04]

is he the home run king?

[SunCoastBlueHen]

The MLB record books are forever muddied. If RH hits 62, that question will be debated for a long time.

[LacesOut]

The National League STINKS. That's all I have to say.

[goasu984Life]

They had this discussion last night on PTI. I wonder if Bonds gets an asterisk just like Maris did for a while.

[HiHiYikas]

I think we just have to acknowledge that the steroids era was what it was. Learn from mistakes and play the game differently.

Clearly, the whole era is tainted, and MLB benefitted from looking the other way.

Good fans will recognize that the totals being put up by folks like Pujols and Howard are more impressive than anything Bonds, McGwire, or Sosa ever did. Those are the kind of fans that already voted against Bonds in this poll. But the official numbers should be asterisk-free.

In a somewhat similar way, few fans will contend that Cy Young was twice as good as Bob Gibson, though Young's 511 wins is more than twice Gibson's 251. They pitched in different eras, so their raw numbers don't neccesarily speak for themselves.

The steroids era was just different, and though it is rightly regarded as a corrupt period, baseball showed little to no interest in intervening at the time.

[blukeys]

I think we just have to acknowledge that the steroids era was what it was. Learn from mistakes and play the game differently.

Clearly, the whole era is tainted, and MLB benefitted from looking the other way.

Good fans will recognize that the totals being put up by folks like Pujols and Howard are more impressive than anything Bonds, McGwire, or Sosa ever did. Those are the kind of fans that already voted against Bonds in this poll. But the official numbers should be asterisk-free.

In a somewhat similar way, few fans will contend that Cy Young was twice as good as Bob Gibson, though Young's 511 wins is more than twice Gibson's 251. They pitched in different eras, so their raw numbers don't neccesarily speak for themselves.

The steroids era was just different, and though it is rightly regarded as a corrupt period, baseball showed little to no interest in intervening at the time.

There are a whole lot of more years separating Cy Young from Bob Gibson then there were Bobby Bonds from Ryan Howard. In my view McGuire, Sosa and Bonds are the ones who deserve the asterisk. If Howard hits 62 he will be the People's Home run Champion. How MLB chooses to deal with it is another issue. But we all already know who the cheaters were. Why allow them honors?????????????

[ngineer]

Another thing that has been changing in the past 10 years has been the new stadiums. More HR friendly with a lot of open areas as opposed the the numerous cookie-cutter enclosed stadiums like the Vet, Riverfront, Three Rivers, the Domes, which cut down on the wind. Except for Candlestick, most stadiums with open areas seem to help the hitters. The dimensions of Citizens Bank Park is not much different than the Vet, but the ball carries so much better. Schmidt would have 100 more HRs had he played here.

[CollegeSportsInfo]

It's polls like this that add to the problem. At the current time in our human existence, we do not have the technology to screen all players of the past and present for performance enhancing chemicals. We don't know "who" was using "what" "when". In theory, ALL players today, including Howard, are using performance enhancing chemicals compared to the players of the past when you factor in the evolution of dietary supplaments, training and medicine.

You want to see a "clean" home run champion? Then someone has to hit 73 to tie the record. It's that simple.

[HiHiYikas]

There are a whole lot of more years separating Cy Young from Bob Gibson then there were Bobby Bonds from Ryan Howard. In my view McGuire, Sosa and Bonds are the ones who deserve the asterisk. If Howard hits 62 he will be the People's Home run Champion. How MLB chooses to deal with it is another issue. But we all already know who the cheaters were. Why allow them honors?????????????
The thing is, we don't know (and we really don't care) who all of the cheaters are - only a few high profile ones. Does Luis Gonzalez get an asterisk for his 57 in 2001? Thome for his 52 in 2002? Does Canseco have an asterisk for the 46 he hit in 1998 with the Blue Jays? Rafael Palmeiro's 47 in 1999 and 2001? Matt Williams 43 in 1994? Ken Caminiti's 40 in 1996? Should we wonder about Carlos Delgado's 57 doubles in 2000? Do we assume that only hitters took steroids, or can we work towards putting an asterisk next to Clemens' 292 K's in 1997? Should Kevin Brown's no-hitter get an asterisk (I don't see one next to Doc Ellis' no-no, and he was tripped out on LSD when he threw it - talk about a banned substance).

I'm just saying there are far more potential suspects than there can be asterisks handed out. Singling out one player, no matter how foul that one player is, suggests that the whole steroids era was intitiated and perpetuated by one guy. That's just not the case. The whole era is suspicious. We have to regard it as another era, even if it "ended" only a few years ago.

[CollegeSportsInfo]

The thing is, we don't know (and we really don't care) who all of the cheaters are - only a few high profile ones. Does Luis Gonzalez get an asterisk for his 57 in 2001? Thome for his 52 in 2002? Does Canseco have an asterisk for the 46 he hit in 1998 with the Blue Jays? Rafael Palmeiro's 47 in 1999 and 2001? Matt Williams 43 in 1994? Ken Caminiti's 40 in 1996? Should we wonder about Carlos Delgado's 57 doubles in 2000? Do we assume that only hitters took steroids, or can we work towards putting an asterisk next to Clemens' 292 K's in 1997? Should Kevin Brown's no-hitter get an asterisk (I don't see one next to Doc Ellis' no-no, and he was tripped out on LSD when he threw it - talk about a banned substance).

I'm just saying there are far more potential suspects than there can be asterisks handed out. Singling out one player, no matter how foul that one player is, suggests that the whole steroids era was intitiated and perpetuated by one guy. That's just not the case. The whole era is suspicious. We have to regard it as another era, even if it "ended" only a few years ago.

Precisely. And without real-time screenings, we'll never know. Even Palmeiro, who tested positive in 2005, has no proof against him that he used anything illegal during his best years. We suspect, but have no proof.

I personally assume many players have used such substances and I am very much against them. But the records will have to hold as they are. I didn't liek the Maris * and I wouldn't want the records to start using that again. Sadly, the fault is 100% on the league for not policing their own league. We'd all speed even more while driving if there was no threat of getting pulled over and getting a ticket. And the players were "speeding" with not only the lack of a threat, but an incentive (contract $$$$) to do so.

[CollegeSportsInfo]

The thing is, we don't know (and we really don't care) who all of the cheaters are - only a few high profile ones. Does Luis Gonzalez get an asterisk for his 57 in 2001? Thome for his 52 in 2002? Does Canseco have an asterisk for the 46 he hit in 1998 with the Blue Jays? Rafael Palmeiro's 47 in 1999 and 2001? Matt Williams 43 in 1994? Ken Caminiti's 40 in 1996? Should we wonder about Carlos Delgado's 57 doubles in 2000? Do we assume that only hitters took steroids, or can we work towards putting an asterisk next to Clemens' 292 K's in 1997? Should Kevin Brown's no-hitter get an asterisk (I don't see one next to Doc Ellis' no-no, and he was tripped out on LSD when he threw it - talk about a banned substance).

I'm just saying there are far more potential suspects than there can be asterisks handed out. Singling out one player, no matter how foul that one player is, suggests that the whole steroids era was intitiated and perpetuated by one guy. That's just not the case. The whole era is suspicious. We have to regard it as another era, even if it "ended" only a few years ago.

Precisely. And without real-time screenings, we'll never know. Even Palmeiro, who tested positive in 2005, has no proof against him that he used anything illegal during his best years. We suspect, but have no proof.

I personally assume many players have used such substances and I am very much against them. But the records will have to hold as they are. I didn't liek the Maris * and I wouldn't want the records to start using that again. Sadly, the fault is 100% on the league for not policing their own league. We'd all speed even more while driving if there was no threat of getting pulled over and getting a ticket. And the players were "speeding" with not only the lack of a threat, but an incentive (contract $$$$) to do so.

[Gil Dobie]

Howard would be considered the HR Champ.

Funny though, Roger Maris still has the AL record of 61. :hurray: