The American Spectator

ncatty| 1.11.10 @ 3:54PM

Babe did it on hot dogs and beer. Not sure what Roger did it on, nerves mostly. In any event, it is a "season" record, and Maris holds it in my book.

Anthony| 1.11.10 @ 4:03PM

Well in that same thought process, maybe Josh Gibson should be named the home run king..He hit 84 in 1936 in the Negro Leagues. Harry Reid did not provide me with this information.

The White Bopper| 1.12.10 @ 8:06AM

Oh for crying out loud. Umm, I hit 85 HRs in little league, so I guess I should be HR King. Its an MLB record, NOT a Negro League Record. Babe prolly woulda hit 100 in the Negro Leagues, so take the race baiting and stuff it.

Grzmlyk| 1.11.10 @ 4:10PM

I concur. Lots of folks say that steroids are just another arrow in the quiver of other performance-enhancing tools the modern era has made available - specialized training equipment, micro-managed diet, computer-aided breakdowns of pitchers' weaknesses, etc.

I say the line should be drawn at stuff that causes physical changes to athletes of the magnitude that steroids do.

If a drug made a basketball player able to grow to 10 feet tall in the off season, after all, I'm not sure any NBA fan worth his 9 millimeter would approve.

Then again maybe all athletes should be required to use steroids (of course, in the NFL, all of the strength positions already do). Then the playing field would be level, but the locker rooms would have to be expanded.

The Babe's record should stand; Maris's acheievement is still amazing, asterisk or no asterisk.

Dan| 1.11.10 @ 4:42PM

Dare we forget that at this time, steroids weren't banned by the league, so there was no reason for enterprising players NOT to use them. If you want to throw that asterisk up there, feel free, but whatever method someone used to reach achievements like this, it's still impressive. I'll take on anyone who says that all memory of said feats should be wiped from the record books.

rundugrun| 1.12.10 @ 9:40AM

Dan - Steroids were banned by baseball in 1994, so there was plenty of reason for players not to use them... Drug testing didn't begin until 2003, but steroids had been banned since 1994. McGwire has no excuse. He cheated.

Richard Baker| 1.11.10 @ 5:24PM

Leave the Babe and Roger to Rest in Peace. Maris hit more and that's what a record is. The guys who came up with this asterisk nonsense were drinking and carousing reporter buddies of Ruth and hardly objective. Yes, if it hadn't been for Ruppert's beer Ruth might have hit 80 in a season, or not. Who cares?

Sean| 1.11.10 @ 5:28PM

I could care less if athletes take steroids. Mark's home runs are just as legitimate as anyone's as far as I am concerned.

Ken (Old Texican)| 1.11.10 @ 5:32PM

Yada yADA Yada!
"A home run is a fly ball "out" that got over a fence... doubles win ball-games." (anybody want to guess where that quote came from?)

How many doubles did these various hitters hit? Singles for that matter? RBIs are the real indicator of greatness as a hitter in the above quoted source's mind. (PS: he coached more kids in baseball than anyone in history.)

MattSwartz| 1.11.10 @ 10:26PM

I don't know who said it, Ken, but I agree with him, and you.

The steroid era made the game far less interesting.

Paul Zummo| 1.11.10 @ 6:49PM

Dare we forget that at this time, steroids weren't banned by the league,

Why does this trope keep getting thrown out there. Steroids were an illegal substance, it's just that MLB didn't test nor did they have a specific policy. It's like saying that murder wasn't banned by MLB (not comparing the gravity of the two things, it's just that federal law already covered it).

RBIs are the real indicator of greatness as a hitter

Good Lord no.

Ken (Old Texican)| 1.11.10 @ 7:13PM

OK dumbass (Paul)...if runs across the plate are not the object of a game...then what is the object of a baseball game...dumbass?

Hank Archer| 1.11.10 @ 9:02PM

Which is more important RBI or Runs Scored? Which side of a coin is more valuable, heads or tails?
Runs (either batted in or scored) are all team stats in that they only occur in the team format (excluding home runs). You can't score a run if the guy(s) behind you don't do something and you can't drive anyone in if the guy(s) ahead of you don't do something.
OPS and SLG are better tools to evaluate players than either RS or RBI, but even those need to be evaluated in light of the team context and home stadium.

Real American| 1.11.10 @ 7:41PM

Barry Bonds is the single season and career home run champion. Get over it.

RB| 1.11.10 @ 7:44PM

Yep, the Bambino get my vote. He did it the "real" America way. Beer, inch thick Porterhouse steaks, $5 cubans, cheap floosies and all-night poker games on the 20th Century Limited. Now by God , those were guys the average schmuck could look up to!

bojamie| 1.11.10 @ 9:06PM

Hey guys, what about Lance Armstrong we may as well put an astrick by his name too. Oh yea, and that big swimmer too.

MattSwartz| 1.11.10 @ 10:29PM

You don't hit home runs primarily with your biceps, though, you hit them with your eyes and your wrists. If those two things aren't quick and precise, all the strength in the world is just overkill.

Also, if we're going to asterisk all the hitting records from the steroid era, we should do the same thing with the old pitchers back when they took amphetamines. It's a slippery slope.

Rich Rostrom| 1.12.10 @ 1:47AM

While we're at it, how about *ing all hitting records set by Red Sox or Cubs players who had the benefit of playing in hitter's parks, and hitting records set circa 1930, and all pitching records set by Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers, or set in the 1960s?

Ruth got to hit in bandboxes like Griffith Field and League Park. Should that be *ed?

I say let the numbers speak for themselves.

jim| 1.12.10 @ 7:09AM

Well in that same thought process, maybe Josh Gibson should be named the home run king..He hit 84 in 1936 in the Negro Leagues. Harry Reid did not provide me with this information.

lim| 1.12.10 @ 8:26AM

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Ken (Old Texican)| 1.12.10 @ 9:14AM

See guys, RBIs also include one's own flat feet, heh.

George Will wrote "Men At Work". Probably one of the coolest books on MLB I've ever read. The consensus he gathered from pitchers, past and present, was that the most "feared" hitter in history was Hank Aaron.

Everyone probably knows he hit a slew of homeruns in his career,
But!
They tended to be line-shots that got out of the park.
He would also insert a gazillion screaming doubles off the fences...in any park. Doubles often spark rallies as well.

I was just trying to make that point above.
Brute strength is not the answer. The ability to "crack the whip" on a ball is the answer.

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