>>>Berry Bonds - The finest baseball player produced by chemistry!
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>>Tom,
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>>I agree. Barry Bonds is just another business man. The problem is that the "business" is entertainment. Fans love the home run. In fact, my first baseball hero was Hank Sauer. My second was Ernie Banks.
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>>However, there's one thing about baseball that this current "scandal" can't take way from what Bonds has accomplished. All the steriods in the world can't improve your eye/hand co-ordination. Can you hit the ball farther? Sure, but it doesn't matter if you can't hit it in the first place.
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>>(He who grew up with the kids of the players and coaches of the Chicago White Sox.)
>
>Any HR records he has or attains will be severely tainted. I agree that his eye/hand coordination has ZIP to do with any doping he has done, but I can't help but believe that this doping did enhance his power and his HR production. He should receive a permanent ban from baseball because he does not deserve to pass Ruth and Aaron on the HR list. This is also far worse than any thing Pete Rose or Joe Jackson did to the game. At least they earned their HRs the old fashioned way. I also think his HRs from 2003 should be stricken from the record books.

Mark,

I'm torn about this. First, I don't believe that steriods have any place in the game. However, and second, as someone who played the game, I don't know of any drug that's ever been made that can help someone hit a curve.

With weight training on both the side of the pitchers and the batters, it's terribly hard to distinguish those who are and those who aren't on "the juice."

There's a former Cub, now with the Braves, who throws 96+. He weighs all of 150-160. Training, mechanics, etc. do this.

Since Bonds has admitted, however, that he took steriods, that's another subject entirely. And we should be hestitant about "painting things with a broad brush". In fact, ESPN, on their web site had a "Juice Box" this past season. Extra base hits down? Nope, they were up. Runs per game down? No, they were up. And this is after MLB introduced tighter guidelines.