Familiar language from ESPN’s Christina Kahrl, who claims the HOF is already compromised by PEDs.
I mean, c’mon, no Mike Schmidt or Hank Aaron in the Hall of Fame? By their own admission they broke the same baseball rule on the books that Bonds did, and they did so for the same reason — to enhance their performance.
She’s talking about amphetamines, which were once doled out like Morrison’s peppermints in most, if not all, of baseball clubhouses. That doesn’t make it right, but they weren’t consumed in the shadows. Eddie Mathews wasn’t snorting lines with Hank in a toilet stall, for instance, a la Canseco injecting McGwire. Greenies didn’t give one player a significant advantage over another.
Besides, it’s ridiculous to compare the banned substances. The proof is in the stats, yet the apologists ignore the evidence. Perhaps because it totally destroys their argument.
What else explains Bonds’ production in the twilight of his career? Bonds’ lowest OPS, in four seasons from ages 36-39, was 1.278. His highest OPS in the prime of his career, from ages 26-29: 1.136. He had 69 more homers from ages 36-39.
Fortunately, someone else crunched the numbers typically required by the statistically obsessed.
Below are the top 15 OWPs of all time, regardless of age. Before 2001, no player had reached .924, Bonds’ OWP for the whole period that covers ages 36-39. Notice how unusual it is for someone aged 36-39 to have such a great OWP. It appears that no one has aged as well as Bonds.
|
Rank |
Player |
YEAR |
OWP |
AGE |
|
1 |
Barry Bonds |
2002 |
0.942 |
37 |
|
2 |
Barry Bonds |
2004 |
0.929 |
39 |
|
3 |
Barry Bonds |
2001 |
0.922 |
36 |
|
4 |
Mickey Mantle |
1957 |
0.915 |
25 |
|
5 |
Babe Ruth |
1920 |
0.913 |
25 |
|
6 |
Fred Dunlap |
1884 |
0.909 |
25 |
|
7 |
Ted Williams |
1941 |
0.908 |
22 |
|
8 |
Barry Bonds |
2003 |
0.897 |
38 |
|
9 |
Babe Ruth |
1923 |
0.896 |
28 |
|
10 |
Babe Ruth |
1921 |
0.891 |
26 |
|
11 |
Ted Williams |
1957 |
0.891 |
38 |
|
12 |
Babe Ruth |
1926 |
0.883 |
31 |
|
13 |
Ted Williams |
1942 |
0.881 |
23 |
|
14 |
Pete Browning |
1882 |
0.88 |
21 |
|
15 |
Babe Ruth |
1924 |
0.879 |
29 |
Dare I mention the freakish guns and engorged head?
Apparently none of this is sufficient proof for the likes of Kahrl, who writes of “the purported performance-enhancing benefits of PEDs.”
This from the group that sneers at those who ignore the irrefutable evidence found in the numbers.
