There was once a boy raised as an orphan in Baltimore. He was big for his age, big on the top with chicken drumstick legs, all scrawny down on the bottom. He played professional baseball for the Boston Red Sox until 1920, when he was sold to the New York Yankees for $125,000.
This is George Herman Ruth. You all know him as Babe. The Sultan of Swat. With him, the Yankees became the most powerful team in baseball history. His legacy has brought him to build “The House that Ruth Built” n 1923 – Yankees Stadium.
He drank everyday, smoked, swore, whored around, and still, in 22 years, averaging 140 games per year, he hit seven hundred fourteen home runs.
The sight of him running around the bases on these chicken legs still awes anyone who watches.
He never used steroids.
Growing up in California, this skinny kid was drafted by the Oakland Athletes and first played in 1986. He was on the 1984 Olympic baseball team. Over his career, he has been consistent with his statistics – often hitting 20-40 homers over a season.
He became the 17th person in baseball history to hit over 500 homers. His name is Mark McGwire. He has admitted to using androstenedione (andro).
Did he use steroids?
He grew up in Alabama under his father’s wing – playing baseball from the time he could walk. He was drafted by the New York Giants and played his entire career with the Giants, with the exception of one final season with the Mets before he retired.
This is Willie Mays – the “Say Hey Kid” of the San Francisco Giants. Godfather of Barry Bonds. Hitter of six hundred sixty home runs. The epitome of consistency.
He never used steroids.
He was one-half of the Bash Brothers in Oakland in the 1980s. One half of Mark McGwire. First member of the 40-40 club (40 homers, 40 stolen bases in one season). American League MVP in 1988. Winners of the World Series in 1989. Racked up four hundred sixty-two dingers during his career.
This is Jose Canseco. Author of Juiced. A book about steroid use in baseball.
A confessed steroids user.
He grew up on an Oklahoma farm. His hair as bright as the straw in the barn. His body built as a testament to his farm days. Big, brawny, and just plain full of athleticism.
He led the league in homers 4 seasons, and ended up with five hundred fifty-four homers in his career – cut short by military service and his years chain smoking and drinking himself to death in 1995.
This is Mickey Mantle. The Commerce Comet.
He never used steroids.
Everything worth recognizing about this player happened in 1996 – the year he won the National League MVP. .326 batting average, 40 home runs, 130 RBI. Statistics that would probably have gotten him the Triple Crown 60 years earlier. But not in this day and age.
This is Ken Caminiti – a confessed steroid user. Retired from baseball in 2001 after his body fell apart. Caminiti died last October of heart failure. Brought about by his use.
A confessed steroids user.
A fellow Alabaman, he had a strange way of holding a baseball bat. Instead of holding it with your farthest arm on the bottom barrel, he had his arms crisscrossed. People said he’d never make it into the bigs.
He eventually broke into the Negro Leagues, with the Indianapolis Clowns, and later joined the Milwaukee (Atlanta) Braves. Over 23 years, he set 12 MLB records, including appearing in 24 All-Star games.
This is Henry Louis Aaron – the Hammerin’ Hank. Currently the record holder with seven hundred fifty-five home runs in his career. He never hit more than 47 homers in one season.
He never used steroids.
This young boy grew up in Riverside, California, he was a “C” student at Junipero Serra High, but possessed remarkable athleticism that it took little for him to become the baseball and basketball star at Serra.
He first played for Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 before joining his godfather at San Francisco in 1992. He holds the single season home run record with 73.
He is third on the all-time homerun list with 703 career round-trippers.
This is Barry Bonds.
Did he use steroids?
Pardon me while I sit and weep at the sight of cheaters destroying the very fabric of the legacies of the players who shed blood, tears, and sweat for their records, not players who inserted a needle up their ass.
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