I feel terrible for all of these guys. In an age of steroids where 61 became 70 and then in the blink of an eye 73, and 755 became 762******** I am finding that numbers have less meaning. Growing up as a kid I remember following Eddie Murray's every at-bat as he was chasing no. 500. Eddie was old and tired when he hit no. 500 and it felt like that's how it should be. A great milestone towards the end of a great career.
Since Murray we have seen the following sluggers hit no. 500: All in varying clouds of performance enhancing controversy.
Barry Bonds - The Don of steroid controversy
Sammy Sosa - Roids and Cork - a true two-way player
Mark McGwire - "I am only here to talk about the future, and not why I have no neck"
Rafael Palmeiro - Don't point that finger at me sir, I don't know where its been
* Thome, Frank Thomas, and A-rod have also joined the list since Murray - steroid-controversy free as of 6-6-8
With the above list including 2 members of the 600 home run club, 3 people who at one time held the singe season home run record (Sosa had his 15 minutes in 1998), the all-time home run champ, and a guy who pitches Viagra I have to ask, how does anyone else have a chance to be celebrated? The numbers are tainted, they don't mean anything today because the players with the greatest numbers are the biggest cheaters. Numbers are part what make baseball great, and steroids have ruined that. Now to the worst part - Griffey and Chipper - both would have much more impressive numbers if they weren't both frequent fliers on the DL, which could have been avoided by steroid, but these guys have way too much class. Here's to you Larry and Ken! And yeah we will even drink one for Manny (just don't tell my wife - Indians fans don't take too kindly to Manny).
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