If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

[Pared]

Topic.

Believe it or not he is a little over 200 HR's away from doing it. Even if he hits around 20 HR's a year for the rest of his career, it's all but probable it will happen.

He has hit 172 HR's in the last 4 years... and that's apparently while clean.

Should MLB embrace him? Should Yankee fans be proud he will do it as a Yankee? Celebrate the accomplishment? You know either way it will get major coverage.

[rubisco43]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

junk them.. junk them all. i don't have a long, eloquent prose to talk about how we feel lied to and what not. they cheated, they all lied; all their records need to go in the toilet.

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

As a Yankee Fan if he breaks the record in pinstripes I will not acknowledge him as the HR Champ unless he breaks the record minus the HR's he hit from 2001/03

[sask3m]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

He should be treated the same way everyone has treated Bonds, and as for him being clean the last few years... i'm not buying it. The only reason he came out with this statement is because he was caught. Even if he possibly were telling the truth and has been clean since 03 what about 04 and 05 i don't think the advantage of steroids just stops the minute you quit taking them.

[totalownership]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

Let it stand. As far as I'm concerned EVERYBODY did SOMETHING. How many juiced home runs did he didn't get cause the pitcher was on better juice than him. How many times he got picked off cause the catcher was on the juice. So at this point I don't even care anymore. Not that I cared all that much to begin with since baseball is my number 3 sport.

[albsur2003]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

I'd say that if Bonds isn't gonna be celebrated for breaking the record then I don't see how A-Rod is. I do think that all these guys will end up getting in the HOF. Especially, A-Rod because he's still got a lot of his career left, he better hope he's telling the complete truth now though and nothing else comes out regarding him and PEDs prior to 2001 or after 2003.

I'm trying to believe him that he's been clean since 2003 but just the way that he went on 60 Minutes and just straight up lied was extremely alarming. He could easily be lying now and telling us half truths. With that being said, his half truths are the most honesty that we've gotten from any elite player involved with steroids. I just don't see how he was clean in 2007 when he didn't even post those type of power numbers in Texas; when he was roided up and in his late 20s prime. Baseball is my second favorite sport next to football and that's what's infuriates me about this steroids issue. Now whenever someone has a great power hitting season, I can't help but briefly think "hmmmm..." The fact that technology is so advanced and so many better and undetectable PEDs are available right now doesn't help either.

[Pared]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

Everyone referring to Bonds... this is the difference:

At the time, Bonds wasn't "outed" as being a cheater. Everyone celebrated it. It was a big deal and you knew the MLB would use it as a platform for public exposure. Someone was breaking the greatest record of any sport of all time and it was a big deal.

This time around, do you fully expect them to do the same thing? How does the MLB celebrate knowing someone admitted to "cheating" on the way to this record? Would you expect the commissioner to stand there, smile and take pictures with someone who could be hated by a large portion of your fans?

There's a huge overlap in fan opinion of the entire situation. There will be those that say, similar to Bonds, that others were 'roided up and he was still the best of the best for a long time... and there will be those that say he shouldn't even be acknowledged.

Two very different ends of the spectrum.

[sask3m]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

Everyone referring to Bonds... this is the difference:

At the time, Bonds wasn't "outed" as being a cheater. Everyone celebrated it. It was a big deal and you knew the MLB would use it as a platform for public exposure. Someone was breaking the greatest record of any sport of all time and it was a big deal.

This time around, do you fully expect them to do the same thing? How does the MLB celebrate knowing someone admitted to "cheating" on the way to this record? Would you expect the commissioner to stand there, smile and take pictures with someone who could be hated by a large portion of your fans?

There's a huge overlap in fan opinion of the entire situation. There will be those that say, similar to Bonds, that others were 'roided up and he was still the best of the best for a long time... and there will be those that say he shouldn't even be acknowledged.

Two very different ends of the spectrum.

Thats not true at all, Bonds was being booed and having needles thrown at him in every road game he played the last couple years. Even the commissioner said he didn't know if he would be at the record setting game. He may not have come out and said he cheated but public opinion was likely 99% sure he had.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

junk them.. junk them all. i don't have a long, eloquent prose to talk about how we feel lied to and what not. they cheated, they all lied; all their records need to go in the toilet.

Co-Sign

[Alliball]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

The one thing I haven't seen mentioned is just how incredibly ironic this whole steroid issue has become.

[totalownership]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

There was a lot going on with Bonds also. Like pure racism when he jumped Ruth. That had nothing to do with anything but racism right there. More people hated him for hitting that record than for hitting Aaron's.

[Porschebenz2001]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

Co-Sign

So how long do we have to wait for someone else to be considered worthy of breaking the HR record?

Or should it stay Hank forever? Because the roids are never gonna go away. There's always gonna be someone that is one step ahead. Hopefully Arod getting busted will smarten everyone else up.

[Alliball]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

There was a lot going on with Bonds also. Like pure racism when he jumped Ruth. That had nothing to do with anything but racism right there. More people hated him for hitting that record than for hitting Aaron's.

You're delusional. It had mostly to do with his smug I'm bigger than the game attitude, not the color of his skin.

[DubTrey1]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

I say Hank is and will continue to be the HR champ. Period. I do not and will not consider anyone else as such until we can all without any doubts know that an MLB player was drug free during his career. Which sadly may never be considering the way so many of these drugs are masked -

[allBthere]

Re: If A-Rod breaks the HR record...

I think it would be good if they had a volunteer system:

players that volunteer to be tested weekly (or whatever would be accurate) get to accept the awards (mvp, batting title etc.) They may even give cash bonuses for those awards. players that do not volunteer to be tested are not eligible for ANY awards.
Maybe go as far as having half your carreer as a volunteer is the minimum to be considered for the hall of fame.
That would all but end roids because do you want to be the guy that didn't volunteer? ...what are you hiding?

As far as homeruns go - I don't think the new records are nearly as impressive no matter the scenario. The ball is spun tighter than Ruth's era, and the best guys are using harder wood bats, when in the past all you could get was ash bats. Hank's and Ruth's bats were softer - say what you will about pitching improvements, but when you connect the ball simply goes farther...even from my childhood memories, routine fly balls are now homer's. Add in the steroids (which obviously increas hitting power) and that's a wrap.

I think Caseco has a point about putting at least some blame on the ownership and commissioner - simply because steroids are nothing new, and why did it take until the mid-late 90s and into the 2000s for players to start taking them? In the 80s I doubt you'd see many players doing them.