I'm not a fan of Arod, and also figured Manny would get to 23 Grand slams, before he completely fell apart.
But placing all the credit with PEDs does a bit disservice to the guys who were on base ahead of him. They were part of it too. (And will probably get no credit either except on some SABR guys file of interesting stuff.)
A few things get overlooked in the PED discussions.
Juiced pitcher facing juiced batter isn't a wash. The physics say different. More total energy=more distance.
Much of the blame also must be placed with MLB and the comissioners office. At the time many of the players were doing PEDs it wasn't actually against the rules. And Baseball itself didn't have the guts to change it until things got cartoonish. (can we keep Popeye out of the comics HOF? sorry, couldn't resist
) So while the use may have been illegal, it wasn't technically cheating. Wrong on many levels, but not against the rules.
Steve B
Contemplating where the home run record would be with Dave Kingman playing in Fenway or Playing in Fenway and on something......100? more?