Upon the headstone of Roger Eugene Maris are three words:
AGAINST ALL ODDS
There were more than a few strong reasons why that phrase was put on his tombstone. With the lifetime / career qualifications that are in place, Roger will never be in the MLB Hall of Fame, but as I wrote before, his extremely hard-earned and deserved single-season major league home run record needs to be restored once and for all. It's frickin' out of line to assert Roger Maris's record is tainted. Taint so! Barry Bonds's mark has been questioned by many since the year he supposedly hit them, and nobody can seem to get to him to discover the truth behind his numbers.
Roger Maris is from my era, and I'm not ashamed to say I am biased towards him, and to the many others who legitimately achieved slugging fame.
We have no say anyway, so let's call it a day, and go back to collecting, and enjoying our heroes.
--- Brian Powell