Roids or not, you still have to hit the ball. A lot of players may have juiced during that era, yet did not produce outrageous stats and numbers. Loved watching McGwire in the HR contest at Fenway, Bonds taking swings at the plate during games, Giambi as well. I just wish I could mute Chris Berman during McGwire's AB in Fenway and listen to the sound of the bat and the crowd.

Going off that, I would just love to be in am empty park and hear it thundering

Lou, not comparing them against their mutual attributes. But for every first round pick who is expected to produce there are so many other first round or early picks who we have never heard from. So much for expectations. One never knows how they will blossom. That was my point. Ya just can't really predict until they get to the big leagues.

Derek Jeter is a great one. Growing up, I hated the Yankees because my Royals would play them in the playoffs and lose. Looking back as I have gotten older, I have admiration for The Boss and those Yankee teams from the mid to late 70's. I wish the Royals owner had the drive and passion to win like George did. David Glass has deep pockets, there is no excuse.

Strange but a lot of players have their, better years later on. Almost like a light gets switched on, or the game slows down. Bonds was using, Just like almost everyone else of his time, but as he got older he also learned to hit better. Here are a few examples of players who got better as some years went bye. (off the top of my head)

RA dickey, Jose Bautista, Encarnacion, Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay, Carlos Gomez, AJ Pierzynski had his best season last year at age 35 and hes a catcher, blew away his notmal stat lines. Paul Konerko had his best 2 season at 34 and 35.

Im sure you guys could name ever more players.

Well this thread was about perception.

The votes came in for the roid guys to show most know they were top in their class.

The main point being, most voted against shefield BUT for Jeter.

Shefields numbers are awesome though perceived in a dab light and jeters numbers don't reflect a top player in any season but people think hes one of the best.

Funny a few months ago, people calling up mike francessa saying Jeter was better that Joe D and Mickey, what a joke, lol just funny how people view certain players.

Jeter and Molitor have the exact same numbers, very good players HOF players, but not in the conversation of the best of their time and certainly not the best of all time.

Yep Griffey and Maddux were also the best of their time, but The vote was more of an experiment in perception.