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E, Daniel"He's still got 8 Gold Gloves, 400 (I believe) stolen bases, and a monster on base percentage, none of which are aided by steroid use". Really?
Lets just for a minute remember what steroids do. It's not that they give you power to hit home runs or materialize the statistics next to your name. Or make you faster on the basepaths. They GIVE you the ability to train and have your muscles repair themselves from the intense training, so that you can continue training. Thats how you get bigger, thats how you can build more of that 'fast twitch' muscle that allows you to explode yourself into activity. Its how you run faster (see Ben Johnson and innumerable track athletes). Its how you everything. I could get a decent OBP if pitchers facing me were scared witless I was going to crack one out of the park at any given moment. An 'un-enhanced' Bonds would have broken down under the training load many times, had injuries that took from his game, had down years, and probably would have been an even bigger SOB because no-one would have been fawning over him at every moment.
And the comparison to Aaron is kind of silly. Amphetamines may hype you up when you're feeling low, but have you ever attempted to complete a controlled series of actions while taking speed? Ahh, not so easy. Try standing still at the plate long enough for the ball to arrive and not go 'down the pitch' to the pitcher looking for it. I also think its safe to say that the physical and mental deterioration that goes on with prolonged amphetamine usage makes it incredibly obvious to ANYONE within 30 feet of the individual that something is seriously wrong with them. You don't play 20 years of hitting 40 run homers, hang out with team mates, hang out signing autographs, do PR for the club, etc. for 20 YEARS if you are a dope fiend. At some point 5-10 years in, your whole world simply falls apart.
Honestly, I have no idea how you can compare the two.
Sincerely
Daniel