Now, I’m not usually one to get all to animated over the steroid debate in baseball of late (personally they should fire everyone from MLB and begin a re-hire under a much tighter salary cap, I mean we all know that New York needs to do a lot more than just make Alex Rodriguez’ wallet fatter), but I was reading over ESPN.com tonight and just happened to pick up on an article entitled Sanford and Steroids, mainly because of the satirical way the argument is presented: not only does the author, Jim Caple, take a jab at Barry Bonds, but he also brings up the whole moral point to the steroid issue and how America and the media make such a big deal about it but on the other hand they don’t mind to make money off of America’s #1 and #3 killers (a.k.a. smoking and alcohol). If you are in any way aware of the whole steroid issue or have ever seen an episode of Sanford and Son then you will get a kick out of this article.

Just for shits and giggles I have compiled some stats and a photo comparison of Bonds over the years:

First allow me to throw out some of Bonds’ stats, after all, I am a numbers person:

During the first 15 years of Barry’s career he had a batting average greater than 0.320 only once (0.336 in 1993). In the last four years he has managed to hit 0.328, 0.370, 0.341, and 0.362, respectively. *Bonds will turn 40 this year by the way*

Prior to 2000 Bonds had only hit 40 or more home runs in three seasons (46 in ‘93, 42 in ‘96 and 40 in ‘97), but from 2000 on out Bonds was able to send the ball out of the park 258 (49 in ‘00, 73 in ‘01, 46 in ‘02, 45 in ‘03 and 45 in ‘04), which is 56 more than any other five season combination in his career.

Hank Aaron (the All-Time home run king) played for 23 seasons and in seasons respective to Bonds’ age (35-39 years old) Aaron only hit 203 homers. Babe Ruth only hit 192 and unlike Bonds, both of these legends saw some of their career worst in batting average.

Now some may compare Bonds’ incredible season of 73 homers to Marris’ season of 61. Both men slammed well over their average of balls beyond the fences: Marris saw a 43 homer increase over his average at the time, 14, during his 61 season, Bonds meanwhile, was averaging 33 home runs a season prior to his season of 73, a 40 home run difference. Relatively similar numbers, the only difference is that after hitting 61 Marris returned to an average of 17 homers per season; just three above his previous average, yet Bonds has managed to average 45 longs balls a season since hitting 73, an increase of 12 homers, a huge difference if you follow baseball.

And just for kicks, check out the baseball cards below(Barry is 21, 25, 32, and 38 from left to right) and just make your own decision:

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* SMAF: Yamaha music format that combines MIDI with instrument sound data (aka Module files).