Steroid: Null and Void

    In the days where steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs are almost becoming a norm, we see consistent  forty home run seasons and increased power numbers from hitters. But what if I were to tell you that the steroid-infused heavy hitters still don't measure up to the greatest hitters of all-time. The question we must ask is: Does steroids even help at all? As far as helping current players be as powerful as the all-time greats such as Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, and Willy Mays: Not even close. When a ballpark changes its outfield dimensions, they are shortened more often than not. Even with the use of steroids to strengthen players, they still don't measure of to the greatest players ever, who for the most part, were naturally strong.

In 22 professional seasons,
Ruth hit 714 home runs-
third most all-time

    The main factor that I will focus on today is outfield dimensions  Even though the numbers of the great players, past and present, are similar, think about this: the parks that Mantle, Maris, Ruth, and Williams played in were significantly larger than the parks that Jeter, Pujols, Bonds and Sosa played in. To make my point, we will look at the past and present ballparks of two particular teams: the New York Yankees and the New York/San Francisco Giants.

    First. Yankee Stadium. I will be focusing on the distance from home plate to center field because that is the greatest distance for point A to point B in any park. In 1923, when Babe Ruth was a Yankee, the center field fence in Yankee Stadium was 520 feet away from home plate. In the years that Ruth was a Yankee, he hit, on average 43 home runs a year. Also, in the 18 years that Mickey Mantle played for the Yankees, after the center field wall had been moved in to 461 feet (still about 55 feet farther than the average present-day center field fence), Mantle average 30 home runs a season, even while being plagued by injuries throughout his career. These are impressive numbers by two of the greatest Yankees of all-time, without the use of anything but pure strength. Now let's compare it to the present-day steroid era. Since 1988, the center field fence at Yankee Stadium has been 408 feet away. Alex Rodriguez, who has 647 career home runs, has admitting to using steroids. In the nine seasons that Rodriguez has been with the Yankees, he is averaging 34 home runs a year. Does it sound like steroids gives an advantage? 

The New York Giants played
at Polo Grounds until 1963

    Let's look at a new team: the New York/San Francisco Giants. Until 1963, the New York Giants played at Polo Grounds. The center field fence at Polo Grounds was 483 feet away. In the six seasons that Hall of Famer Willie Mays played at Polo Grounds before the team departed for San Francisco, he averaged 31 home runs a season. Present-day: All-time home run king Barry Bonds, who was proven to have used steroids, averaged 39 home runs a year in the 15 years he played in San Francisco. However, San Francisco's AT&T Park has one of the shortest center field fences in the major leagues at 399 feet, almost 100 feet CLOSER than the Mays days.

AT&T Park (formerly known as SBC
Park0 has been the home of  San
Francisco Giants since 2000

    Now, I understand that the present-day pitchers are much more talented than they used to be, but given that and the fact that ballparks are MUCH smaller than they used to be, it is my conclusion that steroids does not give much of an upper hand. Players like Mays, Mantle, and Ruth never used steroids, but instead, were just that strong. Given all the information contained in this article, I hope you can agree that steroids is not at all going to help a present-day player keep up with the all-time greats. Only pure skill and love of the game can do that. Will we ever see anyone who can measure up to the giants of the game? I'm not sure, but if we do, I hope that they play the game with pure skill and heart. That is what makes great players, not steroids.