SCOTTSDALE, Arizona On a day when new revelations of Barry Bonds' use of performance-enhancing drugs made headlines, a historian hired by Bonds counterattacked, claiming he has discovered evidence that Babe Ruth also ingested foreign substances.
"Babe Ruth is an American icon," Edward Pollock said, "but he's no better than Barry when it comes to things he put in his mouth."
The substances Ruth used to boost his performance? "Beer and hot dogs," Pollock said as he replayed a scene from Pride of the Yankees in which the Sultan of Swat, playing himself, is seen wolfing down hot dogs and swilling beer.
Bonds has 708 career round-trippers and is chasing Ruth, who is number two on the all-time home run list with 714. Hank Aaron is first with 755.
When Pollock was asked why he considered beer and hot dogs to be performance-enhancing substances, he played a tape of office picnic softball games from around the country in which beery men in shorts blasted monster shots using metal bats. "These guys are in terrible shape, and look how far they hit the ball!" Pollock said. "Their diet must have something to do with it."
Pollock said benzoates, nitrates and sulphites in hot dogs enabled Ruth to become the most feared power hitter of his time. Lynn Ohrlich, a spokesman for the Baseball Hall of Fame, disagreed, noting that these additives were not used until the late 1940s, long after Ruth had retired.
Pollock's previous works have included histories of synagogues, fraternal organizations and liberal arts colleges, but never a sports figure. When reporters told Bonds they were skeptical of Pollock's conclusions, he lashed out angrily. "That really hurts, man," he said. "I paid the guy fifty bucks."
I have not been a Barry hater much like a slew of other Americans. However, recently I read on a Fox sports blog that he said he wanted people to forget about Ruth.
Was that a true quote I read? If so, Bonds comes out looking ingrateful and vindicative, and his "intent" w/ drugs against the popularity of McGuire and Sosa seems more likely.
Ahh, baseball legends Rose and Bonds.
They have Clinton disease.
Do people really think George Bush is dishonest?
That should not be the big criteria to criiticize him. Bonds? Honesty is an easy walk home.
Very funny, but as I pointed out in an earlier post, the beer and other alcohol Ruth was consuming was illegal at the time unlike the steroids of the 90's which were legal.
Socal are you saying that Ruth should not be recognized for what he accomplished because he was know to drink beer when it was illegal? Did the Beer make him a stronger person? Does Beer and alcohol make a person stronger, sharpen their reflexes?
How about telling everyone how many people worked for Ruth to help keep him in shape to play the game and then compare it to what Bonds has. Where were the training machines in the 20's?
When you think about the times and the mindset of Ruth it is amazing that he was even able to play the game. A person with the training of Ruth wouldn't be allowed to play legion baseball, let along play major league baseball. If you compare education then Bonds would of course win hands down except for the fact that he knew that drugs are not good for the body and he took them anyway.
When Bonds stands up and defends his name and proves the accusers are all liars then and only then will he be worthy of his accomplishments.
All content fictional. Content of hot dogs includes red dye #2, belly button lint, deoxyribose nucleic acids and mouse droppings (less than 1% by weight, not volume).
Con Chapman is a Boston-area writer. He is the author of "The Year of the Gerbil: How the Yankees Won (and the Red Sox Lost) the Greatest Pennant Race Ever," a history of the 1978 AL East pennant race, and a number of plays, including "Number One Hockey Mom," "Please, Pope," and "What Mickey Belle Isle Told You," a trilogy about hockey (JAC Publishing). His work is available on Amazon Shorts (at 49 cents a dowload), and he writes on sports for Flak Magazine.
