Bonds was always a good player and hitter. No one can question that the man could always hit the ball well.

However, steroid abuse has made him a more powerful hitter and has also allowed him to keep his strength up later in his life. Average human beings begin to start to lose absolute muscular strength and muscle tissue after the age of 25. The process is usually so slow, that most people cannot really tell the difference. The process is magnified, however, in individuals of elite performance capacity. These individuals can definately delay the process with proper weight training, but usually once even the most elite of athletes has reached their mid-thirties, their strength and even more so their power, is not what it used to be.

So, in short, steroids may not effect Barry's ability to make contact with a pitch, but it effects the contact of said pitch. He could always hit, but with the added hormones, he can now hit the ball harder and more consistantly. His work capacity is higher,and he is able to hit more effectively each and every day he goes out. He is stronger, more powerful, and less likely to fatigue as quickly as a normal near 40-yr-old hitter. He can more effectively use his hitter's vision and reaction speed due to the fact that his body is more capable of handling the day to day, pitch to pitch hitting demands.

Steroids have helped him. We are not talking about his inate ability to make contact with a pitch - his vision - but rather his ability to make powerful contact, continue playing at an elite level well later than most, and keep is muscular strength and work capacity high.

So, what is to be said about Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson. How is it that they are able to maintain there powerful pitching arms into their 40's?

I understand what you're saying Stripe.

There is a distinct possibility of abuse with those athletes as well, though less likely with Johnson due to his physic.

Again, I have plenty of experience with this, and to add to it, Bonds has already admitted to unknowingly abused steroids. These drugs are incredibly effective when in comes to increasing strength and power, and that goes for baseball, football, basketball, hockey, weightlifting, wrestling, etc, etc, etc.

It is definately an advantage. Some players can certainly play well into their thirties and at a high level. There are always exceptions. But to the point whether or not steroids can help a baseball player play at a higher level, there is no question that that is the case.

I hear you. But, when over 50% of the players are taking them, how much can it really help, as Conte said "It's not cheating if everyone is doing it." All I am saying is that we need to give Barry a break, let it go. He did it, he admitted it, even if he lies about not knowing they were steriods, he still admitted to taking them. There is a much bigger issue to deal with, within MLB, beside's Barry breaking records.

In 1999, Barry Bonds was already a Hall of Fame player. He had won three MVPs, and should have had a fourth. He hit .300 and averaged 36 homers a year in the '90s. He is such an intelligent hitter that teammates claim he knows every pitch that's coming, he's reduced the strike zone to the size of a nickel, and in the 21st Century has batted .306, .328, .370, .341 and .362, with on-base percentages of .440, .515. .582, .529 and .609. That's not chemical, that's simple greatness. But, where he averaged 36 homers a year in his prime, he's averaged 52 a year in five years theoretically past his prime. WFAN's Christopher Russo interviewed a home run distance expert who claimed that prior to 2000, Bonds hit three homers longer than 450 feet; in the last five years, he has hit 26.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1938586

a hah! I guess good ol' Pete was listening to the same thing I was the other day. My mistake for misquoting the guy in the thread I started.........

Now will I get an apology from those who accused me of "making it up?"