Debate over Bonds doesn't say if steroids actually

[Junkyard Dog]

Debate over Bonds doesn't say if steroids actually work
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Barry Bonds' early season homer drought and reports of a federal investigation into his grand jury testimony have added more fuel to the steroid debate. But thus far, the debate has been curiously short on facts regarding whether steroids actually work.

Simply because players use them doesn't mean they work. Players still try using corked bats and baseball has banned them, even though the laws of physics say no net benefit is possible - because any bat speed gained is erased by loss of bat mass.

There is not a single medical study that proves any benefit from steroid use that translates to hitting a baseball. There's not even "a shred" of evidence, according to Art De Vany, professor emeritus of economics at the University of California (Irvine).

It is true that homers last year were at their lowest levels since the supposedly great Steroids Summer of 1998. But last year's total was almost identical to 2002. And the approximately 10 percent decline from the homer-happiest years of recent time (i.e., the steroid years) is actually less variance than noted in every decade since the dead ball, even after adjusting for expansion.

De Vany wrote a recent study on the issue and explains that Bonds didn't exceed his average homer year when he blasted 73 anymore than Roger Maris did when he hit 61. De Vany adds that large swings in individual homer proficiency should be expected because hitting home runs is a form of genius at work. We have no trouble accepting that artists have tremendous variation between their handful of best works and their remaining catalog. So, De Vany says, we should accept similar variation in the best years of our best athletes.

What about three guys (Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa) all breaking Maris' long-standing record over a few seasons? Perhaps a mere statistical anomaly. You wouldn't expect to roll the same number in dice three times in a row, either; but if you roll them bones often enough, it will surely happen.

Players presumed to take steroids did not hit the ball farther than players of the past. Mickey Mantle still has the longest recorded homer in history, which he hit in 1953 (506 feet, wind aided).

As for Bonds' age when he dramatically increased his homer rates, that, too, is not unprecedented. In fact, Hank Aaron's three best years in percentage of hits that were homers occurred when he was age 37, 38 and 39.