Hank Aaron

[BuckFoston]

Now before Bonds broke the HR record* I was wondering if you guys think Aaron's record should have had an asterik next to it. Here are some reasons...

• Babe Ruth had 8,398 AB's while Hank Aaron had 12,346. Aaron had a total of 3,948 more AB's then Ruth did.

• Aaron played in 23 seasons, Ruth played in 22.

• Ruth played in 2,503 games, Aaron played in, 3,298 games.

• Fences were deeper when Ruth played rather then when Aaron played.

[GiantsFanatic]

Hank Aaron* also played in a era where everyone used speed.

Babe Ruth* also did not play against any minorities, he also used a cork bat.

[General]

So it's between Willie Mays and Sammy Sosa then?

[browntown653]

Sammy Sosa* used a corked bat.

Hey, guess Willie Mays is the all time HR king!

[love_that_reefer]

No more ***!!! Its dumb and not needed. We don't need them to know Bonds is under a steroid cloud and that Hank played in more game and Babe played against construction workers and no minorities. Baseball fans already know this.

[ability]

An asterisk can only be used when the record in question was achieved in a unusual/illegal manner. Maris got screwed for so long because the old timers couldn't stand to see Ruth's legend be diminished in ANY WAY, so they hammered home the "more at bats" thing until the '*' was slapped on it. Slapping a qualification on someone because of natural changes in the game is kind of silly. If anything it just shows how insane Ruth's career was overall. To be so high on so many lists while playing less is pretty ridiculous. Would his stats have been as good if he had to hit against the best black and latino pitchers like todays hitters have to? No. Thats why everything HAS to be era specific. There are normalized stats that have been found that level the playing field to give everyone a better idea of a players historical quality by taking the era, ballparks and everything else into consideration. But I'm just rambling now: No '*' for anyone unless Bonds is PROVEN to have taken steroids, which will be pretty damn hard to do.