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NEW NAMES

Chad Allen
Mike Bell
Gary Bennett
Larry Bigbie
Kevin Brown
Alex Cabrera
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Chris Donnels
Matt Franco
Eric Gagne
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Todd Hundley
Mike Judd
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
Daniel Naulty
Denny Neagle
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Armando Rios
Brian Roberts
F.P. Santangelo
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Ismael Valdez
Mo Vaughn
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Jeff Williams
Matt Williams
Todd Williams
Steve Woodard
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

PREVIOUSLY LINKED

Manny Alexander
Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Ricky Bones
Paul Byrd
Jose Canseco
Paxton Crawford
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Ryan Franklin
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Juan Gonzalez
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Darren Holmes
Ryan Jorgensen
Gary Matthews Jr.
Rafael Palmeiro
John Rocker
Benito Santiago
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Gary Sheffield
Randy Velarde

One name conspicuously absent, George Herman Ruth, aka, The Prince of Pounders, aka, The Wazir of Wham. Odd, but true, that moon faced visage looms ever larger when power hitting is mentioned. There was no one like him. He was sui generis, indeed the ne plus ultra of the long ball. The reality of Ruth’s accomplishments are an interesting sidebar to this discussion of performance enhancing drugs. Lest we forget, his last major League hit was that terrific home run (his third of the day) over that 86 foot high roof to right at Forbes Field. He was the first to hit 30, 40, 50, and 60 home runs in a season. His 714 career homers were accomplished in nearly 4,000 fewer at bats than Aaron. When he hit 60 in 1927 his homer count exceeded the entire roster of the Philadelphia Athletics whose line up included Al Simmons, Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Cochran. He had a winning record as a pitcher against Walter Johnson. He stole home more often than Lou Brock. He was 3-0 as a pitcher in World Series play. He pitched a complete game and won at the age of 38 in 1933. He hit a fungo 447 feet. He even won a distance hitting contest after he retired (he bested Johnny Mize). The fact is that he would have excelled in any setting and against any competition. True, he didn’t play on a regular basis against the great black players of his era. But he did play against them. According to William Jenkinson Ruth played against Negro League All-Stars across the United States and Cuba in fall barnstorming tours. In his 55 at bats against the great black pitchers Ruth connected for 25 base hits and blasted 12 home runs. That works out to a batting average of over .400 and a slugging average of over 1.000. He simply would have excelled in any format and in any setting. He was playing 200 games a year at St. Mary’s Industrial School as a teen. He was probably the best ballplayer in the world at the age of nineteen. Long live the memory of The Babe!