There are 3 era's and 3 record holders:
In many regards Babe Ruth is the Greatest HR hitter ever. He was hitting more home runs in a season than some other teams. He dominated a dead ball era in a huge ballpark. Cons are he did not play against integrated african american and latin american players.
Hank Aaron - a point not often discussed was he spent his career in bandboxes. Heck- it was great weather in aplace they called "the launching pad" That skewed his numbers some. And he kinda validates Bonds late career. Read that Aaron hit more home runs 35-40 than any other 5 year span in his career...... Bonds only once hit greater than 50 home runs. Aaron was never the best player of his era. The 50's was Williams, Musial, Mantle and Willie Mays.
Bonds - 7 Time MVP and career gold glover. Over time the greatest player of past 25 years and that's almost not even debatable. He broke Aaron's record with what 3,000 less at bats. He has shattered all walk records and intentional walks. Heck he had a season with 220+- intentional walks.
And for majority of his career he played in Pitts and Candlestick which were Home run killer parks then.
Even at age 43 during this chase pitchers won't throw him strikes. And when they do he invariably blasts it out of park. He's going to get 800 dingers and 3,000 hits next season. He was part of a bad era in baseball and probably is wrapped up with the other 50-75% that enhaced their performance in that era. To me it mitigates the record, but to me I see one of the top 5 hitters that has ever played this game. That swing is sweet, and his plate discipline is amazing.
And attendance and ratings are at record heights. Bonds, McGuire, Sosa gave everyone what they wanted. Baseball is trying to wash their hands now. Fact is Bonds never failed any tests and hence never broke any enforceable rules.
Bitter Irony Mr. Selig I say.
