And while yes, MLB does take urine samples, they don’t don’t keep them for further testing as far as I understand. I don’t think under the current agreement that they are allowed to.

I’ve heard people who sound very well educated both dismiss and confirm the benefits of steroids and HGH, I’m not qualified to comment and I do not have specific reports to cite here. But keep in mind, it would only take the slightest increase in muscle responsiveness to aid a hitter to get around on a fastball to drastically increase the power numbers of many hitters.

Not to mention, that I know what I see, namely players bulk , hat size and power increasing drastically as a result of these incredible “workout regimens”, a period in which records were rewritten like never before, and then, POOF! the numbers dropping, the players shrinking, coincidentally at the same time of a crackdown on PED’s… Bonds takes a year off when they start testing… he used the cream but didn’t know what it was… sheesh…

I think it is equally incorrect to say “Bonds absolutely won the record cleanly” as it is to say “Bonds absolutely cheated and does not hold the record.” There is controversy, discussion, and disagreement. But branding the ball doesn’t contribute anything to it, it’s just a giant sensationalist empty gesture.

We’re pretty sure that Bonds used PED’s, but again, unless anyone here has actually used them, I don’t think any of us can say for sure what the impact of that is. Moreover, we do know for certain that pitchers use PED’s, and although that doesn’t exonerate Bonds, it certainly muddies the waters.

It’s also worth noting that for all the attention HGH has gotten, the indication is that it really doesn’t help much with performance enhancement, unless you define enhancement as “enlarged testicles and increased health risks.”

That said, to respond to your assertion that MLB should just keep blood and urine from the players, well, they already do keep the urine tests, and it’s not so easy to just draw blood from someone. For one, I’m fairly certain it requires legal consent (though I’m not positive on that). I do know that in MLB’s case, it needs to be collectively bargained, and you’re going to have a hard time getting players to submit to getting blood drawn a couple times a year.

It’s really not as easy as just doing it. There are all kinds of legal complications involved, and baseball has, perhaps in spite of itself, done a better job of moving forward than any other sport in this country.

Look, I’d be fine with allowing players to put whatever they want into their bodies. But that is not what the rules are. Personally, I think everybody involved, MLB and the player’s union does not wan’t to see performance enhancing drugs removed from the sport.

To use the fact that there is no test available for HGH is bunk.

Simply take blood and urine samples from every player, freeze them, and give MLB the rights to test the samples whenever a procedure is developed that can accurately detect the presence of any banned substance..This isn’t perfect, but it would go a long way towards making some players stop and think before they use a substance. A lot of these guys care a lot about their legacies, not all but a lot.

As far as your last point, whether the ball is branded or not, it will be shrouded in controversy. What would be an affront to me would be a ball on display for a record so hotly contested with NO mention of the controversy. The ball exists, the controversy exists, largely due to the inactivity of MLB (and ALL sports in the US). Let it all be on display…

I was an A student and I didn’t cheat because I knew that the teachers were looking for it, and as such, no one else cheated.

But if the teachers just gave us the test and left the room, and everyone else was cheating, and no one ever got caught, well then I would have cheated everyway possible.

Not to mention that Bonds has never tested positive.

Baseball has made and continues to make a lot of mistakes, but the one thing you can say is that it has the toughest PED testing policy in US professional sports.

Branding this ball wouldn’t be an affront to Selig (who did that ridiculous stand-but-not-clap thing when Bonds hit 755). It would be an affront to fans who want to form their own opinions rather than accept Marc Ecko’s.