Coach--What I wrote about Mays and Aaron and Schmidt IS STRAIGHT FROM THE ARTICLE that you quoted as proving that those guys benefited from PEDs. In quoting it all back to me, you only reinforce the points:
(1) Mays denied use of even amphetamines. That is what the article says. Why doubt him? Are we really so jaded that we cannot take him at his word? What has Willie Mays ever said or done that leads us to believe he is a liar?
(2) Aaron apparently told someone once that he used amphetamines once. That is what the article says. Again, do we not take him at his word, assuming he actually admitted even this? One such use could have helped, if at all, in one game--even if a three homer game, it does not detract much from his overall numbers.
(3) Schmidt told Costas he WOULD have used if playing in the steroid era. Then in his book wrote that he would not have. In any case, HE DID NOT. Who knows, really, if he would have? And if he had, would he now have more homeruns than Ruth? Aaron? Bonds?
We have no idea what any of these men actually did or would have done had they played in a different era. We know what Mays tells us--and we have to either believe him or not. I see no reason not to take him at his word. Same with Aaron, Schmidt, and, I am sure, Williams, Gehrig, Ruth, DiMaggio, Cobb and all the other greats of the past.
Now, would Ruth have used steroids if playing in the 1990s? Lord knows. If he had, he would have probably topped 90 HRs per season for as long as he used them. Think about how little care he took of his health. Given today's training, PEDs, conditioning and so forth, he may have hit 100 or more per year. Williams? Wow. What would his numbers be? .400 may have been routine for him, along with 800 career HRs (and that assumes loss of critical years to USMC service). All of that is speculation, in any case.
What we know is that Bonds, Sosa, Ramirez and others all used steroids and/or HGH and, therefore, their numbers are suspect and they are CHEATERS.