Maris, the Yankees "home run hitting right fielder," hit 39 homers in 1960, good enough to win the HR title and beat Mickey Mantle for the AL MVP.
It was the NEXT year, 1961, that Maris hit 61 homers, a stat that would turn out to be the first of several home run records with an asterisk next to it. He beat out Mickey Mantle again for the MVP award.
So a half-century before steroids we had tobacco. And a half century before that, athletes actually used things like nitroglycerine, strychnine, brandy, coffee, and even opium.
I would agree that PEDs are a problem, but considering the next generation will have to figure out what to do with a cyberkinetic athlete who pole vaults 35 feet, I'm not too concerned right now.
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