To figure out if the dimensions of Yankee Stadium helped Ruth amass his numbers you need to look at how many home runs per year were hit in each ball park. Just tracking road team home runs would help control for big slugging teams (like the Yankees of that era). Obviously at that point the home team's pitching efforts would have a large impact, but over a few decades that should even out.

Just because Ruth only hit 7 more home runs at home than on the road doesn't mean that the stadium wasn't designed for the long ball. It could just mean that Ruth would have otherwise hit less home runs at home. Bonds has hit more home runs on the road (375) than at home (371), though few would disagree that Pac Bell Park's design helps him.

Yes, Ruth slugged in an era of segregation. And Bonds is the undisputed champion of the Undetectable Substance Era. I won't try to compare the two as hitters right here, but I will mention one small difference: whatever drugs Bonds might've taken, he put them there. The Bambino didn't impose a whites-and-fair-skinned-Latins-only rule. He did the best he could with what he had (beer, hot dogs, raw talent) in the era in which he was born. Bonds, if the leaked grand jury testimony is to be believed, decided he was sick of his era leaving him behind, so he began a regimen of training that included steroids.

At least Ruth barnstormed against black teams. At this late stage, I don't know if Old Man Barry could bat clean even if he wanted to. And yes, Brady Anderson's 50-homer season is a more egregious violation of common sense than Barry's 73 in '01. A whole host of today's players have played hands they weren't dealt. But only one of them has carved up the record books in any meaningful way. I don't look at Barry as some churlish pariah, more like a churlish metaphor. Splitting hairs, yeah, but it works for me.

May I add that his act was pretty flagrant. I must also add that it amused me to no end. Like an old-timey version of the Reggie Evans sackgrab. Giving a putout to an unconscious man? I felt like we needed Bill Frist to give the ruling on the field.

I saw that play live. Even though I've been looking forward to a Reds shoutout for some time - King has essentially pointed at a phantom spot on my shirt just to flick me in the nose (well done). I watched the first few innings of the Reds game in question. In my opinion, and I'm sure that I've watched the play more than any other commentator on this subject, Freel caught the ball, maintained possesion during flight, maintained possession while his head and shoulder crashed into the warning track. Once he lost consciousness he relaxed his hand and the ball fell out. It should have been ruled a catch regardless of Hopper's actions. Also, it should be mentioned that it was frightening watching Ryan motionless on the ground for 15 minutes, it's a topic which I don't think should be taken very lightly.

Bonds. As a former left-handed hitter with some pop, I will always respect a lefty dropping bombs regardless of how juiced and synthetic they are. Crushing a ball into the night way over a right field fence is both a lot of fun to do and to watch. I will never question his ability. I will, and do, question him as a man. A man so flawed that he uses steroids, a man so flawed he cheats on his wife, a man so flawed he evades taxes. Does anyone remember, "Game of Shadows?" Bonds was so jealous of juicers Sosa and McGwire that he decided to juice his way back into the spotlight. This is made frighteningly apparent during a dinner at Ken Griffey Jr's house back in 1998. They discussed homerun hitting and steroids: Kenneth took the high road, Barry took the low road. Hundreds of homeruns later, I still deeply admire Ken's dedication to what is right, and I feel sorry for America that we have to celebrate Mr. Bonds's 'acheivement'. Feel free to cheer for the cheater. It's your right. I've decided not to. I've decided to cheer for the good guy. My favorite part of the Bonds/Griffey equation: "Griffey is a better natural baseball player"

I remain smug knowing that baseball's progeny will scorn Barry and revere Ken. Right is right.

It'll be interesting to see how MLB responds to this admission of cheating. I mean, the integrity of the game is what's most important, right? I see the following possibilities:

• Consider the game as being under protest, as if the Pirates had protested the game per rule 4.19, and replay the game from after the point of Cota's home run.
• Suspend and/or fine Hopper. Cheaters need to be punished, after all.

What do I think will happen? Nothing. Aww, those wacky ballplayers, always finding new ways to deceive the umpires for their own gain, the scamps. And after all, what happens in Cincinnati stays in Cincinnati, especially when it's not even broadcast locally.

Anyway, it's good to hear that Freel only had minor injuries, and is recovering. And maybe, just maybe, MLB will surprise me.

I've been thinking about how back in those Home Run Derby days, when Sosa and McGwire and Bonds were chasing after the single season HR record, the operative theory was that it was the ball that was juiced. And MLB denied, Denied, DENIED those rumors!

Don't know what that means exactly, but in retrospect, it does make me laugh.

It's not that Yankee stadium didn't help the Babe; it's that almost all AL parks at that time favored the lefty hitters, and heavily. The conclusion is that Yankee stadium helped the Babe about on par with the other AL parks of the day.

For example, Hank Greenberg, a righty hitter, hit significantly more HRs at home than on the road. Not because Tigers stadium favored the righty hitters, but because only Tigers stadium was fair to the righty, and even that favored the lefty.