Hank Aaron Juiced?!?!

This may just be getting out of hand. Protrade, an online sports equipment journal, has suggested that perhaps Hammerin' Hank Aaron, the current MLB home run record holder, may have used performance enhancing drugs during his career. As you know, Barry Bonds is expected to break Hank Aaron's home run record sometime this summer(he is currently at number 750), much to the dismay of MLB and baseball purists everywhere because of Bonds' suspected use of the drugs. Former MLB pitcher Tom House is quoted as saying that steroids, amphetamines, and HGH were rampant in baseball, even back in the 60's & 70's. In addition to the quotes by House, Protrade also does a statistical analysis of Hank Aaron's home run numbers during this time and found an impressive spike between the age of 36 and 40. A similar late career spike in home runs is one reason why Bonds has been so mercilessly pursued in relation to baseballs steroid scandal.

The San Francisco Chronicle, in a May 3rd 2005 article quoted former Major League pitcher Tom House of the Atlanta Braves as saying that steroids were rampant in the game in the late '60s and throughout the '70s.

House, perhaps best known for catching Hank Aaron's 715th home run ball in 1974 in the Atlanta Braves bullpen, said he and several teammates used amphetamines, human growth hormone and 'whatever steroid' they could find in order to keep up with the competition.

"I pretty much popped everything cold turkey', House said. "We were doing steroids they wouldn't give to horses. That was the '60s when nobody knew. The good thing is, we know now. There's a lot more research and understanding."

House, 58, estimated that six or seven pitchers per team were at least experimenting with steroids or human growth hormone. He said players talked about losing to opponents using more effective drugs,

"We didn't get beat, we got out-milligrammed", he said. "And when you found out what they were taking, you started taking them".

According to Rep. Henry A. Waxman in his March 17,2005 opening statement before the House Government Reform Committee:

"Congress first investigated drugs and professional sports, including steroids over 30 years ago. I think perhaps the only two people in the room who will remember this are me and Commissioner Selig, because I believe he became owner in 1970".

In 1973, the year I first ran for Congress, the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce concluded a year-long investigation that found--and I quote--"drug use exists...in all sports and levels of competition...In some instances, the danger of improper drug use--primarily amphetamines and anabolic steroids--can only be described as alarming". Bowie Kuhn, and the powers that be at the time, quietly squashed the entire tawdry episode and with good reason: it would cast suspicions on an African-American slugger who was challenging one of baseball's most cherished records: The career record for home runs.

Compare Hank Aaron's stats at the beginning of his career and then notice how his HR% began to increase beginning when Hammerin' Hank was 37 years old.

HR% is defined as being the number of HRs per 100 ABs.

Age HRs HR%
33 44 7.3
34 39 6.5
35 29 4.8

Nothing unusual about these statistics; it is a typical profile of a slugger in decline as he ages. But then Hank began to undergo an 'enhancement.'

Age HRs HR%
36 44 8.0
37 38 7.4

What explains this spike at a latter age? Expansion? Perhaps. But then what happens?

Age HRs HR%
38 47 9.5
39 34 7.6

Hank...What's going on buddy? Aaron's HR% were TOPS in the NL in both 1971 and 1972. Hmm.

Age HRs HR%
40 40 10.2

Which leads us to 1973 when at age 40 in just 392 at bats, juiced 40 HR's for a HR% of 10.2. Once again TOPS in NL for the THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR and the HIGHEST HR% in the ENTIRE 23 year career of Hank Aaron.

Hank Aaron at 40 was not the only Atlanta Brave to hit 40 Hrs that season. Teammates Darrell Evans and Davey Johnson blasted 41 and 43 HRs respectively.
Darrell Evans

Year HRs HR%
1971 12 4.6
1972 19 4.5
1973 41 6.9
1974 25 4.4
1975 22 2.8

Notice a statistical anomaly? Let's see what Davey Johnson did.
Davey Johnson

Year HRs HR%
1971 18 3.5
1972 5 1.3
1973 43 7.7
1974 15 3.3
1975 Played 1 game
1976 Did not play MLB

Notice a statistical anomaly? It would be one thing for Hank Aaron to undergo an 'enhancement', but what are the odds that not one but TWO teammates would both have career years in HR's and HR% in the SAME YEAR as when a Congressional Committee issued its final report saying that anabolic steroids were rampant in the game? Why did Darrell Evans and Davey Johnson both experience career spikes in HR's only to return to earth the following year? And how did Hank finish up?

Age HRs HR%
41 20 5.9
42 12 2.6
43 10 3.7

So what happened? Enquiring minds want to know.

The 1996 Baltimore Orioles set at the time the team HR record for one season. Brady Anderson's 50 HR season was viewed suspiciously.

The manager of the 1996 Baltimore Orioles? Davey Johnson.

The only question remains: What did Bud Selig know and when did he know it?

Fay Vincent circulated a draft steroids policy in 1991. Selig knew that if the scab of steroids was picked off, the puss of the 1973 Atlanta Braves would be oozing all over the game. The scandal of Hank Aaron's HR record being tainted by steroids use would have been a PR disaster at the time and. personally, extremely painful to Bud Selig who, after all, is a long-time friend of Hank Aaron.

Hence the boardroom coup which ousted Fay Vincent and made Bud Selig 'Acting Commissioner', while still maintaining his position as the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, a blatant conflict of interest.

So long as Bud Selig remains in charge of Major League Baseball, the American public will never get to the bottom of the steroids scandal which has sullied the game. He has too much of a personal vested interest in Hank Aaron.

Besides, after this season, Barry Lamar Bonds will BE the HR KING.

Perhaps even more alarming is the statement by Rep. Henry A. Waxman in 2005 that Congress investigated the link between professional sports and drugs in 1973 and the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce found "drug use exists...in all sports and levels of competition...In some instances, the danger of improper drug use--primarily amphetamines and anabolic steroids--can only be described as alarming." This is especially interesting since Bud Selig became an owner in 1970(and acting commissioner in 1992), yet continued to ignore the drug problem in the league until just a few years ago. According to Protrade, former Commissioner Fay Vincent was apparently aware of the growing steroids problem as he actually proposed a steroids policy in 1991. After becoming commissioner, Selig claimed ignorance through much of the 1990's before finally giving into pressure from the media and public and implemented a drug testing policy in 2002. Even by conservative estimates, the drug problem in baseball was out of hand at least 5 years prior to this, but if the reports are true, Selig waited nearly 30 years from the time he likely became aware of the growing problem of performance enhancing drugs in baseball and other sports.

We'll have to see what, if anything comes out of this. I'm certainly not going to assume everything in this report is true just because I read it on the interwebs, but it is an interesting story nontheless.