Updated: Jan 10, 2006, 12:01 PM

Vote: Has baseball left steroids in the past?


 Barry Bonds
Barry Bonds needs 48 home runs to break Hank Aaron's record.
Even as baseball attempts to distance itself from a connection with inflated home run totals and bloated sluggers, it faces a year-long national reminder of the controversy as perhaps the game's most hallowed record prepares to change hands.

Baseball spent much of 2005 trying to toughen its drug policy to meet the demands of both baseball fans and legislators in Congress. The initial policy resulted in Rafael Palmeiro's suspension last summer, but it wasn't viewed as tough enough, especially on first-time offenders. The current policy, announced after the season, has a 50-game suspension for a first positive test and a lifetime ban after a third positive test.

But will fans be able to put the issue behind them while watching Barry Bonds chase Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs? Bonds has never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, but his role in the BALCO case and monstrous offensive numbers put him squarely at the center of the controversy.

As he comes back from an injury-plagued 2005 season and looks to make a run at history, will fans view him as a legend or merely the face of an era they'd like to forget?
  • 1) What is the biggest problem facing MLB at the moment?
  • 2) Do you feel baseball owners and executives are entirely committed to ridding the game of performance-enhancing drugs, even if it means a decrease in home runs and scoring?
  • 3) Do you feel the new policy on performance-enhancing drugs is enough to effectively remove the problem from the sport?
  • 4) Will a big-name player be suspended for 50 games after an initial positive test this season?
  • 5) When do you think the first player will be banned for life following a third positive test?
  • 6) How confident are you that this season's home run leaders will be clean?
  • 7) Barry Bonds opens the season 48 home runs short of breaking Hank Aaron's record for career home runs. When will he break the record?
  • 8) How do you feel about Barry Bonds' pursuit of Aaron's record of 755 home runs?
  • 9) If Bonds ties or breaks the record on the road, how do you think the crowd will react?
  • 10) Who do you consider baseball's single-season home run leader?
  • 11) Do you consider Bonds one of the five best hitters in the history of the game?
  • 12) If Bonds doesn't bounce back with a big year in 2006, to what will you most attribute his decline?

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