Gosh, it seems as if only Ruth will ever be accepted

by TheRiddler Thu Jan 15, 2009 2:08 pm

as the single season HR leader.

1.	Barry Bonds* (36)	73	2001	L
2.	Mark McGwire (34)	70	1998	R
3.	Sammy Sosa (29)	66	1998	R
4.	Mark McGwire (35)	65	1999	R
5.	Sammy Sosa (32)	64	2001	R
6.	Sammy Sosa (30)	63	1999	R
7.	Roger Maris* (26)	61	1961	L
8.	Babe Ruth+* (32)	60	1927	L
9.	Babe Ruth+* (26)	59	1921	L

Ned Williamson’s 36 year season HR record somehow is discredited because his ball park was too small, too close to the wind, or some other fault existed with it in 1884.

Maris's record WAS, from 1962 until 1991, listed separately from Ruth's: Roger's as the standard for a 162-game season, Babe's for a 154-game schedule. This situation came about on July 17, 1961, when - with Maris (35) and teammate Mickey Mantle (33) threatening Ruth's record - Commissioner Ford Frick (a former ghost-writer for the Babe) made the following proclamation:

"Any player who may hit more than sixty home runs during his club's first 154 games would be recognized as having established a new record. However, if the player does not hit more than sixty until after his club has played 154 games, there would have to be some distinctive mark in the record books to show that Babe Ruth's record was set under a 154-game schedule and the total of more than sixty was compiled while a 162-game schedule was in effect.

His voice choked with emotion, his eyes nearly filled with tears, time after time he refused to answer the question everyone wanted to know: Did he take illegal steroids when he hit a then-record 70 home runs in 1998 -- or at any other time?
Asked by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., whether he was asserting his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, McGwire said: "I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to be positive about this subject."
Asked whether use of steroids was cheating, McGwire said: "That's not for me to determine."
To a couple of other questions, all he would say is: "I'm retired."

Et cetera = Bonds