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October 6, 2008 10:15:23 AM CDT

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Baseball Finally Back to Normal

Posted May 23, 08 10:42 AM CDT in Sports 

(Newser) – After over a decade of chemical-fueled insanity, baseball is back to normal, writes Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post. Home run totals are down 10.4% this spring, after an 8% drop last year. The sport is on pace to return to the century-old statistical norms ripped to shreds by the steroid era. “I think this is a good thing,” said Orioles prez Andy MacPhail. “It’s more like baseball.”

Since 1997, the average home run champ has hit 53 dingers, a feat matched by only three players in the preceding 35 years. This year’s AL leaders are on pace for 38. “A ‘cold spring’ doesn’t account for an almost 20% drop in two years,” says MacPhail. Increased steroid testing is taming some once ludicrous numbers. “Just say that guys look like ballplayers again,” said a Nationals coach.

Source Washington Post

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San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds hits his 756th career home run in the fifth inning of their baseball game against the Washington Nationals in San Francisco, in this Aug. 7, 2007, file photo.   (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez,file)
San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds waits before his at-bat in the second inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres, in this Sept. 15, 2007 file photo, in San Diego.   (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)
Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle would have been lousy home run hitters by steroid era standards.   (Archive Photos)
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MLB  • baseball  • steroids  • performance-enhancing drugs  • home run  • statistics


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