Albert Pujols Doesn't Run On Juice

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

I’m thinking about burying any credibility I have.

I have the shovel in one hand and my self-written obituary in the other.

I am taking a stand.

I believe that Albert Pujols’ home run streak is the real deal, and not tainted through the use steroids or any type of performance enhancers like HGH.

Pujols currently has 30 home runs in 2009 and according to MLB.com, is on pace to get 62 home runs by the end of the season. Not enough to catch the current single-season home run leader, but enough to surpass the real record.

The last time an MLB player passed 60 home runs in a single season was Barry Bonds, 72, and Sammy Sosa, 62, in 2001. Both these men have been linked to steroids and are the faces for the steroid era.

This is why it is so hard to believe that any player who overachieves in the post-steroid era is not influenced by performance enhancers. The game has such a dark cloud over the players the public once loved.

Go back to 1998, to the famous “Home Run Chase” between Mark McGuire and Sosa.

As a young child, I remember sitting with my father in front of the television, watching those two players just compete. Night after night. Homer after homer. Just to see if it was either McGuire or Sosa surpassing Roger Marris’ home run record of 61.

My father and I personally were rooting for Sosa to win.

It was McGuire who eventually won with 65 home runs for the season and the heart of Americans.

What a difference a decade makes.

Now, The New York Times reported on June 16 that Sosa is one of the 103 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 and McGuire still tells Congress that he doesn’t want to talk about the past.

We thought we witnessed history, not forgery.

Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Jason Giambi were once proud players who people trusted to be the best. Instead, they are the faces of the steroid era. The trust that once existed between these baseball giants and the fans who pay their salaries is broken. They are no more than Luchadors who lost their masks.

Can it be repaired? Yes and No.

No, because it only takes one blog to damage a baseball player’s image.

Back in 2006, a blog written by Will Feitch, columnist and former contributor to The New York Times and GQ, suggested that he had “80 percent” faith in a source who said a Kansas City-based strength and conditioning coach was on the redacted names in the Jason Grimsley report.

“Does (the trainer's) name sound familiar?” Leitch wrote. “If it doesn't, he—and we assure you, this gives us no pleasure to write this—has been Albert Pujols’ personal trainer since before Pujols was drafted by the Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 draft.”

A photo of Pujols was included in the blog.

The problem with the blog is, the trainer’s name wasn’t found anywhere in the report.

People outside the sports blog-a-sphere brought attention to the claim, including Keith Olbermann, who ran the story in his MSNBC “Countdown” program.

Pujols, shocked by the report, threatened legal action against Leitch and media outlets that published this information. Leitch later retracted this blog and wrote a correction entitled “A Deeply Regrettable Wrong,” apologizing the trainer and Pujols.

That is the world we live in.

So, can it be repaired?

Yes, because of the new intense steroid policy that MLB has instituted.

According to MLB, since 2004 the new steroid policy has seen 43 player suspensions for performance-enhancing drug use, including Manny Ramirez of the Los Angeles Dodgers, formally of the Boston Red Sox.

The new policy tests players for various steroids and other drugs. The policy has given the sport a cleaner image, but not without criticism. The system doesn’t institute blood testing, which is the only way to detect human growth hormones.

Good first step for a long journey for baseball to get a clean image. Thanks to Giambi, Bonds, and Sosa, we have to wonder if the numbers we see are legit.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?