Facts and Opinions.

10) Who do you consider baseball's single-season home run leader?

-- Barry Bonds (73 in 2001)
-- Mark McGwire (70 in 1998)
-- Sammy Sosa (66 in 1998)
-- Roger Maris (61 in 1961)
-- Babe Ruth (60 in 1927 )

The question itself is completely invalid. Barry Bonds is baseball's single-season homerun leader. It's not an opinion, it's a fact. The U.S. has fifty states and 2 + 2 = 4. I'm sure I couldn't get 100% agreement if I adminstered a poll on ESPN.com, but that doesn't change the facts.

I understand what they're getting at, though. They're questioning the validity of the steroids-enhanced homerun hitters. They're really asking, "Which feat do you consider most impressive?" Which is an opinion.

So, pretending the ESPN readers were answering the amended question, their opinions are as follows:

50.4% Roger Maris (61 in 1961)
31.6% Barry Bonds (73 in 2001)
8.3% Mark McGwire (70 in 1998)
8.0% Babe Ruth (60 in 1927)
1.7% Sammy Sosa (66 in 1998)

Let's just say that choice is ironic, considering the fact that Maris was ripped to shreds at the time. 162-game season, short porch, Mantle providing protection, no intentional walks, etc. The mythical asterisk next to his name in the record books.

Which is why I really hate the question in the first place. Why stop with Maris's 1961 season?

I'm more "impressed" with Jimmie Foxx's 50 in 1938 when the fences were 700 feet from home plate and the ball was dead. I'm more "impressed" with George Foster's 52 in 1977 when nobody else had more than 41. I might even be more "impressed" with Brady Anderson's 50 in 1996 even though he was probably on steroids and played in a small ballpark.

Brady Anderson was a leadoff hitter, what do you think about that? A leadoff hitter hitting 50 homeruns. He should be the single-season homerun leader!

Or maybe not. I'd have to think about it. It seems like pretty silly criteria and maybe my opinion is kind of dumb.

But it's not up to me to decide who has the most homeruns in a single season of baseball. That is a fact which is decided by a cold, hard, unemotional, unopinionated ledger. A homerun is hit, a notch goes next to the name of the man who hit it.