Chris Davis has enjoyed a phenomenal first half of the season for the Baltimore Orioles, and his success has led to notoriety and scrutiny.
Davis, who has clubbed 37 home runs this season, recently responded to a Twitter user who asked if he was juicing by saying he was not. Davis also seemed to show an anti-PED stance when he said on ESPN Radio two weeks ago that he and many others consider Roger Maris to be the single-season home run king, not Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa, who all were believed to be using PEDs when they broke Maris’ record of 61 homers.
Apparently Davis was not speaking for Jose Bautista when he made that statement.
The Toronto Blue Jays outfielder, whose 54 home run season in 2010 subjected him to PED suspicion, told NBC Sports Radio’s “Kup & Schultz” on Sunday that he considers Bonds to be the single-season record holder.
“Well, I consider the home run record in baseball the one that is 73 home runs,” Bautista said on the show. “Until they manage to change that somehow, that’s the record. I’m sorry [Davis] feels a different way, but that’s just the way I feel.”
Davis is not the first person to refuse to acknowledge Bonds as the home run king because of PEDs, but technically Bautista is right. As of now, there is no asterisk next to Bonds’ name in the record book. Major League Baseball still recognizes him as the single-season home run record holder. If Davis keeps hitting homers at his current pace, he can take a shot at officially changing that.
