Aaron will never need an asterisk

Hank Aaron is an honest man making an honest living among the most stereotypically dishonest associates in the world.

On the ladder of trustworthy professionals, car salesmen rank slightly higher these days with the general public than baseball power hitters. Should Aaron get bored with his entrepreneurial pursuits in the automotive dealership industry, the next logical progression should be either politician or journalist - since law school doesn't seem like a viable option at age 71.

Aaron was in Augusta on Thursday, where his good name is peddling high-end Jaguars and Land Rovers on Washington Road in Evans. In a 24-year major-league career, Aaron only represented two cities - Atlanta and Milwaukee. His expanding auto empire includes the likes of BMW, Honda, Toyota and those trendy little Mini Coopers.

"I want to sell cars," he said, distancing himself from the dirt now tarnishing his former field.

No matter what he does, Aaron will always be the king of one thing - home runs. As far as I'm concerned, Aaron's 755 round-trippers will remain the enduring standard. He is a natural wonder of the world - which can't be said for any of these modern mammoths who chemically altered their gifts from God.

It doesn't matter if you believe Jose Canseco when he ratted out fellow steroid users on 60 Minutes as he promoted in his new best-selling book - Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball got Big. Just believe your eyes.

Even without the dubious testimony of Canseco, there is more circumstantial evidence indicting baseball for steroid abuse than there ever was to convict Scott Peterson of murdering his pregnant wife.

There is no other way to explain the dramatic rise in power production by even the most ordinary players of this era. What a player like Aaron achieved through hard work and a quick bat can sadly be brushed aside with artificial supplements and a quick prick of the syringe.

Baseball - the idiotic organization that once attached an asterisk to Roger Maris' single-season home run record because they changed the rules - is a sham. Bud Selig and his cronies closed their eyes to the obvious abuses and ruined the credibility of every new edition of the Baseball Encyclopedia.

The deeds registered by Barry Bonds* and Mark McGwire* and Sammy Sosa* are far bigger works of fiction than Canseco's questionable tome. If you don't believe that, let me tell you about these WMDs that are lying around somewhere in Mesopotamia.

Nothing can fix this permanent stain on baseball's legitimacy. The genie has been let out of the pill bottle and can never be put back in. We'll never know how good Bonds* or McGwire* could have been without the sluggers' little helpers, just as we'll never know how good Aaron and Babe Ruth might have been with them.

It's ridiculous to speculate what kind of numbers the legitimate heroes of the past might have produced if they'd been juiced. I like to believe that given the option, honest athletes such as Aaron would have balked before cheating.

But it's reasonable to speculate what kind of numbers Aaron might have produced if he didn't have to deal with the bigotry and the death threats and the negative pressure that his quest to overtake Ruth generated. Just as it's reasonable to speculate what kind of numbers Ruth himself might have generated if he hadn't embraced so many performance inhibiting habits.

Aaron never enjoyed the same kind of support from the commissioner's office that Bonds* and McGwire* received. Bowie Kuhn didn't even bother to show up at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on April 8, 1974, to witness Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run off Al Downing in the fourth inning. It took 25 years for the league to appropriately recognize and appreciate Aaron's greatness.

Selig, on the other hand, has been a staunch enabler of the steroid abuse that has ruined the integrity of the game. He only reluctantly implemented a new drug policy for the upcoming season that pales in scope to the way other sports have tried to regulate trust in their ranks.

I'm not naive enough anymore to believe that justice will be served for the juicers. As a nation, we no longer hold people accountable for their lies and deceptions. We validate them with votes of approval and perpetuate the practices.

There's no doubt that in the very near future that Bonds* will pass Aaron's 755 with a number that will be about as legitimate as Ben Johnson's 9.79 in the 100 meters at the Seoul Olympics. Aaron doesn't intend to be a part of the fictitious ceremony.

Bonds* will raise the bar that only another 'roided up superstar will ever be able to touch - just as McGwire* did before him.

For those of us lucky to be old enough to have been called out of bed in their pajamas to see Aaron's historic blast sail over the fence in left center field almost 31 years ago, we can live comfortably knowing that we witnessed the last moment of legitimate slugging achievement.

Bonds* - whose talent might have been good enough to stand with Aaron and Ruth without the sauce - will some day take his ill-gotten rewards into a bitter retirement. Few will miss him.

But Aaron will always have one thing over him. If Bonds'* chemically-enhanced body manages to hold up more than 70 years, I can guarantee you that I will never buy a car from him.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.