A look at the major leagues’ all-time home run leaders

A look at the major leagues’ all-time home run leaders

Barry Bonds

Connection with drugs: According to grand-jury testimony, Bonds said he unknowingly used steroids “the cream” and “the clear” from BALCO, saying he believed one was an arthritis balm and the other was flaxseed oil.

Sammy Sosa

Connection with drugs: Testified in a congressional hearing that he never took performance-enhancing drugs and has never tested positive. Though he is often connected to baseball’s steroid era, he never has been convicted of possession, ingestion or distribution of steroids or a similar compound. However, he was caught with cork in his bat.

Mark McGwire

Connection with drugs: Admitted to using the steroid precursor androstenedione in 1998, but at the time it was not banned by baseball. In his book, “Juiced,” Jose Canseco wrote that he personally injected McGwire, a former Oakland Athletics teammate, with steroids. The slugger was also linked to a steroids dealer caught in an early-1990s FBI investigation, the New York Daily News reported. McGwire has denied using steroids, but in recent years has stayed out of the public eye.

Rafael Palmeiro

Connection with drugs: In March 2005, Palmeiro testified before a congressional committee that he had never used performance-enhancing drugs. A few months later, in August, he was suspended for 10 days after testing positive for the steroid stanozolol.

Alex Rodriguez

Connection with drugs: Sports Illustrated reported in February that Rodriguez had tested positive for the steroids testosterone and Primobolan in 2003, while playing for the Texas Rangers. He later admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to ’03. A just-released book by SI reporter Selena Roberts implies that Rodriguez may have started using steroids in high school.

Manny Ramirez

Connection with drugs: Suspended 50 games Thursday for violating baseball’s drug policy. Ramirez tested positive for the banned substance human chorionic gonadotropin, a baseball source said. HCG is used to stimulate testosterone production. Ramirez said the positive test was the result of a medication he was given by a physician.

*--* Rank Player Home Runs 1. Barry Bonds 762 2. Hank Aaron 755 3. Babe Ruth 714 4. Willie Mays 660 5. Ken Griffey Jr.* 613 6. Sammy Sosa 609 7. Frank Robinson 586 8. Mark McGwire 583 9. Harmon Killebrew 573 10. Rafael Palmeiro 569 11. Reggie Jackson 563 12. Alex Rodriguez* 553 13. Mike Schmidt 548 14. Jim Thome* 545 15. Mickey Mantle 536 16. Jimmie Foxx 534 17. Manny Ramirez* 533 *--*

* Denotes active player.

Sources: www.baseballssteroidera.com, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Daily News, baseball-reference.com.