Mantle hit 536 career homeruns, if he had the same drugs bonds had, how many homers does he hit?

Question

Think about, 536 homeruns in the old Yankee stadium with those huge outfield distances, bring the fences in to todays standards, give jhim the same drugs bonds took, dont forget to add in the expansion teams that helped water down the talent level in the game, and of course the pitchers mound is lower today than what is was when Mantle played, and in my opinion, Mantle finishes with over 800 career homeruns and the single season mark would be his at somewhere around 80 in a single season.

Answer 1

Forget the drugs! If Mantle had played in today's ballparks with the shorter fences, he would no doubt have hit 800 or more home runs. I remember well as a kid those power alleys in left center (457) and in right center (461). How many hundreds of fly balls did Mantle hit in those areas during his career? 440 foot outs!!

Your question is interesting in that it kind of makes one appreciate how incredible Roger Maris home run record of 61 was. He was a left handed hitter and several of his home runs flew over that 461 sign during the 1961 season.

Even with steroids Bonds has never hit a home run a far as Mantle. Not even close.

Answer 2

Mantle could have hit over 700 HR's without drugs. People forget the dimensions of Yankee Stadium when he played. The power alley for right handed hitters was 461. Mantle hit a ton of fly balls there that would have been HR's in most STATES, let alone ballparks.

Injuries held him back. No doubt he would have been neck and neck with Maris in 61 without that freak injury. And the abuse he gave himself is legendary. I'm not sure how much better he could have been though. There may be some exaggeration there.

If he did steroids? I dont know. He certainly had as much or more power than Bonds. He struck out a LOT more than Bonds, but I think he was a better all around hitter. The sad thing about Bonds is that he compared favorably to Mickey, Mays, Duke...lots of greats. He didnt NEED the steroids to become an elite member of the HOF.

A very sad scenario indeed for Barry. He brought it upon himself. One good thing came out of it though. We can now speculate about what Mantle could have done under similar circumstances.

Answer 3

When Mantle came up in 1951 Crosley Field in Cincinnati had the shortest center field in baseball -- some where between 380 and 390 feet. He said he lost 10 home runs a year playing in Yankee stadium to their gigantic center field. So if the Mick had been a Redleg, as they were often called back then, in his 18 year career, nothing else being changed, he would have had 716 home runs. Keep him healthy and keep him in New York, he would easily have had 700. Give him steroids and that man would have hit easily over 1,000 home runs. Make him a Redleg, oh, I'd say, about 1,200. No joke.

Answer 4

Not knowing all the drugs Barry took, I don't know if they would have helped Mantle.

Other "what if?" factors:
Not believing he would die before age 40 and so taking better care or himself,
Not tripping on a drain pipe as a young player and tearing up his knee,
Better knee surgeries being available back then,
Billy Martin never being a Yankee (thus reducing the Mick's drinking group).

For that matter, what if they had had orthoscopic surgery to save the career of Smokey Joe Wood? What is John McGraw had been able to integrate baseball back in about 1905?

And I wish JZ were a bicycle...

Answer 5

Mantle would still remain at 536 HR's because steroids and HGH will not help anyone hit or see the ball better. Look at all of the other lesser players that tried to use steroids and HGH, but got busted. With those drugs in their system, I did not notice any type of improvement in their game at all. It may make someone look bigger due to water retention, but that's all it seems to do because they're not hitting outrageous amounts of HR's like the public and media seem to want everyone else to believe..... Just compare their stats from two years back to the time they got busted. Same pattern.

Answer 6

The Mick also became a train wreck physically, with bad knees and shoulders. It was a wonder that he played as well as he did with a banged up body to go along with all the boozing. Never mind steroids. A healthy Mantle who took care of himself would have realistically hit about 650-about the same that Willie ended up with.

Answer 7

Shall we add the hyper-active media attention and minority players to the playing field as well? Those two factors alone I think would be enough to nullify any advantage Micky might have. I guess it's fun to think about, but don't forget that the game is not constant. It changes with the generations.

Answer 8

900

Answer 9

The Mick didn't need drugs. All he had to do was not drink a lot, take better care of himself, and he would have hit more home runs. The Mick himself admitted he didn't take good care of himself. All he had to do was not drink that excessively.

Answer 10

He didn't hit more because he was an alcoholic and tore up his knee on a drain pipe, NOT because he didn't use steroids.

Steroids isn't the cure all, nor is it the only reason some players have great numbers.
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