The recently retired slugger may be one of the few consistent hitters to make it out unscathed from the horror of the asterisk.  Maybe.

JIM RUBERA

Carlos Delgado just retired with 473 home runs.  Good idea, bro.  #steroids

But wait.  Look at his stats.  His numbers have been consistent since before the steroid era and through 2008.  He might be the golden slugger that we all though Manny Ramirez was.  He never had the 50 home run season which is the killer indicator for juicing.

The fact is Delgado never tested positive on anybody’s list and he never had the ridiculously gaudy numbers that would point to performance enhancement.  He may have juiced.  He may have not.  Like so many others, we will never know for sure.  But he deserves the benefit of the doubt as far as the numbers and the lack of indictments are concerned.

By no means am I saying that he’s one of the all time greats.  But he may just be one of the purest hitters in the game from ’96-’08.  He might be what we though Ramirez, Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, and ARod were.  But unfortunately he could have been the biggest cheat in the game and we would never know about it.  That’s the problem with this generation of baseball players.  There will always be a cloud hovering over the best of the best.

The United States Justice system said innocent until proven guilty.  Going by that sentiment, I want to wish Delgado a happy retirement and congratulate him for a successful clean career.  For now.

Photo: AP

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