Comparing Eras/Welcome Luke

Welcome Luke to the Worcester Sports Roundup! Luke's post about steroids and records in baseball is challenging on many levels. I think that baseball more than any other sport suffers from a lack of clear-cut eras. There is a general understanding that the pre-1920 Dead Ball Era and the following modern era are separate, but that is about it. Some dispensation is given for war-time pitching and expansion years, but even the most dedicated of SABR/Moneyball devotees tend to compare players across eras (albeit with adjusted statistics). Regardless of the distaste we fans have for illegal steroid (or PEDs, as they are now called, so that HGH is included, I guess) use, we must admit that every decade has seen development and change that affected that game. The sixties saw revisions in the height of the mound, divisional play, and the advent of the use of "greenies" (speed) by some (many?) ballplayers. The seventies saw a different style of play, with lawlessness on the basepaths and the introduction of the DH as well as some more nefarious psychotropic drugs. The eighties furthered this trend but also saw an expansion of the pool from which players were taken, with an influx of Latin American players. And so on. Players today lift weights, do eye exercises, practice martial arts, have personal chefs (whereas players for decades had to hold offseason jobs just to get by) etc. Can we truly compare the Babe, Hank Aaron, Bonds, A-Rod, Griffey Jr., and others? I too am disgusted by the use of illegal PEDs, but I think the question may go beyond just that.