Let the fans sort it out.

If they don't care about steroids, they can make Bonds & Co. their standard. If they do care, they can turn back to Hank Aaron, Ruth and Maris.

It's not like baseball has a lot of options. The game will never extricate itself from the mess it made by not addressing performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) much sooner. Now it's stuck with a whole set of records that were reached, well, under the influence.

The drugs weren't the only factor in the record-smashing performances. Diet, weight training and conditioning were far superior to previous eras, which means someone probably would have passed Maris and Ruth, anyway.

Too bad we'll never know.

Maris' disputed single-season home run record now ranks seventh. Not surprisingly, all those ahead of him (Bonds, Sosa, McGwire) are suspected of taking PEDs. I figure baseball should just go ahead and change the books now. Beneath the asterisks, there could be a disclaimer like the weight loss ads that say: "The following is just one person's experience; you should not expect the same results."

Meanwhile, Maris can finally catch a break. He'll be known as the guy WITHOUT the asterisk.

Considering what has befallen the game since his fateful season, I think he's earned the right.

E-mail: rock@desnews.com