Chris Davis still views Roger Maris as the single-season home run record holder

Chris Davis arrived at Yankee Stadium Friday night leading the American league with 32 home runs — mathematically putting him on a pace to hit 60 this season. There have only been eight instances where a player has jacked 60 or more homers in a season — six with 63 or more— but the Baltimore Orioles slugger still believes the Holy Grail of home run totals is still Roger Maris' legendary 61.

Davis views every one of those season totals topping Maris as tainted because they came during the so-called "Steroid Era."  Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa are all members of the exclusive "60 Club" but that trio have all been connected to PEDs to different degrees -- including McGwire openly admitting steroid use.

According to Davis, this means he believes chasing Maris' single-season 61 is the real goal, not Bonds' 73.

“I do and the reason being, he was the last guy to do it clean,” Davis said on ESPN's Mike and Mike morning show (via baltimoresportsreport.com). “There's a lot of things that have been said about the guys who have come after him and have achieved the record, but I think as far as the fans are concerned they still view Maris as being the all-time home run record [holder] and I think you have to. There's no doubt that Barry and Mark and any of those guys had ridiculous seasons and had some great years, but I think when you get to the root of the record, I still think it's Roger Maris'.”

It's ironic because  Davis himself has heard the whispers of fans and media members speculating his own breakout year this season is somehow drug-assisted. He addressed the issue of being clean to Mike & Mike:

“I think the biggest thing for me to remember is you know as long as I continue to do things the way I've always done [them], you know can't really rely on what other people are going to say,” Davis said on Mike and Mike. “We get drug-tested just like everybody else, we have the strictest drug testing policy in all of professional sports and I actually think in a way it's kind of a backhanded compliment.”

In 86 games this year, Davis has already equaled his 139 game totals of last year — except on the strikeout front.  He is still on pace for a 190 strike threes this season but seems to gotten a better grasp of the strike zone.

Here is the legendary list of players with 60 or more home runs in a season.  According to Davis, No. 7 is the real No. 1.

1. Barry Bonds, 73, 2001
2. Mark McGwire, 70, 1998
3. Sammy Sosa, 66, 1998
4. Mark McGwire, 65, 1999
5. Sammy Sosa, 64, 2001
6. Sammy Sosa, 63, 1999
7. Roger Maris, 61, 1961
8. Babe Ruth, 60, 1927

Corked Mickey Mantle baseball bat on the auction block

Mickey Mantle was a baseball hero to a whole generation of New York Yankees fans young and old. Nothing — not even any of The Mick's off-the-field escapades, surly disposition or flawed personal life choices — could put a damper on any of the slugger's 536 career home runs that brought so much joy to so many.

Now a corked bat — reportedly swung by the Yankees icon is hitting the auction block — could raise some eyebrows about the Hall of Famer's legacy. And it's for sale.

Grey Flannel Auctions is auctioning the doctored Hillerich & Bradsby Co. bat, which was studied by PSA/DNA authenticator John Taube. Taube noticed alterations at the top of the bat’s barrel, and X-rays showed that the barrel had been drilled and filled with cork.

“This is the first corked bat of Mantle that we have seen or heard of,” Taube wrote in his report.

Part of the bat’s handle is coated in pine tar, a characteristic seen on other Mantle bats from the 1960s.

Mantle wasn't the first player to swing a doctored bat. Players have been known to add cork and other substances to bats to improve swing speed, all in hopes of adding extra power to their swings.

But doctoring bats is illegal and this a man with three AL MVP's to his credit.

Embarrassing, too. Chicago Cubs star Sammy Sosa was suspended for eight games in 2003 after his bat shattered during a game, sending pieces of cork flying.

Last month, a game-used Pete Rose bat that also featured a hidden cork panel sold for $8,000 at auction.

Mantle played 18 years with the Yankees and helped the team win seven World Series championships. His name alone still evokes memories of tattered first mitts, summer days and brings tears to many grown men's eyes.

You'll need $5,000 to reserve an opening bid.

Roger Clemens Witness List Looks More Like an All-Star Roster

Former pitching great Roger Clemens may call on ex-teammates to testify in his defense at his perjury trial.  At the same time, a prosecutor said he may call former players already implicated in the scandal to the stand as well.  It's virtually a Who's Who of future, potential and tainted Hall of Famers.

While throngs of potential jurors lined up outside the E. Prettyman Court House in Washington; both sides planned their strategies and it sounds like a lot of former baseball greats might be headed for the stand.

It sounded like U.S. District Judge might permit Clemens former Yankees teammates-- Chuck Knoblauch, Andy Pettitte and Mike Stanton-- to take the stand, after Clemen's attorney, Rusty Hardin, said that Clemens' main accuser, Brian McNamee, created evidence made to blackmail his client.

Other potential witnesses including Mark McGwire, Jorge Posada and Sammy Sosa also appeared on the list.