Barry Bonds: suppose he hit 53, not 73?

No single season or career home run record.

If you convert 20 2001 homers into doubles, the batting numbers of Barry Bonds remain about the same.  The BIG difference would be that Bonds would not hold either home run record, the third rail of fan dysfunctional hysteria.

Mark McGwire could remain the primary villain for having broken the season record with a gaudy total of 70.  Sammy Sosa would continue to irritate as McGwire's villainous repeat offender runner-up sidekick.  The record they both smashed was 61 in '61 by Roger Maris who was vilified at the time and only redeemed by crimes  against baseball considered worse than his: .269 batting average, not Mickey Mantle or Babe Ruth.

Bonds career home runs would drop from 762 to 742, thirteen behind Hank Aaron's 755.

So, how about it?  Would your view of the still personally obnoxious Bonds be improved with that one simple change?  You know it would.  You just need to admit it.