BR had a big beer belly and he was far from having an athletic body, plus he used to smoke and drink like there was no tomorrow, yet he was one of the best if not the best baseball player of all time.
I think you just described most NFL athletes from the 50s. =)
What BR shows is how far above everyone else his talent was. In a modernn game with more talent he wouldn’t get away with that. You could take Michael Jordan from today (or Shaq), let him get fat and sloppy, and he’d still dominate the game from the 50s or 60s. His talent is just too high.
No athlete using steroids surprises me anymore. The only thing that surprises me is that they admit it.