Doping in baseball
Doping in baseball has been an ongoing issue for Major League Baseball. After repeated use by some of the most successful professional baseball players in MLB history, these banned substances found their way to the collegiate level. At the junior college level, due to lack of funding and NCAA drug testing, the abuse of PEDs is most common, but they are also an issue in Division I, II and III.
Several players have suggested that drug use is rampant in baseball. In 2003, David Wells stated that "25 to 40 percent of all Major Leaguers are juiced". Jose Canseco stated on 60 Minutes and in his 2005 tell-all book Juiced that as many as 80% of players used steroids, and that he credited steroid use for his entire career. Ken Caminiti revealed that he won the National League MVP award while on steroids. In February 2009, after reports emerged alleging that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in, a year in which he was American League MVP, he admitted to having used performance-enhancing drugs between and 2003. Mark McGwire, dogged by allegations of PED use for years, admitted in January 2010 that he had used steroids and human growth hormone off and on for over a decade, including in when he set the single-season home run record.
Historical usage
Origins
Players have attempted to gain chemical advantages in baseball since the earliest days of the sport. In 1889, for example, pitcher Pud Galvin became the first baseball player to be widely known for his use of performance-enhancing substances. Galvin was a user and vocal proponent of the Brown-Séquard Elixir, a testosterone supplement derived from the testicles of live animals such as dogs and guinea pigs.The book The Baseball Hall of Shame's Warped Record Book, written by Bruce Nash, Bob Smith, Allan Zullo, and Lola Tipton, includes an account of Babe Ruth administering to himself an injection of an extract from sheep testicles. The experimental concoction allegedly proved ineffective, making Ruth ill and leading the Yankees to attribute his absence from the lineup to "a bellyache".
During World War II, both the Allied and Axis powers systematically provided amphetamines to their troops, in order to improve soldiers' endurance and mental focus. After the end of the war, many of those returning troops attended college, and when they did, they applied their knowledge of the benefits of amphetamine use first to college sports, and then to professional sports, including professional baseball.
Early history
According to writer Zev Chafets, Mickey Mantle's fade during his 1961 home run chase with Roger Maris was the indirect result of an attempt by Mantle to gain a substance-based edge. Chafets alleges that Mantle was hampered by an abscess created by a botched injection of a chemical cocktail administered by a "quack" doctor, Max Jacobsen. According to Chafets, the injection included steroids and amphetamines, among other substances.In his autobiography I Had a Hammer, which was co-written with Lonnie Wheeler and published in 1992, outfielder Hank Aaron wrote that he accepted an amphetamine pill from an unnamed teammate and took it before a game during the 1968 season, after becoming frustrated about his lack of offensive performance. Aaron described it as "a stupid thing to do", observing that the pill made him feel like he "was having a heart attack".
Former pitcher Tom House, drafted in 1967 and active in MLB from 1971–1978, has admitted to using "steroids they wouldn't give to horses" during his playing career. According to House, the use of performance-enhancing drugs was widespread at that time. He estimates that "six or seven" pitchers on every team were at least experimental users of steroids or human growth hormone, and says that after losses, players would frequently joke that they'd been "out-milligrammed" rather than beaten.
The "Steroid Era"
The period of time, usually placed sometime between the late 1980s and late 2000s has been dubbed the "Steroid Era" by some authors, due to allegations of increased steroid use among MLB players at this time. In Steroids ''and Major League Baseball, the "Pre Steroids Era" is defined as running from 1985 to 1993, while the "Steroids Era" runs from 1994 to 2004.Third baseman Mike Schmidt, an active player from 1972–1989, admitted to Murray Chass in 2006 that he had used amphetamines "a couple times". In his book Clearing the Bases'', he said that amphetamines "were widely available in major-league clubhouses" during his playing career, and that "amphetamine use in baseball is both far more common and has been going on a lot longer than steroid abuse".
Relief pitcher Goose Gossage, active from 1972–1994, also admitted to using amphetamines during his playing career, in a 2013 interview with Ken Davidoff. In the same interview, Gossage voiced the opinion that amphetamines are not "a performance-enhancing drug", though he admitted that using them was illegal at the time.
During the Pittsburgh drug trials in 1985, several players testified about the use of amphetamines in baseball. Shortstop Dale Berra admitted that he had used "greenies" while playing for both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the AAA Portland Beavers, and stated that while in Pittsburgh between 1979 and 1984 he had been supplied with the drugs by teammates Bill Madlock and Willie Stargell. Outfielder John Milner testified that while he was playing for the New York Mets, he had seen in the locker of teammate Willie Mays a powerful liquid amphetamine he called the "red juice".
In 1988, sportswriter Thomas Boswell claimed that Jose Canseco was the most conspicuous user of steroids in MLB. Later that year, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 criminalized the use and distribution of anabolic steroids.
Steroids finally made it to baseball's banned substance list in 1991; however, testing for major league players did not begin until the 2003 season. While testing for steroids began, the usage did not stop.
Jose Canseco
In 2005, Jose Canseco released a tell-all book, Juiced, about his experience with steroids in his career. In the book, Canseco named several other players, including Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez and Jason Giambi, as steroid users. The book caused great controversy, and most of these players claimed Canseco's implications to be false, though McGwire and Giambi later admitted to using PEDs, and Palmeiro has tested positive.In 2008, Canseco released another book, Vindicated, about his frustrations in the aftermath of the publishing of Juiced. In it, he discusses his belief that Alex Rodriguez also used steroids. The claim was proven true with Rodriguez's admission in 2009, just after his name was leaked as being on the list of 103 players who tested positive for banned substances in Major League Baseball. In July 2013, Alex Rodriguez was again under investigation for using banned substances provided by Biogenesis of America. He was suspended for the entirety of the 2014 season.
In January 2010, Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids throughout his professional baseball career. He claimed to only have used steroids for health reasons and for quick recovery, never for strength or size gains. These claims were publicly disputed by McGwire's steroid supplier, who stated that he did, in fact, use steroids to gain a competitive edge. The admission of steroid use caused some to question whether or not his long list of accomplishments should be invalidated. His most famous accomplishment took place in the 1998 season when he broke the single season home run record previously held by Roger Maris.
It was after this accomplishment that McGwire and other MLB players came under scrutiny for use of steroids. A news reporter, Steve Wilstein, stumbled upon an open container of androstenedione in McGwire's locker in August of the '98 season. At the time androstenedione was not on the banned substance list for Major League Baseball, but was viewed as a precursor to anabolic steroids and was banned by the International Olympic Committee, the National Football League, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Congressional investigation
The nutrition center BALCO was accused of distributing steroids to many star players, most notably Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi. Baseball has attempted to toughen its drug policy, beginning a plan of random tests to players. Players such as Ryan Franklin and others were handed suspensions as short as ten days. However, a Congressional panel continued to argue that the penalties were not tough enough, and took action.Many top players, including Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Curt Schilling were summoned on March 17, 2005 to testify in front of Congress. During the session, Canseco admitted his steroid use, which he claimed was perfectly acceptable in the 1980s and early 1990s. Palmeiro denied all steroid use during his career, while McGwire refused to discuss the issue, contending that he would be considered guilty no matter what he said. His repeated statement, "I'm not here to talk about the past," became the most highlighted moment of the proceedings.
Palmeiro, who was listed in Canseco's book as a user along with McGwire, denied Canseco's claims and told Congress that those claims were absolutely erroneous. The committee had stated that baseball had failed to confront the problems of performance-enhancing drugs. The committee was disturbed by the accepted use of steroids by athletes because it created a bad persona of players who in many cases are role models to many of the aspiring youth. During the testimonies the players called to Congress offered their condolences for youthful athletes who had committed suicide after using performance-enhancing drugs.
Five months after the Congressional hearing, information came out indicating Palmeiro had already tested positive for steroids and knew it when he spoke before Congress. He appealed but the test results and ensuing suspension were upheld. Mark McGwire, whose credentials could arguably satisfy expectations for first ballot Hall of Fame election, was denied election in his first year, with many voters citing McGwire's perceived refusal to speak at the Congressional Investigation.