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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1878133, member: 289"] ROID RAGE Baseball players looking for magical ways to enhance their achievements is not new in baseball. Wikipedia: [I]“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.[6] 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. [/I] [I]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".[/I] [I]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.[/I] [I]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.[/I] [I]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 taken 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"[/I] [I]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.][/I] [I]Third baseman Mike Schmidt, an active player from 1972-1989, admitted to Murray Chass in 2006 that he had used amphetamines "a couple [of] times". In his book Clearing the Bases, he said that amphetamines "were widely available in major-league clubhouses" during his playing career,[12] and that "amphetamine use in baseball is both far more common and has been going on a lot longer than steroid abuse".[/I] [I]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.”[/I] There’s nothing wrong with getting bigger and stronger. There’s nothing wrong with hitting home runs and breaking records. Indeed that’s what brought the fans back after the 1994 strike. They liked it. Substances are not banned to protect the record book or the Hall of Fame. They are banned because of the potential physical side effects of using them, especially in the amounts players tend to use when not under medical supervision. Players who violate a ban, (even when there was not testing) are cheating and gaining an illicit advantage over players who follow the rules. But the bigger problem is that they are risking their own health. Steroids were not banned by baseball until 1991: anyone taking them before that may have been endangering their health but they were not violating the rules. Baseball didn’t start testing for them until 2003 so they must not have been considered a major violation until then. I’ve already described how I believe that the impact of steroids on the offensive explosion of the 1990’s and early 2o00’s is at least somewhat exaggerated: the general trend was going to be toward offense anyway as the new parks were hitter’s parks, pitchers didn’t pitch inside as much, players were taking legal supplements and working and, above all other things, the owners juiced the ball for the 1994 season to help the game survive the strike they had forced. But because that wasn’t generally acknowledged, people looked for another cause for the big hitting and settled on steroids, which caused more players to seek out the stuff and begin using it in hopes of putting up big numbers of their own. But the list of players who acknowledged using steroids in the Mitchell Report included many players who did not put up big number, proving that you can’t get talent out of a needle. Barry Bonds might become Barry Bonds + with steroids but Marvin Benard is still Marvin Benard. Sadly, even non-baseball players began using the stuff to make themselves look more impressive or in hopes of becoming professional athletes, assuming that that’s what baseball players were doing to hit all those home runs. The first thing we need is for the owners to admit what they did so people will realize that those home runs weren't just hit with needles. Not that that will ever happen. Then we need the players who used steroids admit it and tell us what they took and when and in what amount so we can trace the actual impact of it on their production. Not that they will even remember that. Without that, we don’t know really what the specific impact of what substances was. I suspect if we ever did find this out, the temptation to use them would subside, especially if the side-effects were heavily publicized. But it seems a vain hope. The good feeling created by the McGwire-Sosa battles of the late 90’s started to turn when Barry Bonds topped them both. Bonds was unpopular due to his perceived arrogance. The press didn’t like him and used every opportunity to criticize him. He may have been as bad as they said: I don’t know. But when Bonds took the home run record from McGwire, people began to pay more attention to claims that the big numbers were being put up because of illegal drugs. They had not wanted to believe that when Big Mac and Sammy were making headlines. In 2003, the US Attorney in San Francisco began investigating Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), and found that baseball players Barry Bonds, Benito Santiago, Jeremy Giambi, Bobby Estalella, Armando Rios were “customers”. Jose Canseco came out with his book “Juiced” in 2005, naming “several other players, including Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, Jason Giambi and Alex Rodriguez, as steroid users.” Congress naturally had to get into the act and held hearings . They subpoenaed Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire. Giambi didn’t testify because he was being called to testify in the BALCO scandal. Palmiero, Schilling, Sosa and Thomas denied using steroids, Shilling and Thomas issuing strong statements against steroid abuse. Canseco bragged about it and McGwire simply said that “I’m not here to discuss the past”. Bonds “was never invited to attend because, according to the committee's leaders, his presence would have overshadowed the substance of the hearing”. (Washington Post) More from the Washington Post: [I]The tone of the day was set by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), whose previous career was as a Hall of Fame pitcher in the 1950s and '60s.Apparently referring to modern sluggers like McGwire and Bonds, whose physiques expanded and whose home run totals began skyrocketing in their mid- to late-thirties, Bunning told the panel: "When I played with Henry Aaron, Willie Mays and Ted Williams, they didn't put on 40 pounds . . . and they didn't hit more home runs in their late thirties as they did in their late twenties. What's happening in baseball is not natural, and it's not right." Bunning went a step beyond those who say the records of steroid-users should be marked by an asterisk, arguing that the records should be thrown out of the book. "If they started in 1992 or '93 illegally using steroids," Bunning said, "wipe all their records out. Take them away. They don't deserve them."[/I] [URL]http://i0.wp.com/usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/usp_rafael_palmeiro_suspended_10_games_for_steroids_8453993.jpg?w=1000&ssl=1[/URL] The attitude of the public turned on their former heroes as if they were the Black Sox, especially after McGwire later admitted steroid use and Palmiero tested positive, despite his emotional denials. Commissioner Selig authorized a study by former Senator George Mitchell to determine the extent of steroid use in baseball. The Player’s association had concerns about confidentiality. [I]...while Senator Mitchell pledges in his memo that he will honor any player request for confidentiality in his report, he does not pledge, because he cannot pledge, that any information you provide will actually remain confidential and not be disclosed without your consent. For example, Senator Mitchell cannot promise that information you disclose will not be given to a federal or state prosecutor, a Congressional committee, or perhaps turned over in a private lawsuit in response to a request or a subpoena.[/I] (Wikipedia) [I]Only two active players allowed themselves to be interviewed for the report. Mitchel got most of his information from sources like Kirk Radomski, a former batboy and clubhouse employee for the New York Mets, Brian McNamee a former strength coach for the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays. And Larry Starr, who was a trainer for 30 years with the Cincinnati Reds (1972-1992) and the Florida Marlins (1993-2002[/I]). (Wikipedia) Mitchell’s report came up with a list of 89 players, (out of 750), alleged to have used PEDs, (“performance enhancing drugs”). [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_players_named_in_the_Mitchell_Report"]List of Major League Baseball players named in the Mitchell Report - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/URL] The list is more remarkable for the number of relatively unknown and marginal players who used steroids and failed to rise above that level. It seems that PEDs were less a source of home runs than a source of false hope. “Mitchell reported that during the random testing in 2003, 5 to 7 percent of players tested positive for steroid use.” That seems more of a concern than an epidemic. But that wasn’t the reaction to the report. [I]The day after the report was released, then-President of the United States George W. Bush, a former co-owner of the Texas Rangers, stated that "we can jump to this conclusion: that steroids have sullied the game." He said he had no prior knowledge or awareness of player steroid use. He added, "My hope is that this report is a part of putting the steroid era of baseball behind us." [/I](Wikipedia) Baseball tightened up its drug testing rules after the Mitchell report. Again, from Wikipedia: [I]Before the Mitchell Report came out, MLB had one unannounced mandatory test each year for every player and random tests for selective players during the season and the off-season. Each drug test examined each player for steroids, steroid precursors, and designer steroids. If caught, suspensions without pay occurred. The first positive tests resulted in a suspension for ten days, the second for thirty days, the third for sixty days and the fourth positive test resulted in a one-year suspension.[/I] [I]After George Mitchell’s report came out, MLB markedly increased testing and punishments. Now baseball tests unannounced twice a year for all players and random testing still occurs for selective players. MLB also tests for more substances. They test for seven different kinds of abusive drugs, 47 different kinds of steroids and thirty different kinds of stimulants. One of the 47 different kinds of steroids is Human Growth Hormone, known as HGH. HGH is a substance popular amongst the league that was never tested for before the Mitchell Report because no reliable test existed. Along with the increase of substances tested for came an increase in suspensions without pay. The first positive test now results in a fifty-game suspension, the second is one hundred games, and the third positive now results in a lifetime suspension from the MLB.[/I] [I]On March 28, 2014 the players and owners announced that the penalties for a positive test would be increased to an 80-game suspension for a first time offense. Then escalate to an 162-game suspension for the second offense, and a lifetime ban from the sport for the third. Players who are suspended for the season, will not be allowed to participate in the post season. These suspensions do not allow the player to be paid while suspended. This is the strictest policy against doping that the MLB has had.[/I] [I]These new penalties are much harsher than the previous ones. The new steroid policy finally brings MLB closer in line with international rules.[/I] Thus began what has hopefully been called “The Post-Steroid Era” in major league baseball. [/QUOTE]

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