Baseball And Ethics, Part #2: “What Do We Do About The Steroid Era Players?”

In my last article in this series on Baseball And Ethics, I discussed the fact that right now Major League Baseball (MLB) is in a major quandary regarding very complex ethical issues, and how it resolves these issues is, in my opinion, the greatest challenge it has ever faced. I believe that if MLB does not appropriately resolves these ethical issues it is facing, that this has the potential to even destroy the game itself and/or its legacy. I want to say up front that because of my love of the game of baseball it is not easy and it pains me to write these things.

In my first article in this series I discussed the reinstatement of Pete Rose from an ethical perspective, and I came to the conclusion that the foremost priority to consider in regard to allowing Pete Rose back into baseball, and for induction into the Hall of Fame, has to do with “the ethic of fairness.” Many voices and even some of the game’s icons are today clamoring to have Pete Rose reinstated primarily because of how good a player he was, but I pointed out how this rationale must have nothing to do with his reinstatement. The ethic of “fairness” would be violated and partiality would be used if Rose were reinstated for this reason. My conclusion was that to be fair to everyone else who as ever been in the MLB, if we reinstate Pete Rose, we have to also reinstatement every other player simultaneously who ever received the lifetime ban for gambling. Otherwise, we would be treating Pete Rose with partiality. Acting with partiality would have a devastating effect upon the legacy of baseball and we already have enough kids in this world who have been raised up believing that if you are good enough at your sport the rules don’t apply to you.

Using a metaphor from Star Trek, I believe that “fairness” has to be looked at as the “Prime Directive” when it comes to ethics in any sport. It is the one principle which must not be compromised in order to keep its integrity.

This second part to my series on baseball and ethics deals with what to do with the “steroid era” MLB players, and it is a much more complex topic than the first one. Let me begin this discussion by declaring the fact that cheating of any sort in the MLB (as well as any professional or amateur sport) has always been a real and prescient issue, and a certain amount of cheating has and will always occur. Hitters have cheated and used corked bats. Pitchers have done all manner of illegal things to the baseball before throwing it (spitting, cutting, scuffing, etc.). Coaches and players have stolen signals. Etc., etc., etc. All of these things broke MLB rules. Prior to the steroids era, players before games often took “greenies” which were amphetamines (speed), and they were handed out to the players freely like candy (Greenies were outlawed from baseball in 2006). They would help you to be up for the game physically and mentally. But, throughout the history of the MLB players and coaches have also been kicked out of games and suspended for all manner of cheating (breaking the rules). Cheating has never been tolerated, nor should it be.

One day, along came steroids, and cheating went up to whole another level, one unprecedented in sports. Anabolic Steroids are the synthetic version of the male hormone, Testosterone, and they began to be experimented with in the 1940’s and used by weight lifters in Russia by the 50’s. They were routinely used world-wide by weight lifters in the 60’s. In the 60’s, doctors could and did legally write prescriptions for various types of steroids including Testosterone, Dianabol, Anabar, Deca, and others. The discovery that taking these drugs and pursuing a routine of heavy weight lifting a person could put on muscle mass and increase in strength at an incredible unprecedented rate, plus have longer endurance by their muscles, caused steroid use to become widespread. Initially, induced health problems caused by steroids were not suspected, nor was it considered cheating to use these substances.

As an example of how effective this use of steroids and weight training was, Doug Stalker has written that at the age of 16 he was a 6’ tall 136 lb weakling from New York wanting to play football. Within just three years of a regimen of using Danabo and later Anabar and Deca, and weight lifting, he weighed 212 lbs, had a world record for lifting, and was being considered for the US Olympic weight-lifting team. Then, at the age of 20 he had to quit because of back and knee problems brought about by the steroids. The US Olympic weight-lifting teams of those years were using steroids in order to gain an advantage over the Russians.

Over the next few years Anabolic Steroid use spread to other sports and in 1972, sixty-eight percent of Olympic athletes polled said they were taking them. It was discovered that not only could bulk muscle and strength be added quickly by steroid use, but the muscles on athletes recovered from workouts more quickly and thus athletes could work out more often. However, by the mid 70s it had become common knowledge that there were also significant health risks because of taking steroids. Those who took Testosterone saw their testes shrink and their prostates swell, for instance. It was discovered that Anabolic Steroids were causing susceptibility to cancer, liver damage, heart disease, acne, hair loss, violent aggression (“Roid Rage”), depression that could even lead to suicide, etc. It would take 20 years of steroid use to reveal the depth of damage and health issues caused by these drugs, and some athletes died because of them.

In the US under the Control Substance Act of 1970 (CSA), later amended in 1991, steroids were classified as a Schedule III illegal drug and possession of them without a doctor’s prescription became a federal crime. These laws forced professional as well as amateur sports to ban the use of steroids.

Steroids were officially banned for those in Olympic competition in 1975, and at the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal the International Olympic Committee first began testing athletes for steroids. Many dropped out or were eliminated from competition because of them. Soon all other professional and amateur sports followed suit by declaring steroid use against their rules. But, without steroid testing being required and specific disciplinary action outlined, the detection and enforcement of breaking the steroid rule meant nothing. Required testing for steroid use and outlined disciplinary action for steroid use varied sport to sport amongst professional and amateur sports.

Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent sent all of the MLB clubs a memo in 1991 reminding them that players were forbidden from taking any illegal substance. He specifically mentioned steroids and he encouraged the clubs to take a get-tough policy on players thought to be using steroids. But, regular or random testing for steroids was not required in the MLB.

In the early 90’s the MLB was in decline, fan attendance was down, and baseball was no longer thought of as “America’s pastime.” The era of the great baseball players of the past was long over and fans bored when the best power hitters in the league were hitting less than 40 homeruns in a season. The MLB and its commissioner were under great pressure to do something to reverse this trend and bring fans back to the MLB. What the MLB decided to do to fix this problem with baseball attendance and interest reveals the worst about human nature. They decided to turn a blind eye to steroid use by players, and this led to the steroid era of the past 20 years. There was no testing for steroids in the MLB until 2003 (part of the 2002 labor agreement). In the early 90’s, the league executives had to know that steroid use had crept into baseball, when they began to see power hitters of a kind that had never come along before. During the early 90’s some of the league’s power hitters began to hit a lot more homeruns in their late 30s than they had hit in their late 20s, something that had never happened to the great baseball players of the past, men like Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, etc. Some of the league’s power hitters put on 40 lbs of bulk muscle in just a few years when they should have been considering when to retire. Fans were excited to see the number of homeruns by many players going through the ceiling and fan attendance skyrocketed. Soon, Roger Maris’ homerun record of 61 homeruns in a season, set in 1961 was in jeopardy.

In 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were in a race to see who would hit the most homeruns and break Maris’ record, and McGwire ended up winning and shattering the record with 70. A professional baseball scout friend of mine was scouting the Seattle Mariners watching them do batting practice before a game during that timeframe, keeping his eye on Seattle’s big slugger at the time, 6’ 3” 215 lb center fielder Jay Buhner. Seattle was playing St. Louis that day, and Mark McGwire walked up to Jay Buhner. My friend said that to him McGwire made Buhner look like a little boy. He said that McGwire’s thighs were the size of Buhner’s waist. I believe it was within a year after his homerun record that McGwire was admitting to using steroids (Andro). Sosa was later discovered to have cheated by using corked bats, then on June 16, 2009, The New York Times broke a story that Sosa had failed a steroids test in 2003.

Barry Bonds is now the career homerun leader after he hit 73 homeruns in 2001. Now retired, Bonds has amassed the most homeruns in a career with 762. Early in his career, Bonds was a somewhat tall and lanky man without much upper body bulk in muscle, and he was not near a league leader in homeruns. The last few years he played he had a massive upper body. Bonds allegedly tested positive for steroid use and then was federally indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice for his testimony to congress concerning the Balco investigation. At this date, jury selection has been postponed indefinitely (makes you wonder if someone high up the echelon is being protected by this postponement).

Because of the increase in homeruns and the homerun record races that brought fans in, the league executives did nothing to stop steroid use, but the entire integrity of the MLB was compromised in the process. Jose Canseco played from 1985-2001 and was an incredible power hitter, having played for a few clubs. In 2005, the MLB world was rocked when Canseco published a book called “Juiced” in which he claimed that all of his ability had come about because of his steroid use. I remember ten years ago, the first time I saw Canseco without a shirt on, and I mused to myself that he didn’t look human, he looked like a horse, a Clydesdale in sweats. Canseco also named in his book several MLB stars as also being steroid users. He claimed in his book that 85% of all MLB players had been taking steroids. Many named in his book have since denied steroid use, but much of what Canseco wrote about has been proven to be true, and, in the past few years MLB hero after hero has been defrocked because of being caught using steroids.

For 20 years, MLB league and team officials turned a blind eye towards steroid use and the result was a whole generation of steroid using baseball players populated the MLB. Kids growing up learned early that if you wanted to compete at the highest levels in baseball that steroids were most likely a requirement, otherwise how else could you compete? Fans came to the MLB games, and the most hallowed records of baseball were broken by those who cheated by using steroids. Yet to me, the worst part of this debacle is the fact that untold tens of thousands of kids had their lives devastated by steroid use as they tried to position themselves to be drafted into the MLB.

To be honest, the thing that makes me the angriest is the fact that those most culpable for damaging kid’s lives and destroying the integrity of baseball, will never be identified. League and team executives, coaches, sportscasters and news media all knew what was going on, but the money rolled in, careers were built upon the game, and so those in the know kept their mouths shut. Who knows how many team executives and coaches helped players to find the right trainer for their doping? Then there is the hypocrisy. Many of these people who turned a blind eye and benefited from the steroid use are the very ones today condemning the use of steroids by players.

Now, I have talked about power hitters almost exclusively, however pitchers also used steroids, it is just harder to discern from their stats and careers who did and did not use them. Steroids helped pitchers to workout and pitch more often, last longer on the mound, etc. Records were also broken by pitchers during the last 20 years, but I fear it will be almost impossible to pin steroid use on most steroid using pitchers apart from the testimony of informants. Among pitchers, Roger Clemens is the big fish that the Mitchell Report stated had used steroids during his late career and who was fingered by four New York Daily News reporters in a book titled, “American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime." Clemens has contested these reports and denied ever using steroids, and according to Wikipedia.com he is now under investigation by the Justice Department for perjury for his testimony to congress about his steroid use.

So, now I finally come to discussing what should be done with the steroids era players. We have already seen that regardless of whether league and team officials turned a blind eye to steroid use in baseball, steroid users broke the steroid rules as well as committed federal crimes and felonies by their use of Anabolic Steroids. And, it is only because of cheating with these drugs that a large number of the players of the past 20 years could do what they did. Many of the great players and record breakers of this era have since been caught using steroids. Some great players and record breakers of this era were never caught, and may never have used them. To me, it would be unfair to throw out player’s records of this era who were never caught, nor keep them out of the Hall of Fame. But, I think for the ethic of fairness, that you have to throw out all of the records created by all those who later were tested for steroids. Likewise, those who were caught using steroids, I believe, need to be excluded from the Hall of Fame. I also wish for some players we could look at their personal statistics and say that based upon their body mass increase in the latter years of their career that they had to be using steroids, but I don’t know if this is going to be possible. Some say we ought to keep the Steroid Era records and let the steroid using players into the Hall of Fame, but just put an asterisk next to their name. I can’t agree with this because to me all that asterisk means is that they cheated out a deserving player as well a jail sentence.

Did you know that the MLB does not do even do mandatory steroids testing today for all players? The one thing I have learned from my investigation is that the only thing that stops the proliferation of steroids is testing. The Steroid Era in the MLB is continuing folks… We would not have a Steroid Era of the MLB to discuss if testing had been implemented when steroids were banned. Mandatory testing needs to be done from varsity high school play all of the way through the Major Leagues because if kids and/or kid’s parents realize they can get an edge through steroid use, many are going to do so, even at great risk to their health, or their kid’s health.

Right now, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is being used by many in sports because there is no accurate test for it as of yet. The MLB needs to use a chunk of its profits to aid in research to provide the very best tests for all manner of illegal enhancement drugs so that every cheater can be caught. Simply dedicating this research money every year would go a long way towards restoring the integrity of the MLB. Finally, I think that MLB ought to own up to its misdeeds, and take responsibility for the entire debacle in the first place. League and team officials cheated too, they cheated to make baseball greater than it is by allowing steroids to go unchecked. Nothing could do more to restore integrity to the MLB than their admitting the 20 year cover-up and the lives that were devastated because of it. Perhaps I have gone too far and am being unrealistic, after all how could I ever expect grown-ups to do that which we require of kids: take responsibility for their actions… Until next time, let the games go on.