October 10, 2008
Steroid Abuse in Baseball
Steroid abuse in baseball has started to seep into the public’s consciousness during the 1990s. The 1990s was the period when sluggers like David Wells, Jose Canseco, and Ken Caminiti revealed overwhelming statistics relating to steroid abuse in baseball.
Wells stated that 25-40 percent of Major League Baseball players abused steroids. Canseco, on the other hand, provided a much higher number – 85 percent of MLB players abused steroids, including himself, Canseco said.
But what surprised many was when Ken Caminiti publicly admitted that he was abusing steroids when he won the 1996 National League Most Valuable Player and he was on them too during the subsequent seasons.
Caminiti told a sport magazine in 2002 that his steroids abuse started when he used them to deal with a shoulder injury in the early part of 1996. Caminiti died of drug-induced heart attack (combination effects of cocaine and opiates) in 2004 at the age of 41.
Caminiti’s admission caused embarrassment to the pro baseball community – team owners, players, reporters, regulatory commissions – because it refused to acknowledge that steroid abuse was behind the explosive performances in the field. It was in the 1990s when home run records were easily eclipsed by Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. Both Sosa’s and McGwire’s careers had been tainted with abuse of steroids and supplements.
But perhaps the most high profile baseball player implicated to steroid abuse was Barry Bonds. Bonds has been under speculation since he broke the major league’s home run records in both single season and career. His detractors claim that he could not have accomplished such records without the use of steroids and PEDs. Bonds was already 37 years old in 2001, the season when he beat McGwire’s record by hitting 73 home runs. When the BALCO steroid distribution activity was exposed in 2003, Bonds was one of baseball personalities who got embroiled in the scandal.
Steroid abuse in baseball and the BALCO incident
In 2002, the official federal investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative commenced. BALCO was started as a vitamin shop in 1994 in San Francisco by its founder Victor Conte.
In 2003, the investigation came into fruition and resulted to what many considered as the biggest steroid scandal in sports. Later dubbed as the BALCO Affair, the incident exposed well-known athletes in diverse sport fields who abused steroids and PEDs. Among these athletes were MLB players and most prominent of them was Barry Bonds.
In 2006, a congressional inquiry was conducted in which several baseball players, including Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens, were asked to testify regarding steroid abuse in baseball.
MLB implements stiffer penalties to stop steroid abuse
Subsequent to the embarrassing BALCO Affair, the Major League Baseball started imposing heavier penalties to players who violate anti-steroid policies.
In November 2005, MLB owners and players gave the green light for the adoption of the following rules to discourage steroid abuse: a first positive test would result in a 50-game suspension, a second positive test would result in a 100-game suspension, and a third positive test would result in a lifetime suspension from the Major League.
Why baseball players abuse steroids
When Caminiti confessed his steroid abuse in 2002, he said the illegal practice had improved his performance considerably.
In September last year, Roger Tobin, a physics professor at Tufts University put forth striking findings about how steroid use could lead to performance enhancement in baseball. He said steroid use that yields 10 percent of muscle mass could translate to a 4 percent increase in bat speed, a 3 percent increase in ball speed off the bat, and a home run production of 50-100 percent.
Although some have criticized Tobin’s research, which used physics modeling to arrive at such findings, there is no doubt that the possibility of hitting more home runs is encouragement enough to some baseball players to abuse steroids.
Types of Steroids used in Baseball
Steroids are not the only drugs used in baseball. Besides steroids abuse, most baseball players are using a huge amount of human growth hormone (HGH) and IGF-1, both equivalent or better then anabolic steroids. When these baseball players buy steroids, they are also buying human growth hormone along with the anabolics. This is a common steroid cycle, HGH and winstrol or anavar.
