An attempt to get to the bottom of steroid abuse in Major League Baseball spun out so badly that one of the lawyers involved ended up in prison. But why is punishing people for the misuse of regulated drugs in sports left up to private organizations in the first place? And wouldn’t baseball be so much more fun if everyone was still injecting meth and goat testicle juice?
Content notes: Discussion of drug abuse including meth, anabolic steroids, and goat testicle extract (yes, really)
Featured image: Mark McGwire directly before breaking Roger Maris’ home run record. (Image source)
Players testifying about steroid use in baseball in front of the Government Reform and Oversight committee.
An impressive home run from Jose Conseco in 1989.
Sammy Sosa joins Mark McGwire in toppling the home run record set by Roger Maris in 1961.
Mark McGwire admits to steroid use during his career.
An bodybuilder who took steroids shows some of the permanent health risks of abusing a controlled substance to win at a sport.
A PSA from Partnership for a Drug-Free America about steroid use among athletes. Like most PSAs about drugs produced at the time, this wasn’t particularly effective, especially since they couldn’t even outright describe the main side effect they were warning men about.
Sources
- A Different Kind of Performance Enhancer
- MLB Scores and Standings Tuesday, August 13, 1889
- Steroid Suspensions in Major League Baseball
- H.R. 3084 (109th): Drug Free Sports Act
- H. Rept. 109-210 – DRUG FREE SPORTS ACT
- 1973 Chairman Staggers Press Release
- Full Committee Hearing: Steroids in Baseball
- Giambi admitted taken steroids
- BALCO Fast Facts
- Instigator of Steroids Inquiry May Be a Target
- The BALCO scandal: the social structure of a steroid distribution network
- Is This Dr. Evil?
- Today in Baseball History: McGwire, Sosa, and Palmeiro testify before Congress
- 73! 61! 37?! What’s the real home run record, anyway?
- Sammy Sosa Tests Positive for Steroids: America Is Not Surprised
- McGwire apologizes to La Russa, Selig
- Major League Baseball Records for Home Runs in a Season by Teams
- Steroids become an issue
- Full Timeline of MLB’s Failed Attempts to Rid the Game of PEDs
- Bret Boone Stats
- Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 232 / Friday, December 4, 2009 / Rules and Regulations
- Drug Scheduling
- H.R.4658 – Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990
what a scandal?