Major League Baseball and Steroids

1
Major League Baseball and Steroids

• Brent Smith
• PED 4761
• July 10, 2006

2
Background

• Steroid use in major league baseball has
  been gaining widespread media attention for the
  last four to five years. One of the main reasons
  for this explosion in publicity is the BALCO
  case. BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory
  Co-Operative, was founded by Victor Conte and
  responsible for providing a number of
  professional athletes with steroids, including
  Olympic athletes (Dure, 2006).

3
Background

• Dec. 2, 2004 The San Francisco Chronicle reports
  that in grand jury testimony, New York Yankees
  slugger Jason Giambi admitted injecting himself
  with human growth hormone in 2003 and using
  steroids that he obtained from Barry Bonds'
  trainer, Greg Anderson, for at least three
  seasons (Dure, 2006).

4
Background

• Dec. 3, 2004 The San Francisco Chronicle reports
  more grand jury testimony, this time from San
  Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds. The Chronicle
  says Bonds admitted to unknowingly using steroids
  known as "the clear" and "the cream" during the
  2003 season. Bonds said his personal trainer
  provided the steroids. The Chronicle also
  reported that prosecutors showed Bonds documents
  from 2001-03 alleging that he used various drugs,
  including human growth hormone and
  Depo-Testosterone. Bonds repeatedly has denied
  using performance-enhancing drugs. The report
  also says Bonds' former teammates Armando Rios,
  Benito Santiago and Bobby Estallella admitted to
  the grand jury that they used performance-enhancin
  g drugs (Dure, 2006).

5
Background

• March 17, 2005 Several current and former major
  league baseball players testifiy in front of the
  House Government Reform Committee on steroids in
  baseball. Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Curt
  Schilling, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro were in
  attendance, while Frank Thomas testified via
  satellite. Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi were not
  required to attend due to their involvement in
  the ongoing BALCO case (Dure, 2006).

6
Background

• Aug. 1, 2005 Baseball player Rafael Palmeiro,
  who emphatically denied steroid use before a
  House panel in March, is suspended for a positive
  test he later blames on a vitamin B-12 shot
  (Dure, 2006).

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Evolution of the Policy

• Prior to 2002
• Before 2002, Major League Baseball had no
  official policy on steroid use among players
  (Bodley, 2005).
• This is an important point to consider when
  determining who should or shouldnt be voted into
  the hall of fame.

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Evolution of the Policy

• 2002
• As part of a collective bargaining agreement,
  players and owners agree to hold survey testing
  in 2003. If more than 5 of results from the
  anonymous tests are positive, formal testing and
  penalties will be put into place the next year
  (Bodley, 2005).
• 2003
• Baseball announces after the season that 5
  to 7 of test results were positive, triggering
  the new policy in 2004 (Bodley, 2005).

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Evolution of the Policy
2004 Each player is tested once a year in
season. A first positive test results in
treatment, followed by a 15-day suspension for a
second positive and up to a year suspension for a
fifth positive. The result is no player is
suspended for steroid use (Bodley, 2005).

10
Evolution of the Policy
2005 Baseball agrees to a new policy. There
will be one unannounced mandatory test of each
player during the season. In addition, there will
be testing of randomly selected players, with no
maximum number. And there will be random testing
during the off season. The penalties for a
positive result are, first positive, 10 days
second, 30 days third, 60 days fourth, one
year, and all without pay (Bodley, 2005).

11
MLBs New Policy

• Major league baseballs players and owners
  have reacted to the negative press regarding
  steroids created tougher penalties.
• The new penalties for steroid use to a
  50-game suspension for a first failed test, 100
  games for a second and a lifetime ban for a
  third.

12
MLBs New Policy

• Jason Grimsley was the first major leaguer
  to be suspended by Major League Baseball for 50
  games under a clause of its new steroid policy,
  without failing a drug test in June 2006.
• In addition to being suspended, Federal
  investigators searched Grimsley's home for six
  hours as part of an investigation of
  performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

13
MLBs New Policy

• Why are steroids presence in professional
  sports such a big deal?
• Among many reasons, one of the the biggest
  reasons is the influence that it has on some of
  these players biggest fans, children. Societies
  pressure on winning and being the best has a huge
  influence on children. Steroid use can begin as
  early as 8th grade!

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Steroid use in Adolescents

• Percentage trends of adolescents use of steroids,
  1995-2004

Graph provided by www.usdoj.gov
15
Dangers of Steroid Use

• Dangers for Men
• Even though anabolic steroids are derived
  from a male sex hormone, men who take them may
  actually experience a "feminization" effect along
  with a decrease in normal male sexual function
  (Miller, 1988). Some possible effects include

16
Illustration from www.Deadspin.com
17
Further Research

• If you are interested in the BALCO case you are
  encouraged to do more research on this topic. One
  of the interesting aspects of this case is that
  there are a number of athletes from various
  sports involved. The only athletes that are
  mentioned in the main stream media are major
  league baseball players.

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Further Research

• National Drug Intelligence Center Steroids
• National Drug Threat Assessment 2005
• BALCO Timeline Supplied by USA Today
• BALCO Timeline
• The Baseball Steroid Dilemma
• PBS Reports

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Questions

• Do you agree with the current steroid policy in
  baseball of a 50 game suspension for first time
  offenders, 100 games for second, and a lifetime
  for the third?
• Are baseball players cheating their fans by using
  steroids?
• What affect has steroids had on the integrity of
  baseball statistics? Are you still impressed with
  big numbers from possible steroid users?

20
References

• Bodley, Hal. Baseball Officials Announce Tougher
  Steroids Policy. USA TODAY. 1/12/2005
• Dure, Beau. (2006). BALCO investigation
  timeline. USATODAY.com. www.usatoday.com/sports/ba
  lco-timeline.htm
• National Drug Intelligence Center. National Drug
  Threat Assessment 2005. February 2005.
  www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs11/12620/steroids.htm
• MLB Suspends Pitcher Grimsley 50 games. July 12,
  2006. www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID168601hubname
  mlb
• Miller, Roger W. Athletes and Steroids Playing A
  Deadly Game. Book. Rockwell 1988.
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