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How far back does steroid use in MLB go?

CADadCADad5,000+ posts
We are all looking at the last 10 years or so as being the steroid era. However, steroids go back a lot further than that. I remember asking a kid in HS who went from being about the skinniest kid around to immense over a single summer how he did it. His answer - steroids.

Steroids have been around for a long time. Why do we think professional baseball players weren't using them 35 or more years ago?
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ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
quote:
Steroids have been around for a long time. Why do we think professional baseball players weren't using them 35 or more years ago?


Good question. The best answer I can give is to look at the homerun record for a single season. For years and years after Ruth set it, the record stood at 60. Then, they added 8 more games and Roger Maris bumped the record by 1 homerun and the record stood unchanged again for decades. Thus, from history, we know that a threshold had been established for the greatest homerun season which turns out to be around 60. I believe things started to go awry around the time Brady Anderson hit 50 homeruns. Albert Belle also was "bursting" onto the scene at that time with a record of 50 doubles and 50 homeruns in a strike shortened season of 144 games in 1995. Mo Vaughn slightly beat out Belle for the MVP that year and he was no small man. Matt Williams also assaulted the record books for awhile around that time. Then, all of a sudden, Bonds, McGwire and Sosa demolish Maris' record which had stood for decades. These arguments obviously are not proof but I believe they are a good indication when things became seriously out of whack in baseball.
F 3FingeredGlove1,000+ posts
The ballplayers of the late 1950s and later have had easy access to both amphetamines and some steroids, especially testosterone, which was rather commonly prescribed to people generally for building up muscle, improving outlook on life, and a number of other reasons. The following link shows a connection between Mickey Mantle and Max Jacobson, the society physician called "Dr. Feelgood", who commonly administered amphetamines by injection. It is hard for people today to realize how casually these sorts of drugs were regarded. President Kennedy was receiving regular injections of testosterone, apparently in an attempt to increase his weight, and so conceal his health difficulties. Of course, another reason would be to improve performance, but not on the field!

I played contract bridge in the 60s and I can tell you that male players were getting testosterone injections, which they felt made them play with greater concentration and reduced fatigue. I'm not at all sure that T was effective for that, but it was the nature of the times. I also remember a high school friend -a body builder- who switched in 1961 from testosterone to something (I now realize that was steroids) else, because his physician dad had realized there were undesirable side effects from testosterone!

Would ballplayers have been using testosterone? Maybe, and not necessarily with an intent to enhance their baseball ability. It could have been simply regarded as a hangover cure, or a way to overcome tiredness, etc. Regardless of intent, performance likely would have been enhanced.
Voices of the Game
Last edited by 3FingeredGlove
ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
From the Mike & Mike show on the radio this morning, Clemens' numbers also support the theory that something dramatically happened in baseball about the time of the mid 90's as it did with the hitters.

In his last four years in Boston, he was a .500 pitcher and left the Red Sox after 1996 season at the age of 33 with a 10-13 record that season (same season that Brady Anderson hit 50 homeruns). The very next season in 1997 he improves to 21-7 with Toronto, follows that up with another 20 win season and from that point on his career improved dramatically from the previous four years of decline as he was getting "older." The general progression is for athletes to reach their peak around 28 years old and to gradually decline thereafter. Something happened where McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, Clemens, etc. defied this ages old pattern and saw their careers improve dramatically after they were "past" their primes. Something is rotten in Denmark and it ain't the new workout routines of the modern athlete.

Orlando said it really good in another thread, the problem is not about recognizing who was doing what and when, the problem is PED's and what do we do to eradicate them from the game now. We need to see people (e.g., Selig, Fehr, Schilling, Pettite, Vina, etc.) standing up and calling for the players Union and MLB to negotiate the most progressive/ aggressive testing policy in sports. That will be progress. I fear Selig will declare progress when he suspends Paul Byrd for following the advice of his dentist Roll Eyes

Regarding comments about Brady Anderson in the post above this one, here are comments from another famous Oriole in 2004:

quote:
Hall of Famer suspicious of Oriole's output
ESPN.com news services

Updated: March 16, 2004, 2:48 PM ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Jim Palmer has questions about Brady Anderson, his 50 homers in 1996 and steroids, but the Hall of Fame pitcher couldn't come up with definitive answers when pinned down about his suspicions.

In an interview broadcast on a Baltimore radio station Sunday, Palmer said that Anderson's Orioles-record 50-homer output might have been tainted by steroid use. Anderson's previous best was 21 homers in 1992 and his subsequent best was 24 in 1999. He hit 16 and 18 the seasons before and after he hit his 50.

"I like Brady, and it doesn't mean he's a bad guy because he took steroids," Palmer said in the interview, which was taped Saturday. "But I'm sure he wanted to enhance his performance.

"I don't know how he hit 29 more homers that year," said Palmer, who announces on Orioles telecasts. "And he hit 31 more on the road that year, so it's not like he took advantage of Camden Yards."

Palmer's quotes appeared in The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday. He was interviewed by radio station 98 Rock.

In the interview, Palmer also questioned Barry Bonds' performance in breaking Mark McGwire's single-season home run record in 2001, noting that his increased size and power could have come from an illegal source.

Asked Monday by The Sun to explain himself, Palmer said, "I don't know if Brady took steroids. How would I know? But he did go from [16] home runs to 50.

"When Bonds goes from 49 to 73, you just wonder," Palmer told the newspaper. "You're trying to have a level playing field and maintain the integrity of the game. I'm sure it was a great year for Brady, and it was a great year when Bonds broke McGwire's record, but you just wonder."

Palmer said he didn't mean to indict Anderson.

"It was a general comment on the state of the game," Palmer said to The Sun. "They need to deal with it, whether it's Congress or the commissioner and the players union, they're going to have to come up with something.

"I'm just saying it's a concern when you have aberrations in people's performances," Palmer said. "I know how hard Brady worked to be a good player. But who knows? You just don't know, and that's the fault of baseball, not Brady."
Last edited by ClevelandDad
J JT1,000+ posts
I would say steroids in baseball go back to at least the MID-80's. I gave a talk back in 88 to a group of HS football players...and the science and research goes back at least 10 years before that. Anyone remember the East German women's swim teams from the mid-70's? Just the law of averages would seem to dictate that there was an occasional dabbler in MLB by the early 80's...but my GUESSES are:
1. that it did not really catch on until the later 80's;
2. players found that MLB and the players union was NOT going to push the issue;
3. that CHICKS DIG THE LONG BALL;
4. that players who were not had to make a decision as to indulge or not...just to keep up with their peers;
5. more and more players found the stuff works;
6. MLB and the union were STILL not going to push the issue.
Q Quincy1,000+ posts
Steroids Were Banned In 1991

The Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice always has something interesting to say in his blog. Yesterday he cleared up a common misconception about steroids being banned only in recent years:

"Commissioner Fay Vincent sent the clubs a memo in 1991 reminding them that players were forbidden from taking any illegal substance. He specifically mention steroids in the memo and encouraged the clubs to take a get-tough policy on players thought to be using steroids.

What could a team have done if it suspected a player of using steroids? Probably nothing.

Vincent simply wanted to be on the record as letting the clubs know that steroid use was against the rules and that they shouldn't be afraid to confront a player.

There was no testing for steroids until 2003 (after being part of the 2002 labor agreement).

The notion that Bonds wasn't breaking any rules is ridiculous. He was. He knew he was."
ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
Pick almost any player who had a career that spanned the 80's though the late 90's and you will see funny things happening with their numbers starting about 1996 which like Clemens was well past the prime of their careers. 1996 is my answer CADad and I am sticking to it Roll Eyes I think Brady Anderson showed them all what the possibilities were in 1996.

Just for example (please don't anyone throw darts at me) observe the power numbers (doubles and homeruns) on these two players (two of my favorite players of all time) leading up to 1996 and the years following. Maybe there was something in the water in the mid 90's that produced a fountain of youth type effect??? Roll Eyes

http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ripkeca01.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/gwynnto01.shtml
TPMTPMHSBaseballweb Member since 2003
quote:
Originally posted by JT:
I would say steroids in baseball go back to at least the MID-80's. I gave a talk back in 88 to a group of HS football players...and the science and research goes back at least 10 years before that. Anyone remember the East German women's swim teams from the mid-70's? Just the law of averages would seem to dictate that there was an occasional dabbler in MLB by the early 80's...but my GUESSES are:
1. that it did not really catch on until the later 80's;
2. players found that MLB and the players union was NOT going to push the issue;
3. that CHICKS DIG THE LONG BALL;
4. that players who were not had to make a decision as to indulge or not...just to keep up with their peers;
5. more and more players found the stuff works;
6. MLB and the union were STILL not going to push the issue.


I agree with you JT. It began in the 80's but didn't really become more wide spread until around 1995-1996-1997.
P PGStaff10,000+ posts
Regarding large “abnormal” increases in number of home runs, here are some interesting stats.

Most Home Runs by leading HR hitter of his decade…
1870-1879: 20
1880-1889: 67
1890-1899: 79
1900-1909: 67
1910-1919: 116
1920-1929: 467 (Babe Ruth)
1930-1939: 415 (Jimmie Fox)
1940-1949: 234 (Ted Williams)
Skip forward
1980-1989: 313 (Mike Schmidt)
1990-1999: 405 (Mark McGwire)
2000-Present: 300 (Barry Bonds)

In 1919 Babe Ruth hit 29 Home Runs to break the record, Frank Baker was second with 10.

In 1920 Babe Ruth hit 54 Home Runs to break his own record, George Sisler had the second most with 19.

In 1921 Babe Ruth hit 59 Home Runs to break his own record, Bob Meusel was second with 24.

In the record breaking year of 1927 Babe Ruth hit 60 Home Runs, team mate Lou Gehrig finished second with 47 HRs, Tony Lazzeri finished with the third most with 18.

Just something to think about, FWIW

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