The dark side of the power surge

Sporting News, The, July 30, 2001 by Ken Rosenthal

Luis Gonzalez is sitting shirtless at his locker, looking like baseball's version of the skinny kid who got sand kicked in his face. If Gonzalez is on steroids, then I'm on hallucinogens. But every slugger is under suspicion these days.

Oh, the sport is rolling merrily along, producing bulked-up revenues, flexing its pharmaceutically enhanced muscles. Ban steroids? Sorry, more research is needed. Test for them? Sorry, union approval is required.

Fans who debate whether Chan Ho Park grooved a home-run pitch to Cal Ripken in the All-Star Game are missing the true scandal. Steroids are legal in Major League Baseball, even though they're jeopardizing the players' health and damaging the sport's credibility.

A month ago, I advised fans to "trust the art, not the artist." Well, I no longer trust either. I don't know which players are using steroids to stimulate muscle growth. I don't know which achievements are real and which are artificial.

I know one thing: Steroids are wreaking havoc on the generational comparisons that are unique to baseball: 70 home runs in a season vs. 61, for example. And I know that when even an innocent like Gonzalez becomes the subject of cynicism, then baseball has a problem far greater than it cares to admit.

"You see me. I weigh 195 pounds," says Gonzalez, who was on a 63-homer pace entering the week. "I'm sure people are out there going, `Yeah, he's got to be on something.' They're entitled to their opinions. But I've never tried (steroids) and never will. I just believe that if you go out and work hard, good things are going to happen."

But that's not always how it works these days.

"Baseball has done a great job with smokeless tobacco," Padres G.M. Kevin Towers says. "There are fewer and fewer players dipping. Alcohol and cocaine abuse are not what they used to be. Your big problem right now is steroids."

Gonzalez's Diamondbacks teammate Mark Grace describes steroid use among major leaguers as "prevalent." A general manager who spoke under condition of anonymity, reflecting the sensitivity of the issue, chose the word "rampant."

What, pray tell, will be done about it?

Nothing, predicts Charles E. Yesalis, a Penn State professor who is a recognized expert on steroids and co-author of The Steroids Game.

"There's no financial incentive to clean this up," Yesalis says. "I haven't seen anyone taking to the streets, or the ballparks emptying or television contracts being canceled. I'm not sure fans care. They say they care, but I don't think they care enough to alter their viewing behavior, which is the only thing that will get the attention of Major League Baseball."

Naturally, MLB claims otherwise.

Commissioner Bud Selig says he has "concerns" over steroid use. Robert Manfred, baseball's top labor relations official, has said that baseball wants to implement testing. But Gene Orza, the union's associate general counsel, has questioned whether steroids enhance baseball performance. That's a good one.

Random testing seemingly would be a positive first step, but it wouldn't eliminate some gray areas that envelop this issue like a mushroom cloud: In testing used by the NFL, NCAA and International Olympic Committee, among other sports organizations, athletes frequently outwit the testers or dispute the results. "My only conclusion," Yesalis observes, "is that only careless and stupid people get caught."

Also, the long-term effects of steroid use are unknown. Baseball's power surge in recent seasons can be attributed to other variables, including greater emphasis on conditioning and nutrition. For instance, Scott Boras, the agent for Barry Bonds, says Bonds is 10 pounds lighter at 37 than he was at 32 and is in better overall shape.

Individual rights are another concern. The average person can purchase androstenedione--controversial hormone that Mark McGwire revealed he used in 1998--in over-the-counter diet supplements. Why shouldn't a baseball player enjoy the same freedom?

Well, many scientists consider andro to be a steroid, and two Harvard researchers hired jointly by MLB and the players' union concluded last year that it raises testosterone above normal levels and could be hazardous. Predictably, officials from both MLB and the union called for additional studies, avoiding the issue.

Maybe they should listen to our anonymous G.M.: "We've become more concerned about minor league guys than major league guys. Usually, it's the minor league guys who change overnight, become prospects when they weren't prospects before. That's why we've been reluctant to release guys until we've seen them the following spring."

Maybe they should listen to the Padres' Towers: "I worry more about high school and college players. The (major leaguers) are role models. If (young players) see big-league guys dipping (tobacco), they think that they should dip. If they hear guys having success with supplements, taking steroids, they're going to try it."

Diamondbacks pitcher Curt Schilling says steroids are "prohibitive as much as productive," increasing the risk of injury for users who add too much bulk. That's a major problem for the clubs, considering how much money they invest in players. Their leading evaluators can't trust what they're seeing, either.