When Did Steroids Use Become Cheating In MLB?

by giantsrainman on Apr 27, 2011 3:54 PM EDT

In order to have the ability to later compare the Amphetamines Poll with this Steroids Poll I am going to use the same 5 possible answers. I will however adjust four of these answers slightly to account for the following four slightly different historical circumstances. 1) The first know use of steroids in MLB was in the early 1970s by Tom House who admitted his use but it is possible that use by others could have occured as early as right after WWII just as amphetamines use did since both were available then and legal without a prescription. 2) Steroids were not included in the original 1971 Controlled Substances Act but were added much later in 1990 with an amendment. 3) In 2004 MLB and the MLBPA agreed to testing with penalties for steroids use two years earlier then their 2006 agreement on testing with penalties for amphetamines use. 4) Unlike amphetamines it is very difficult to get a "therapeutic use exemption" for steroids as I am not aware of any such "exemption" having ever been granted.

Poll

When did steroids use become cheating in MLB?

It has always been cheating since it's first use by a MLB player be that Tom House in the early 1970's or some unknown player even earlier.

2 votes

In 1990 when the Controlled Substances Act was amended to include steroids.

20 votes

In 1991 when Fay Vincent's Drug Policy Letter declared that the use of any illegal drug was strickly forbidden by any MLB or MiLB personnel including players.

12 votes

In 2004 when MLB and the MLBPA agreed to randomly test and punish for their use.

25 votes

It has never been cheating as even today it should be easy to get a "therapeutic use exemption" to use them to help recover from injuries.

4 votes

63 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 11 comments | 2 recs |

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Comments

Question for those choosing 1990.

How could this matter for players that lived and trained in the off season in the DR where steroids are still legally available today without a prescription? I mean these players use in the DR was not in violation of any law or MLB rule so how could it be cheating? If these players could use without cheating then why couldn’t other players level the playing field and use too and also not be cheating even if their use violated US law?

by puck_017 on May 2, 2011 7:58 PM EDT reply actions

Were their paychecks coming from the DR?

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by Warden11 on May 3, 2011 8:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Why would that matter?

What they do in the off season to train outside of the US is not controlled in any way by the laws of the US but rather by the laws of the country they are in while they are training. You are reaching and just do not have a valid reason to believe US law makes such activity cheating.

by puck_017 on May 3, 2011 1:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Illegal activity in the country where their paychecks were coming from.

If something is illegal in the country the sport is played, should that organization really have to ban it? Or should the people employed by that organization respect the laws of the country?

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by Warden11 on May 18, 2011 10:29 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes, the organization most certainly should.

If I was a native of Sweden and choose to party with pot and hookers when I returned to Sweden for my lucrative 3+ months of vacation from my US job I sure would not care what the laws of the US were while I was back in Sweden. I see no reason why this should be any different for baseball players spending their offseason in the DR and deciding to use or not use steroids. If my employer wants me to abstain from pot and hookers while in Sweden he needs to make such behavior a violation of company rules just as baseball must for players using steroids while in the DR.

by puck_017 on May 20, 2011 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Cheating is gaining an unfair advantage. Steroid use became cheating in 1990 because it became an advantage that users would have over those players who chose to obey the law (whatever their actual motivation for doing so was). The fact that so few players voluntarily admitted to steroid prior to the 2004 indicates to me that the users knew at least at some level they were cheating in some fashion.

A DR player who goes home and takes steroids in the off season may not be breaking the law in that country but they still have an unfair advantage over a player who lives elsewhere and cannot take steroid legally. That’s cheating.

by siggian on May 4, 2011 2:15 PM EDT up reply actions

MLB Players Are Mobile

They all have (even those making MLB min) more then enough money to live and train anywhere in the world they choose to. Any that wanted to use steroids in their offseason can thus choose to live and train in the DR. Thus this option is available to all which means no player has an unfair advantage over any other player but rather everything is simply a matter of choice.

by giantsrainman on May 14, 2011 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions

All MLB players have the financial wherewithall to live and train in the DR during the offseason if they so desire.

Therefore citizens of the DR would not have an advantage that is not available to players that are citizens of other countries. this whole “it was against the US law” agrument jsut does not have any logical basis to stand upon.

by puck_017 on May 4, 2011 2:30 PM EDT reply actions

By the way, the "it was against the US law" argument means the HOF is full of cheaters that played after 1971 when amphetamines were outlawed in the US.

by puck_017 on May 4, 2011 2:33 PM EDT reply actions

There's a similar post that has an amphetamines poll

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2011/4/22/2127917/when-did-amphetamines-use-become-cheating-in-mlb

Comparison of the two results seem pretty consistent right now.

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by hotspur on May 14, 2011 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions

I think amphetamines had bigger effect on MLB than steroids

There is no real evidence that steriods helped players get better in any way. Greenies, on the other hand, allowed players to play at their full abilities when they would have been otherwise tired. And professors attest to the uselessness of HGH in juicing performance in baseball, the baseball sabermetrician discussed that at his website once or twice.

This site has great info on what the author, Eric Walker of The Sinister Firstbaseman and A’s organizational handbook, thinks of steroids and other PEDs plus I’m providing his analysis of what really created the now apparently past era of offensive baseball (simply: he thinks the ball was juiced):

http://steroids-and-baseball.com/
http://highboskage.com/juiced-ball.shtml

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by obsessivegiantscompulsive on May 10, 2011 5:19 PM EDT reply actions