Major League Baseball Case Study

WARNING: May Cause Severe Realization

Major League Baseball (MLB) was in a prosperous state in the early 90’s, attendance

was growing; the Oakland Athletics, the Atlanta Braves, and the Toronto Blue Jays seemed to

be in the World Series almost every year. The baseball world was as happy as could be, until the

one fateful day in August of 1994. On August 12, 1994, The Major League Baseball Player

Association (MLBPA), decided enough was enough and that they would stop playing. The main

issue the MLBPA had was that the owners wanted a salary cap and shared television revenue

amongst the league, which would help the small market teams be able to compete in a fairer

manor. More importantly, the owners wanted to achieve a higher profit. This walk-out

came
after numerous of labor agreement meetings that made zero to little progress throughout the
year. So with the 1994 playoffs being cancelled and replacement players were rumored to be
used in the 1995 season, fans became very disinterested in the product. That disinterest
continued until the peak of an era arrived, the steroid era. The steroid era was imperative for
major league baseball in order to climb out of the hole it dug itself in following the 1994 players
strike because of the fact that the proper use of anabolic steroids aren't as dangerous as the
media portrays them and use of anabolic steroids provided an increase in popularity across the
country, especially in attendance numbers, and revenue.
Dating back to the early 90’s, steroid use was really known for being popular amongst
the professional wrestling and body building community and unpopular in the public eye. Here
and there, other sports had some athletes experiment and utilize the effects of steroid use and
that lead to scrutiny from all sorts of media outlets throughout the United States and even
throughout the globe. Though the scrutiny was based on the notion that using anabolic steroids

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is considered cheating, a bigger factor was that it was considered dangerous amongst the
general population. On October 22, 2004, now Vice President, Joe Biden, spoke in Washington
D.C. at a grand jury hearing with former MLB baseball players about a new law that would
make a tougher stand against anabolic steroids, “It teaches [children] that they should use
steroids or steroid precursors to get ahead and win the game; that cheating is OK. This offends
me to my core. The United States is the ultimate meritocracy and it is absolutely un-American
to take a performance-enhancing drug to get an unfair competitive advantage" (Biden). So it is
un-American to take a substance that gives someone a competitive advantage over others. Sure
it makes sense, but when one looks at the history of baseball, can one honestly say that Major
League Baseball has had a clean past before the steroid era? Well, Joe Niekro, a famous knuckle
ball pitcher, was caught with an emery board in his pocket which gave him a competitive
advantage. Gaylord Perry, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, has been known to put
Vaseline on baseball when he pitched which also gave him a competitive advantage. Also,
Whitey Ford, a New York Yankee Hall of Famer, has gone on record saying that he used to put
baby oil, turpentine, and resin on a ball to help him gain a competitive advantage, and that’s
just to name a few. All of these sound similar, athletes using substances to gain a competitive
advantage, but according to Joe Biden, these times in baseball were being destroyed because of
anabolic steroids. In a more personal example, Christopher Bell, a filmmaker and former World
Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) creative writer, made a documentary about steroid use in
sports and a big theme discussed was whether the use of anabolic steroids was “American” or
not. Bell talks about how his brothers and other “gym rats” used anabolic steroids during

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interviews with them. They all had a similar answer when it came to why they took anabolic
steroids, and it was to be the best at what they did. Chris’ brother Mark had aspirations to be a
pro wrestler before he started a family, then he decided that power lifting would become his
sport. Mark used anabolic steroids. When he was asked in the movie why, he proclaimed,
“There’s no excuse to not be as strong as possible, to do whatever possible to be the best. If
you are apprehensive about using a steroid or using new methods you don’t have what it takes
to be a champion”(Bigger, Faster, Stronger). So this draws back to Joe Biden’s comments of
using anabolic steroids as being un-American. Well, we have hall of famers that bended the
rules to gain an advantage, so why does the athlete who uses anabolic steroids carry the
burden? Though the moral issues of anabolic steroids tend to be the hot button topic, the
media’s portrayal of the dangers of anabolic steroids is an even bigger issue.
The dangers of anabolic steroids are similar to the dangers of cocaine and ecstasy; or at
least that’s what the media makes them out to be. Drugs that make people go crazy and have a
resounding amount of health issues. Such health risks are highlighted in an article published on
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website as, “They include fertility problems,
impotence, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and heart and liver abnormalities. Both boys
and girls may also experience mood swings and aggressive behavior, which can impact the lives
not only of those taking anabolic steroids, but of everyone around them” (Mohamadi). While it
is true that these problems tend to occur, they are reversible for men, once you go off the drug
and if properly controlled the side effects can be very minor. A big reason why the media had
such a big reason to blame anabolic steroids was that Lyle Alzado, a former professional

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football player and steroid user, proclaimed that anabolic steroids caused his inoperable brain
cancer. From a New York Times article published in July of 1991, Alzado claims that, “’In my
comeback attempt,’ Alzado was saying Saturday night on ‘First Person with Maria Shriver’ on
NBC, ‘I used a certain steroid that caused me to lower my immune system”’ (Anderson). From
there, news broadcasts and other forms of media from all over the place began using anabolic
steroids as the scapegoat for his death and even Chris Benoit’s death without presenting proper
research. Benoit was a professional wrestler who was believed to go on a “roid-rage” and killed
his wife and son, then himself. “Roid-rage” simply put is when someone is on anabolic steroids
goes on a random rage because of the increase of testosterone. The immediate reasoning
amongst almost everyone was his use of anabolic steroids. The underlying fact that most
people don’t take into consideration is that both of these men who had passed were in a
sport/entertainment that had a lot of head contact and head injury.

On top of that, painkiller

addiction is a very kept under the rug issue that most people don’t talk too much about. With

new information about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) which is described by the

sports legacy institute, “Is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes

(and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma.” And the side effects being, “The brain

degeneration is associated with memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, paranoia, impulse

control problems, aggression, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia” (What is

CTE?). These are the symptoms that are associated with what people call the dangerous side

effect of anabolic steroids, “roid-rage.” It all tends to make a somewhat of an obvious

connection, yet the media and the general public insists on anabolic steroid use to be a killer

when in fact it can save lives, just like it saved Jeff Taylor’s life.

Jeff was diagnosed with HIV several years ago and started using anabolic steroids as a

treatment after many painful days in the hospital. He then explains that his health increased

an
extraordinary amount. His weight increased and most importantly, his T-cell count rose from 2
to over 300. Jeff states that if it weren’t for proper use of anabolic steroids, he wouldn’t be
alive. Using these anabolic steroids for health purposes is a big factor as to why athletes use
anabolic steroids, to recover faster. Playing in a 162 game season makes it tough to maintain
health, which is part of the reason home run legend Mark McGwire says he used them. He told
Bob Costas on the MLB Network, which was then reported on an article published by ESPN, "I
believe I was given this gift. The only reason I took steroids was for health
purposes"(Weinbaum). Being able to hit a baseball is regarded as one of the toughest things to
do in sports, so it makes sense that taking anabolic steroids didn’t necessarily make him hit
better. For the most part, it helped him recover from the grueling season and develop more
strength which lead to him hitting more home runs. The more home runs hit lead to a more
exciting product in the MLB and during that time, resurgence in popularity was needed
following the 1994 players strike. That resurgence was brought upon by the infamous steroid
era.
To the common fan, the home run is the single most exciting play in baseball. That’s
why baseball became so popular once again in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. The popularity
certainly shows in terms of the attendance figures following the 1994 strike. According to a
chart listing the attendance numbers provided by MLB that was published by the USA Today
(AP), shows that following 1995, which was the year most impacted by the strike, attendance
averages increased. Average attendance went from 25,260 fans in the year 1995 to 28,288 fans
in the year of 1997. This spike of approximately 3,000 fans happened during the time when
Mark McGwire hit 58 home runs in one season, only 3 away from Roger Maris’ single season
homerun record. That mark was once again in jeopardy and was eventually broken by both
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in an epic home run chase that ended in McGwire hitting 70
home runs in the 1998 season. Yes, attendance did increase in 1998 by about 1,000 fans. That
trend continued until Barry Bonds then broke McGwire’s record by smashing 71 home runs in
2001. Then finally when Bonds was reaching Hank Aaron’s all time record of 755 home runs in
2007 and eventually hitting 762 to be the new home run king of baseball. As one could guess,
the attendance numbers kept increasing to where it was at a high of 32,785 fans. 2007 pretty
much marked the end of the steroid era and during it’s time it brought average attendance
numbers from 25,260 in 1995 to 32,785 fans in 2007, which is outstanding for baseball’s sake.
The popularity of the game increasing during the steroid era directly correlates to the
attendance increase that was evident during the same time. While the attendance figures are
important, overall revenue increased as well.
Just like the attendance increase, revenue increased a substantial amount during the
steroid era.

The “God-Father” of steroids in baseball, Jose Canseco, wrote in his tell-all book

Juiced, “[Major League Baseball] wanted steroids in the game to make it more exciting, hoping

they would be able to build popularity back up after the disastrous cancellation of the 1994

World Series. So when I taught other players how to use steroids, no one lifter a finger to stop

me” (Canseco, 4). It makes sense that the owners wouldn’t want to say anything about any

suspicions they had, considering the owners were reaping the benefits. According to an article

published on Forbes, “annual baseball revenues have soared from $3.6 billion in 2003 to over

$8 billion in 2013 (revenues were $1.9 billion in 1993). Forecasts put revenues as high as $9

billion in 2014” (Rein). To go from $1.9 billion just before the strike to $3.6 billion toward the

end of the steroid era is fantastic and for it to continue to increase after the steroid era is even

better for MLB. With the numbers in place, it is obvious that fans tend to appreciate and invest

into a type of product in baseball that was more exciting than anyone had seen before, a game

that was filled with home runs and larger than life athletes.

Anabolic steroids have had a huge impact on sports over the past couple of decades.

For
the most part it has been viewed as an egregious drug that causes nothing but pain and
suffering like the incident of Chris Benoit and the death of Lyle Alzado. Portrayals of
information that doesn’t quite exist make people have that the assumptions that anabolic
steroids as being similar to cocaine, in terms of its danger. Now, anabolic steroids can have a
new label, a label that offers health benefits to those who may not have the best opportunity to
live, such as, Jeff Taylor. The rhetoric is changing, now that there is new information and that is
something the world shouldn’t be afraid of. It’s time to stop out casting those in baseball who
took anabolic steroids, for when those who took them, were only trying to take advantage of
the opportunity that presented itself. To be the best it sometimes takes a bending of the rule,
like putting some gunk on a baseball, or keeping a file in one’s pocket to help throw a better
knuckleball, and even corking a bat. It’s time to let those who broke records in the steroid era in
the Baseball Hall of Fame because others reaped the benefits of having gained competitive
advantages, so why not these men of the steroid era? It’s time to accept the truth about
anabolic steroids and to accept them in a new way, as the savior of baseball.