Steroids In Baseball: Rampant and Obvious

Have you seen a picture of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire or Jose Canseco during the early stages of their careers? It's completely hilarious. They are stick-figures with skinny arms and legs pointing out from their uniforms. They don't even resemble their future selves. Those were the pre-juice days.

Today in Washington, several players will testify before congress regarding their use of steroids. Whether they talk or plead the fifth, we all know what went down.

Their appearance changed drastically. Several players around the big leagues put on 30-40 pounds of raw muscle over the course of a winter or two. Along with the improved appearance, their production spiked as well. In a previous column, I broke down Barry Bonds' power stats from when he was young and skinny compared to when he was old and ripped. The numbers (nearly twice as many home runs coming after the age of 31) speak for themselves.

But there are other things that suggest the presence of steroids. Major League Baseball's newest policy, which was supposed to be so tough on steroids, contains a provision that testing would be suspended immediately if the government conducts an independent investigation into drug use in baseball. Think they might have something to hide?

Also, according to the Boston Herald, MLB's political action committee contributed $216,788 to members of congress during the 2003-2004 election cycle. Those congressmen included a ranking Democrat on the committee investigating steroids in baseball. That, along with everything else, is quite a coincidence.

After all the players who have come clean and admitted guilt, it's foolish to believe steroids aren't prevalent in baseball. What that means (i.e. should some records have asterisks?) is a debate for another day.