Something to consider when commenting on the dirty, dirty cheaters on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot: steroids were not invented in an evil lab underneath Oakland Coliseum in 1988 by Dr. Jose Canseco. They did not solely cheapen a record book that was pristine until the home run race of 1998.

In 1973, a Congressional subcommittee chaired by Harley Staggers released a report of their year-long investigation of drug use in professional sports, including baseball. They concluded that the use of amphetamines and anabolic steroids was “alarming”. Staggers met with Bowie Kuhn and Bud Selig and encouraged him to institute testing and penalties. Kuhn assured him the problem would be taken care of quietly. In the words of House Rep. Henry Waxman at the 2005 steroid hearings, “we know from 30 years of history, baseball failed to regulate itself”. Read Waxman’s full statement. 

So, can we go back to the Staggers report and start picking names to shame like we’ve done with the Mitchell report? No. Staggers was concerned that naming famous athletes and compelling them to testify might actually encourage steroid use for impressionable youth. An effort was made between Staggers’ subcommittee and commissioners of major sports leagues to try and solve the problem quietly, without publicity.

So did your favorite player from the 60’s or 70’s use steroids? We don’t know. But given Tom House’s estimation that more than 50% of pitchers were experimenting with any steroids they could find or growth hormone in the 60’s and 70’s (no reason to assume the number would be drastically lower for hitters), it’s pretty reasonable to assume that a notable number of players throughout the league used. House famously was quoted as saying we never felt we got beat, we got out miligrammed. And when you found out what they were taking, you started taking them.” House described the dynamic as similar to the majors in recent years: Players knew their competition had chemical help and felt compelled to keep pace. Read more about what he said.

And there’s certainly users in the Hall. The knowledge that a significant number of players used, and the more present results of how steroids can help players, make it very illogical to assume that the only users were scrubs and the greats who were later enshrined were all the non-users. In fact, Eric Byrnes made it a point to call out a Hall of Famer from the 70’s who was a user (he withheld the name).  Read his full article. 

If you still want to rail against steroid users in the Hall, go for it. Just don’t pretend the records broken and milestones reached by Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod and McGwire were previously only reached by players who didn’t have outside help from what Staggers described in 1973 as “illegal and dangerous drugs” being used. When you say “juicers don’t belong”, “no cheaters in the Hall”, etc., understand that the barn doors swung open long ago to cheaters drug users, including steroids. The difference between now and then isn’t drug use; it’s that MLB, the media, and even the government are no longer willing to help hide the use and the users.

This Article was published by Lee Stanton and shared here with his permission.
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