Part 1. Baseball, Performance enhancing drugs and Bonds

I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about Baseball and performance enhancing drugs. Performance enhancing drugs (hereafter referred to as "PEDs''…because I’m lazy and don’t want to type it out each time) have to be seen in historical context. PEDs by definition create competitive advantage, but Baseball has always had eras of competitive advantage.

From its inception through approximately the First World War is referred to as “the dead ball era”. This was due to the ball itself being of poor and varied quality. Any ball used in play for a short time became soft and misshapen making it very difficult to hit any distance, hence, “dead ball”. Predictably, pitching dominated this era. In fact the award for the best pitcher in Baseball each year is “The Cy Young Award” named for a pitcher from this time. Pitching had the competitive advantage.

Following this was what is referred to as the “Golden Age of Baseball” lasting until the Second World War. Again we’ll examine this era from the view of pitching. The ball had been improved and standardized, but Baseball was segregated and non-white players were excluded. This meant that the hitters of this era were facing some pitcher who clearly would have been in the Minor Leagues if all pitchers, regardless of color, had been given the opportunity. Yet the offensive records of this time are considered “The Holy Grail”, time honored standards by which all players are measured. But theses stats are inflated by the competitive advantage the hitters enjoyed.

Desegregation came after WWII, along with the open use of amphetamines. These factors contributed to a resurgence of pitching. Pitcher started throwing complete games, no-hitters and recording 20+ victories a year. Some of the most revered names in Baseball history pitched during this time. Names like, Whitey Ford, Bob Fellar, Don Newcomb, Sal Magli, and later Sandy Kofax, Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson. In response to the pitching dominance, Baseball lowered the pitching mound after the 1969 season. But Bob Gibson’s Earned Run Average (ERA) still ranks as the best all time. There is no mention of the competitive advantage of a taller mound in the record books.

The use of amphetamines affected all players (in fact, Baseball did not stop this practice until 2004).Only when one of the “Holy Grail” records was threatened did Baseball react. In 1961 Roger Maris and Mickey Mantel were closing in on Babe Ruth’s 60 home run mark. The commissioner announces that anyone breaking the record would have an asterisk placed on the new record. He reasoned that since players now played 8 more games a year (162 vs. 154) current players had more chances to hit a given number of home runs. To protect this record by focusing on 8 games while ignoring the fact that Ruth never batted against non white pitchers reveals Baseball’s true motives, glorifying its mythology, while ignoring its mistakes, and preserving the competitive advantage Ruth enjoyed.

In the early 1970’s came free agency which caused the game to focus on individual stats rather than team performance. This put the richest, large market teams, in a competitive advantage over time. They could control all the talent. Which made PED’s attractive to any “star” players (higher stats = higher pay). But more insipidly it made the marginal players understand they needed to use PED’s or risk losing their jobs to someone in the minors who did. The Union did not care, the higher the “star” player’s salaries, the higher the average, the higher the average, the higher the minimum. The Union played on Managements greed to drive up player’s earnings. Management did not care since the large market teams, with high TV revenues, drove the MLB profits. So they ignored the competitive advantage of the large market teams and the stats of the PED players.


There were many articles written about the “power surge” in the late 1980’s and early 90’s. The surge was rationalized by pointing out the smaller new ball parks and dilution of pitching talent (funny, they don’t talk about this when the “Golden Age” comes up). They even came up with the theory that the factories producing baseballs in Latin America were winding the balls tighter (remember that one?) In fact Baseball knew the players were using PEDs. Baseball made vague reference to it by saying the “surge” could be due to “better conditioning” by the players. But they loved the power surge and had little reason to do anything about it. It made Baseball interesting and sold tickets. So they ignored the PEDs.

Then, in 1994, came the lockout which destroyed a season and cancelled a World Series.

Baseball had to do something to bring the fans back to the ball parks. It had to be seen as attractive and exciting. So they turned a blind eye to PEDs during negotiations with the players Union and started advertising the “power surge”. You might not remember the TV ads, but I do. Greg Maddox and Tom Glavin discover that “chicks dig the long ball”. They start working out, taking extra batting practice and in time can hit home runs. At the end the two of them are stretching before a game and up comes Heather Lockyer, she says “hi Greg”, he responds “hi Heather” with great anticipation that his hitting has attracted her to him. Then she asks “Have you seen Mark” (referring to Mark McGwire, the most prolific home run hitter of the era) to his complete consternation. The ad overtly states that home runs make Baseball and players desirable.