Buster Olney reports (paywall) that a war is exactly what most MLB players want:
I’ve written this here before and it’s worth repeating now: In 1995, the players used as replacements during the MLBPA’s strike were treated as scabs thereafter, because they were perceived to be a threat to the union’s stance, and to the other players’ ability to make a living. Well, in 2013, players who choose to take performance-enhancing drugs to gain a competitive advantage over other union members are a far greater threat than the replacement players ever were, and worthy of much harsher treatment from their brethren. Because the players who choose to cheat have effectively chosen to try to take jobs and money illicitly from other union members.
Jonah Keri observes:
Fifteen, 20 years ago, the league and mainstream media were both content to let players smash home runs and fire 97-mph fastballs while said players consumed performance-enhancing substances; the league hadn’t properly codified which substances were allowed and which ones were not, while the media wrote fawning profiles of players who were later found to have used. No one likes to get duped, especially publicly. So we got an onslaught of hysterical articles slamming the league and its players for the spread of PED use. And now we have a league determined to beat back any criticism of its policies, even if it means suspending minor leaguers with flimsy evidence because they can’t defend themselves [because they don’t have a union], firing arbitrators for making honest decisions with which the league didn’t agree, and building cases based largely on the testimony of a broke alleged drug dealer.
Readers chime in:
I don’t have stats or figures or anything resembling first-hand knowledge, but I still think it’s worth pointing out the difference in the two situations. The drug war has been a decades-long bust. It has created many more problems than it has solved, and has not gotten near reducing drug-usage or any of its social or political or economic side-effects. The baseball war on steroids, however, has certainly been a success.
The period of time from 1996-2010 alone saw the amount of people with 600+ career home runs more than double (Ruth, Aaron and Mays have been joined by five others). Records and precedent were constantly smashed, from Brady Andersons’s 50+ home runs as a leadoff hitter to the single-season home-run record being broken several times over. Of course, most importantly, many of these feats happened in the twilight of players careers, and statistically, Bonds, McGwire and Sosa (not to mention Clemens) had most or some of their best seasons in their 30s. Most athletes bodies break-down as they age, not get better (see: Ken Griffey Jr.).
Since baseball started getting serious about drug testing (not that it’s been a perfect system or successful quite yet), we have seen a return to the status quo. Albert Pujols, after one of the finest first-ten years of baseball ever, is slowing down. Derek Jeter’s been nursing an injury since last October, and has seen most of his stats trickle downwards. Alex Rodriguez has been injured consistently the last two years, as well. Star pitchers like Steve Strasburg or Josh Beckett and Cliff Lee are also breaking down in totally normal ways, that we just didn’t seem to see during the most prominent portion of the steroid era.
There will always be “cheats”, and as many point out, baseball has a wonderful history full of sign stealing, spit balls, and other questionable acts. But steroids are very rarely if ever now tainting the game and de-legitimizing it in ways that was prevalent a few years ago. Policies are definitely working and having an effect. The same cannot be said of the drug war.
Another:
The baseball steroid issue and war on drugs analogy is appropriate, but not for the reasons listed. The real issue is more free market oriented, i.e. about the money. Just as an inner city teen may wonder why he should work for minimum wage at McDonalds when he could make a ton of money selling drugs, look the income and lifestyle discrepancy between minor league baseball players and major league players. In the minors, you ride a bus from Rochester to Brooklyn and salaries range from $30-$125k a year. In the majors you get a private plane flying you from city to city and the league minimum of $480,000. If the steroids can bump you from the minors to the majors, that’s an immediate 284% (minimum) increase in your salary. And MLB clubs can’t void your contract if you test positive for PEDs.
The Dish 