Short Notes: PED Journalism Back in Effect

By: dwil

There are two interesting articles worth reading in the New York Times. Michael S. Schmidt, the Times‘ resident PED guru,  details some of the rationales some baseball players feel the need to inject steroids and attempts to suss out whether or not players were tipped off to testing by the player’s union Here is a snippet from the article:

Even after Major League Baseball and its players union bowed to pressure and started a testing program in 2003, the All-Star third baseman — Troy Glaus of the Anaheim Angels — and the worn-down pitcher — his teammate Scott Schoeneweis — said they continued using steroids. (Steroids had been banned in baseball since 1991, but there was no way to enforce the ban until 2003.)

Glaus said he was “willing to take the risk” because he needed to play, according to a report written by the federal agent who interviewed him. Schoeneweis said he knew when players were tested because he was his team’s union representative, according to the report, though Schoeneweis said in an interview last month that the agent misinterpreted him. A basic tenet of effective drug testing is that the element of surprise is essential.

In a second article Schmidt tells us that St. Louis Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak wants to speak privately with Troy Glaus about his admission that he used steroids to recover from a shoulder injury in 2003-2004:

“Any time something like this resurfaces in the context of him currently going through rehab, it’s concerning,” Mozeliak said, according to The St. Louis Post Dispatch. “We’re still hopeful it’s something he can work through and at the end it’s unrelated.”

I bet that’s not all Mozeliak wants to discuss. Glaus’ admission puts him in MLB Commissioner Bud Selig’s crosshairs as the league began formal testing in 2003. Selig has exonerated other players who have admitted using steroids because each player indicated that he used steroids before MLB began its formal testing routine.

With Glaus, Selig faces a potential perception problem.

He cannot praise Glaus for “coming out of the closet” with his steroid use as the first baseman was named a year ago as a player who had been found by investigators to have used performance-enhancing drugs. His only recourse would seem to be to suspend Glaus retroactively for some meaningful number of games lest he be seen as a league commissioner who is insincere about his ‘getting tough on PEDs’ declarations.

Thirdly Schmidt conducted a Q&A with deposed doctor Ramon Scruggs. Here are examples of the back and forth between the two:

Q: What type of doctor are you?

A: Generally, an anti-aging doctor. It’s really corrective and preventive medicine. I really believe anabolic steroids and natural hormone replacement therapy are the best way to get health back at a certain age.

Q: Although you are pleading, you still believe steroids are helpful drugs?

A: They are probably the most beneficial thing in the physicians’ desk reference for aches and pains. It’s better than getting addicted to OxyContin. There’s even some research that some of them increase cartilage growth.

And at one point Schmidt attempts plays the kids card relative to steroids only to be cut off by Scruggs:

Q: Children have died from using steroids, like Taylor Hooton, who committed suicide because he experienced significant depression — a side effect of steroid use.

A: I have no experience with that. You are making a big leap. You can be depressed and use steroids, and that doesn’t mean you died from using steroids. If we had 3,000 children in America taking steroids and committing suicide I can see that, but one? My heart goes out to their family, I know they want to put a cause on this.

(I’ll have a commentary about this series of pieces in the near future.)

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