Beginning In 1985, as owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, Bud Selig and numerous other owners colluded to undermine free agency by agreeing not to sign other teams’ free agents. The owners were taken to court and eventually ended up paying 280 million in damages to the players. It was with this failed attempt at collusion that the seeds of the 1994 work stoppage were sewn. In 1992, Fay Vincent, then Commissioner of Baseball, openly criticized [...]

The current period of baseball has often been labeled the “Post-Steroid Era”, but there is nothing “post” about it. Yesterday we learned that over 90 baseball players’ names lie within the records of the now infamous Miami Biogenesis clinic; enough athletes to field ten teams. We talk about steroids as if it’s a thing of the past–something of the days of Clemens, Bonds and McGwire — yet it is seemingly as present as ever. There [...]

I am so excited to receive my copy of Mike Piazza’s autobiography, Long Shot, which I pre-ordered several weeks ago. But of course, I can’t control myself in reading all the news stories about what is actually in the book before I read it for myself. So that leads me to a very intriguing discussion. Piazza admitted in his book to using androstenedione and Ephedra before the substances were banned, according to the New York [...]

I once heard an interview where a player gave his estimation of how many players were on some sort of performance enhancing drug when he played in the early 2000s. He said it was ninety percent of the players—in other words, nine out of ten guys. Let that marinate for a second. I don’t remember who the player was, but I certainly believe that stat to be fairly accurate. It always made me wonder why [...]

As I was driving home the other night, I was listening to Casey Stern and Jim Bowden on the MLB Network Radio channel on XM. They were discussing with Jill Painter, the L.A. Daily News sports columnist, the Baseball Hall of Fame vote which took place Wednesday. This is the same Jill Painter, member of the Baseball Writers Association of America who thought it made perfect sense to cast one of her Hall of Fame [...]

In the wake of the Ryan Braun steroid decision, performance-enhancing drugs have been a hot topic of late. Whether you agree or disagree with the decision, we can all agree that the steroid problem goes way beyond the development of tolerance. I sat down with former Major Leaguer Frank Tepedino to discuss the topic. Tepedino’s career spanned parts of eight seasons from 1967-1975. He played for the New York Yankees, Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves. Though [...]

As all of us grow older, the players we grew up enjoying, emulating and idolizing, have since retired leaving us nostalgic for days gone by. I remember the first time I read the back of a baseball card and found a player born the year I entered high school. Age had finally caught up to me. Sure I wasn’t ready for shuffle board at The Villages or for dinner at 3, nonetheless it hit me. [...]

The following paragraph is part of a letter that I wrote – it was published in the New York Times on January 26, 2004. “President Bush mentioned the issue of steroids in sports in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 21, 2004. As a lifelong baseball fan, I am very concerned about the effect of steroids on the integrity of baseball and its players, statistics, records and history. Let’s hope that this [...]

Safe to say none of us were really shocked when Mark McGwire admitted using steroids. The court of public opinion had already found him guilty and on Monday Big Mac admitted what we all suspected and knew in our hearts for years. It does, however, give us reason to look at the long term effects on the game cause by PED’s. In my opinion, the impact and destructive nature of Steroids is one that will [...]

As we all know Manny Ramirez has tested positive for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED’s) and will serve a 50 game suspension under the drug policy instituted by Major League Baseball.  To be clear Manny did not use a steroid.  The drug found in his system Human Chorionic Gonadatropin (HCG).  Wikipedia identifies the intended use for the drug as: a glycoprotein hormone produced in pregnancy that is made by the developing embryo soon after conception and [...]