US Baseball’s Drug Scandal Misses the Point

The Kensington Review does not approve of drug use without the direction of a medical professional or at very least some cognizance of what the substance does when ingested. That includes caffeine, alcohol and nicotine as well as Viagra, Lipitor and Zoloft. At the same time, no one should prohibit the same as the social costs of prohibition outweigh the health benefits. So, the recent tizzy about steroid use by baseball stars is a disgusting and laughable, holier-than-thou snit that misses the one important fact in the case.

Some facts about legal drug use in America suggest an over-reliance on chemistry and not enough on self. The Department of Health and Human Services said that 44% of those surveyed during 1999 and 2000 were on prescription medication, up from 39% surveyed in the period 1988-1994. Half of those 65 and older are on at least one prescription drug. Drug expenditures have increased at least 15% each year since 1998. And there appears to be a link between anti-depressant use (under medical supervision) and teenage suicide – 10% of women and 4% of men take these happy pills. “If there’s something wrong, there must be a pill for it” should hang above the entrance to the Food and Drug Administration.

And yet, steroid use by home run hitters and testosterone shots for outfielders (patches apparently are women’s delivery systems, and unsafe) has baseball writers demanding that records be de-recognized, owners trying to weasel out of contracts, and beer-swilling fans are complaining about being cheated of the purity of the game. Hitting the ball farther only counts, it seems, if the chemistry in the body is “pure.” Forget the muscle-building, yet quite unnatural, weight-lifting. Ignore the vitamin and mineral supplements that are legal but just as phony. Barry Bonds still hit 700 home runs, and if official baseball doesn’t want to count them, fine. But it still happened.

What has been forgotten in all of this righteous indignation is a matter of epistemology and law. Just how is it that the public has learned of Jason Giambi’s admission of steroid use? Grand jury testimony has been leaked to the press, that’s how. If ever there was a matter for agitation, the undermining of the judicial system of America is it. Grand jury testimony is not for public consumption. While no reporter should ever be sanctioned for reporting facts, just who leaked this information, and why isn’t there any outcry from the pundits about this? Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield’s internal body chemistry is not going to endanger American democracy. Leaking grand jury testimony actually might.

At the end of the day, it is unfortunate that some kid will take a steroid or other “performance enhancing substance” because the pros do it. Then again, it is also a shame that kid may neglect his studies because sports will get him a college scholarship (a 4.0 GPA and high SAT scores might win admission, but the bills are another matter). But the real crime is the undermining of the American legal system by taking what the courts say should be sealed information and smearing it all over sports section of the paper.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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