4-9-10
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from The Big Lead’s interview with Michael Schmidt, who covers steroids for the New York Times. thebiglead.com is an independent sports blog.
Q: Is the Steroid Era over? How serious is H.G.H. and do you believe a significant amount of baseball players use it?
A: On one hand I can see Selig’s point that the era of the late ’90s and early part of the 2000s when the use of steroids was rampant and the home run numbers were through the roof are over.
On the other hand, I think Selig engaged in a little wishful thinking. Baseball, like football, still doesn’t have as strong a testing program as the Olympics. In particular, their out of season testing – when athletes are believed to benefit the most from using steroids – is fairly weak and they still don’t test for human growth hormone, although that may change shortly.
Q: What will be the legacy of the players in the Steroid Era? How should the great ones, like McGwire, Bonds, Sosa, A-Rod, Clemens be handled as it relates to the Hall of Fame?
A: ...The only thought about McGwire, Bonds and even Rafael Palmeiro that I have is that, because they were the first high profile players tied to PEDs, they appear to have paid a greater price in the eyes of the fans for their apparent indiscretions compared to players who were tied to them in the past year.
When they were tied to the substances, it sent the message that drugs were pervasive in the game and shattered the thoughts of fans who up until that point have blissfully followed baseball thinking that everyone is clean.
When a high profile player is tied to PEDs now – like A-Rod or Manny Ramirez – it is old news to the fans in the sense that we know that players have and perhaps will continue to use drugs.
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