National Pastime Altered By Drugs

It has been 33 years since relief pitcher Jim Bouton shocked sports by writing the tell-all book "Ball Four."

Through diaries he kept during his 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros, Bouton shook baseball and startled the then-unsuspecting public by weaving an insider's tale that included stories of alcohol and drug use.

Refuted and ostracized by the baseball community for an unflinching portrayal of the game he loved, today Bouton looks like a soothsayer - and his contemporaries look like teetotalers compared to today's players.

One quick look at major league ball fields of the present - or a glance at the sports page - and it's easy to see that America's pastime has been chemically, and irrevocably, altered.

"I saw this coming a long time ago," Bouton says. "Back then, I said if there was a pill that would guarantee you win 20 games, but would take five years off your life, guys would gulp it down without thinking twice."

In Bouton's day, the drugs were greenies - slang for easily obtained amphetamines that grew popular during the drug culture of the '60s. Today, greenies have been replaced by androstenedione, steroids and ephedra, among other substances. Instead of Bouton, guys like Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti and David Wells tell the stories.

Just as Bouton's book did in his day, their tales have holes and their legitimacy can be challenged. Wells recanted some of his most outlandish claims after being fined by the Yankees. Canseco, who once said 85 percent of players used steroids, just got out of jail. Caminiti waited until he retired to tell all.

Still, baseball and drugs are in the news almost constantly.

Five years ago, the excitement surrounding Mark McGwire's home run chase was briefly interrupted by the discovery that he took andro, a legal, over-the-counter substance that is designated as a steroid precursor because it raises testosterone levels.

San Francisco's Barry Bonds has transformed himself from a skinny singles and doubles hitter into a muscle-bound home-run king; he proclaims himself clean. Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Steve Bechler died with ephedra in his system during spring training.

"I can't make any assumptions," says Reds shortstop Barry Larkin, an 18-year major league veteran. "I don't know what people are doing to help them get bigger and stronger. But people are getting bigger and stronger."

Home runs are up 43 percent since 1980, according to Elias Sports Bureau and stats provided on mlb.com. Steroid use is only one of a myriad of theories to explain the rise. Other explanations include the dilution of pitching talent due to expansion, livelier baseballs and the steady building of smaller ballparks.

Meanwhile, baseball is reacting slowly.

In the wake of the steroid allegations last year, and with a new labor contract under negotiation, owners and the players' union agreed to drug testing for the first time.

The policy calls for all players to be tested for steroids once during the 2003 season and 240 players to be tested at random again. If more than 5 percent test positive, a second step will go into effect in 2004 in which players could be subject to penalties for testing positive. In 2003, however, players who test positive for steroids would not be penalized - or even identified.

There is no testing for cocaine or marijuana.

It is a weak drug policy when compared to the NFL, NCAA and International Olympic Committee, all of which test for more than just steroids and have more stringent penalties.

"I don't think there's any way two doctors and two lawyers in baseball are going to do the collective work of hundreds of people over hundreds of hours," said Dr. Gary Wadler of the World Anti-Doping Agency's medical research committee, a strong critic of baseball's policy.

How the constant specter of drugs in baseball affects public relations is hard to tell. Attendance declined 6 percent last year and the World Series drew the lowest television ratings ever. But in interviews with about 20 fans at a Reds-Phillies spring training game recently, nearly every one said the near strike last year irritated them far more than drug issues.

"It doesn't bother me that much," said Wilbur Snapp, who has been playing the organ in the concourse of the Phillies' spring-training home for 21 years. "But I don't understand how these guys make millions of dollars and take risks with that stuff."

When Bechler died on Feb. 17, baseball came under scrutiny again. Commissioner Bud Selig responded by banning ephedra – an herb commonly found in diet supplements - among players with minor league contracts. The union distributed a memo to players, strongly discouraging use of the product.

It's too early to tell if the warning had any impact.

"I would definitely not be afraid to take it on days where I was sick, my resistance was feeling down, or I'd had a long night the night before and needed that extra boost," Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal said. "But because of what I've heard about it, I wouldn't take it any more than that."

Although other sports ban ephedra, many baseball players say there's no sense in outlawing it if it's still legal and sold over the counter.

Steroids are another matter.

Last July, in a "USA Today" survey, 79 percent of players said they would agree to independent testing for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Even though the testing system later approved by the union was weak, players felt they needed something, if only to take a step toward leveling the playing field and proving their increased power numbers are legit.

"I've heard a lot of fans yell at me that I use steroids," said Luis Gonzalez of the Diamondbacks, who hit 57 homers in 2001. "When guys like Caminiti, a guy I played with, said all that stuff, I think it tarnished a lot of guys, even if they are legitimate. That's why I'm for testing."

Out of baseball for more than three decades, Bouton says the kind of testing in effect for 2003 won't make a bit of difference. He has a downcast view of where the sport might be headed.

"These drugs are dangerous, and even though you can't eliminate them, you can make it more difficult for players to get them," Bouton said. "Anyone who's happy with the system in place now has his head stuck in the ideological sand."

By Eddie Pells