Honestly, do you really think it's realistic that only 5% of the league uses stimulants? That's about 1 or 2 guys on each team. There is zero chance the number is that low. I'd say 35% minimum, and my jaw would not drop if it was twice that. I wouldn't say a zero chance of it being 5%. Low, maybe, but considering only 15 MLB players (or so) have tested positive so far, it's not beyond the realm of possibility. I think 35% is a GROSS overstatement. That would suggest that over 250 players in MLB are using steroids. 70% would almost be laughable as that suggests over 500 players would be on the juice. At that point, it would be the entire starting rotation, the starting 8 fielders, the DH (or top PH in the NL) and two more players on EVERY SINGLE TEAM in order to reach the 70% mark.
There was some miscommunication, Grum. If you read my post, I never said steroids. There are many different substances players take to enhance performance. Many are undetectable by the tests you refer to. Also, players are more careful than ever now, so the percentage has likely decreased. Additionally, techniques for fooling a drug test have never been more advanced. Anyway, a cousin of mine plays baseball at a university in Texas and he told me that it's difficult NOT to get involved with some sort of enhancer. More players than not use something and since everyone seems to be fine the temptation is huge. And this is at a COLLEGE. Not minor leagues, certainly not major league. College. The problem runs deep. And if college kids can hide that they're on something, I certainly think professionals have some good tricks up their sleeves.
I think it's safe to say that 95% of major league baseball players were using drugs illegally before baseball started testing in 2004. Re steroids, the number is probably about one-third of major leaguers
I think it's safe to say that 95% of major league baseball players were using drugs illegally before baseball started testing in 2004. That's crazy. I think your version of "safe" is the same version as this.
Uh oh. I'm going to apologize to DudeDykstra and retract my snarky comments about 35%, and tone down my comments about 70%. However, I still think that 95% is way too high. If we are talking about ANY kind of pharmaceutical enhancement (amps, PED, painkillers), then the number is much higher than I expected. However, in a very odd way, this might actually help McGwire's chances of getting into the HOF in the near future.
nice pic grum.
For additional pieces on the prevalence of illegal drug use in mlb - and why I think 95% is a perfectly reasonable estimate. www.signonsandiego.com and sports.espn.go.com
spira: Your second link is the same as my "uh oh" link, hence the retraction I made. However, 95% is still much too high. There are quite a few people (players, regular "joes", etc) who won't take any kind of drug, regardless of the supposed benefits. As well, there are those that won't take an illegal drug for moral reasons. Also, pain killers aren't "illegal", and some of the items mentioned by McRae (creatine, for example) are completely legal and acceptable in modern sports.
Grum - I was careful about my wording so as to say "illegal drug use" and not "use of illegal drugs." If you are using oxycodone without a prescription without a prescription, that's illegal drug use. Rush Limbaugh can certainly testify to that. And I don't think too many regular joes make the majors; they don't have the attitude necessary to succeed, an attitude that requires players to do whatever it takes Even when they a regular joe does make it, unless they make sure they never ever drink out of another player's coffee cup or anything similar, they'll probably end up taking drugs illegally without even knowing about it.
Well, at least according to the accusations -- it seemed he started selling this stuff after leaving the Mets. Although I would hardly be surprised if he started his business before that.
