Setting The Record Straight

One of the common arguments made by many who discuss the steroid scandal in baseball is this:

"Well, steroids weren't illegal in baseball when these guys were taking it."

I had heard this so much, I believed this was true as well.  Turns out, it's a common misconception that in fact is not true at all.

Sports Illustrated reporter David Epstein, the less publicized writer who helped break the A-Rod story, points out in last week's issue of the magazine that baseball has had a steroid policy since 1971.  The problem, obviously, is that it hasn't been adequately enforced.

In 1971, then commissioner Bowie Kuhn implemented a policy that according to Epstein, "did not explicitly address anabolic steroids, but it did say that baseball personnel must 'comply with federal and state drug laws'.  Federal law at the time mandated that an appropriate prescription be obtained for the use of anabolic steroids."

In 1991, commissioner Fay Vincent updated baseball's drug policy.  In it he wrote, "The possession sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players or personnel is strictly prohibited...This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs...including steroids or prescription drugs for which the individual in possession of the drug does not have a prescription."

In 1997, Bud Selig reiterated Vincent's standard, but added that players caught using banned substances "risk permanent expulsion from the game" and are subject to additional penalties by their respective teams.

The Mitchell Report in 2007 asserted that this idea that baseball didn't have a drug policy is inaccurate, and the notion that steroids weren't illegal in baseball is completely false.  

Did baseball do everything in its power to stop players from using?  Clearly not.  Was there a big problem, and inadequate testing?  Yes.  For a long time, baseball did not test, and the surveyed players in 2003 (which included A-Rod's test) determined whether a legitimate testing system should be implemented.  What baseball is ultimately guilty of is not testing its players, and therefore not reinforcing its policy.  If you make it a rule not to take steroids, but ultimately never check to see whether players are using, therein lies your problem.

Now we can all stop making the false claim that steroids weren't illegal in baseball in the steroid era.