Stats and figures regarding PED use.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: “Juicing,” the common term in baseball for when a player uses steroids or Performance-Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), has been a huge problem for Major League Baseball (MLB) since the early 1990s.
Players who were considered great in their time – Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds – later tarnished their reputations and legacies (not to mentioned faced Congressional hearings) when they admitted or were uncovered to have used PEDs during their careers.
In the last few weeks, the MLB and its premiere team, the New York Yankees, have been embroiled in the latest juicing scandal, this time involving superstar third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
Here’s a look at some of the stats and figures regarding PED use in baseball and some of the other major American sports (some figures courtesy of a study by the University of California, Berkeley):
0.736 – the average OPS (Offensive Prowess) of MLB players in the Pre-Steroids Era, which is generally considered to be 1985-1993.
0.784 – the average OPS of MLB players in the Steroid Era, which is from 1994 onwards. This represents an increase of 0.48, a huge upturn in terms of baseball statistics.
$2,085,438 – the average increase in annual salary an MLB player receives if their OPS increases by 0.104.
762 – the number of home runs Barry Bonds hit in his entire career, a record that still stands. He was later found to have used PEDs (unintentionally, he claimed) and was indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury about it. He also holds the record for most home runs in a single season: 73.
1999 – season in which Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hit 65 and 63 home runs, respectively, in a closely followed unofficial competition to see who win hit the most. McGwire ultimately won, but both were later found out to have been using PEDs at the time.
2007 – first year in which A-Rod was widely alleged (by former player/teammate Jose Canseco) of PED usage, among other things. In an interview with Katie Couric that year, A-Rod denied the accusations. He admitted that he had used steroid during his years with the Texas Rangers.
2013 – year in which MLB and its players union agreed to random testing for Human Growth Hormone (HGH) throughout the season. The current MLB season is the first to feature random testing.