Posted on: Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Players believe records 'juiced'

By Chris Jenkins
USA Today

A grand jury, a tell-all book and a congressional committee have combined to form a major-league needle puncturing baseball's public image. And, in a USA Today survey, players say the allegations that high-profile players' recent record-setting performances have been fueled by steroids are hardly off base.

In a Feb. 17 to March 9 survey of 568 players, 79 percent said they believed steroids played some role in recent record-breaking performances.

And 27 percent said they believed the illegal performance-enhancing drugs were a "major contributor" to recent statistical achievements.

"I believe that, too," says Fay Vincent, who was baseball commissioner from 1989 to 1992. "It's hard to believe that anybody could" not "believe that."

In a sport where statistical comparisons of players from different eras have linked one generation of fans to the next, star players' pursuit of records has increased public interest. But today, players involved in the some of the sport's most celebrated record chases — Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa — are among a small group of star players under suspicion for steroid use. The players declined comment for this story.

Beyond agreeing that steroids have been a problem, however, there seems to be a disconnect between players and the sport's critics over the effectiveness of baseball's response to the problem.

Congressional critics, who have subpoenaed McGwire, Sosa and five other stars to testify in tomorrow's House committee hearing on steroid use in the game, aren't convinced the sport's leaders have done enough to clean up the game. They point to a testing policy that was instituted before the 2003 season and revised each year since, and still doesn't measure up to the standards set long ago by other sports. They are concerned that if players break rules and take chances with their health to obtain a competitive edge, they send the wrong message to high school and college athletes.

Players don't seem to regard steroid use as an epidemic: Only 3.9 percent said they believe more than half of players are using them. Still, the players don't seem quite as optimistic as commissioner Bud Selig, who recently said positive tests fell from 7 percent in 2003 to 1.2 percent last season. The majority of players, 80.1 percent, answered that "less than half" of players are using, but only 3.7 percent said "none."

"I think there are a lot of players that know there's some people using them," says Seattle Mariners third baseman Scott Spiezio. "What percentage, we have no idea."

Almost 69 percent of players believe baseball's testing and punishment policies are strict enough.

San Diego Padres second baseman Mark Loretta says the program "is all but going to eradicate the problem" because positive tests will be publicized, embarrassing the player, and will result in a 10-game suspension.

St. Louis Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein can see how the controversy might be hurting the sport's reputation: "Maybe from the outside, but on the inside we're still concentrating on playing baseball. But for the fans' sake it's not a good thing. We definitely need to get everything cleared up."