Competitive edge

Performance-enhancing drugs appeal to all athletes

After the tragic death on Monday of 23-year-old Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler, the use of ephedrine and other supplements among baseball players -- and what should be done about it -- is the hot topic in the sports world. SI.com spoke with Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci about this issue.

SI.com: What are the differences between steroids and supplements, such as ephedrine, that seem to be popular with today's athlete?

Verducci: The difference is that the supplements are legal and can be bought over the counter. I hesitate to use percentages, but I'd say the use of ephedrine is pretty common in major league clubhouses. Some guys are taking it to lose weight and some are taking it as a supplement to build muscle. It's definitely not just used as a weight-loss drug. The stimulants are part of a program used by many people to add lean body mass. In baseball, the culture has changed so much in the last 10 years and players are trying to get bigger, leaner and stronger at the same time.

SI.com: Do you think teams are doing enough to educate players about the dangers of these supplements?

Verducci: I think teams are definitely trying. But if these guys didn't pay attention to Korey Stringer, I'm not sure how effective teams can be. Stringer's death should be more effective than any employee-assistance program person trying to educate players about supplements. Everybody should know they need to proceed with caution, if at all, with this stuff. But a lot of players don't want to listen and don't think anything can happen to them. And above all, you're dealing with competitive people who are looking for any edge they can get. It's the nature of sports and the nature of the athlete to minimize the risks in their own minds. Teams can tell players about the dangers of these drugs until they're blue in the face, but it ultimately comes down to the competitive culture of sports.

SI.com: What is Major League Baseball's responsibility in all this? To educate? To inform? To test? And at what point does the league's responsibility for its players end and the players' responsibility for themselves begin?

Verducci: I really hesitate to say baseball needs to launch its own full-scale study because that's supposedly what they did with andro and they haven't properly addressed the use of that product, which works just like a steroid in the body. What baseball can do is be more vigilant in terms of education and creating a culture where that stuff becomes taboo.

I also think the trainers and medical professionals have to know a guy like Steve Bechler, who had a history of health problems, is more at risk than the average person. Team trainers have to be in that person's face to spell out the danger he's putting himself in. Each team has to look at these guys as individuals. You can't just say "this isn't right for everybody." But if player X has high blood pressure, or a family history of health problems, common sense tells you he shouldn't be taking the supplements. That's what teams can do. Treat players individually, and be especially vigilant for the ones at risk.

SI.com: In baseball, most people associate performance-enhancing or weight-loss drugs with players who want to make a big jump fast, guys who want to get noticed by going from average to great or from great to record-breaking. But what about the guys like Bechler who are just trying to make a major league roster? Does a player who's just trying to stay afloat perhaps feel more pressure than anyone?

Verducci: Absolutely. If anything, the dangers of supplement use and other enhancement drugs that put a person at risk are with the player at the bottom of the ladder. The guys at the top of the game are definitely in a different situation. The money is so great for the top players that a lot of them have their own trainers, nutritionists and chefs. They've become finely tuned machines whose programs are watched very, very closely. When you're at the bottom of the ladder, the guys just trying to make the majors, they don't have access to that kind of hands-on professional training. So those are the guys more at risk to get involved with dangerous supplements.

SI.com: What is the general feeling among players about a possible ban of these supplements? Do they think it's something that has to happen?

Verducci: There's a little bit more awareness now, and this latest tragedy might at least give a player second thoughts about what they're putting in their bodies, but I don't think this incident will prevent guys from using what they are using, unless Major League Baseball and the union take the same steps the NFL, NCAA and USOC have, and that's to ban ephedrine.

SI.com: Steroids were an issue during last year's labor negotiations. Was ephedrine or similar supplements on the radar at all during the talks?

Verducci: No, they weren't. Baseball thought of supplements as more of an NFL issue than an issue of their own. Stringer's death put the use of supplements on the sports map, but even then people in baseball dismissed it because of the size of the NFL player and the extreme conditions in which football camps take place. But as we found out with steroids and other stimulants, it's naive to think a competitive baseball player is any different than a competitive football player, sprinter, basketball player or anyone else making a living in sports.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers the baseball beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.

 

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