STEROIDS and MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Sports Journalism and Its Impact on Public Perception
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STEROIDS AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL: Sports Journalism and Its Impact on Public Perception Shelby Dixon 1 Table of Contents I. Introduction II. PEDs and Baseball: A History III. The Narrative Created by Sports Journalism a. Mark McGwire b. Ryan Braun c. Andy Pettitte IV. Public Perception V. Conclusions 2 “The integrity of the game is everything.” -Peter Ueberroth, MLB Commissioner, 1984-1989 Baseball is a game of the nostalgic, of the idealistic, of the exceptional. Within professional baseball, the American dream is personified: young men, working their way up from the bottom rungs and through hard work, dedication and integrity, reaching new heights of income, fame and idolization. Baseball is a game that idealizes the past, fans constantly look back on the golden days of baseball: of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, of $1 tickets and day games. Critical to this narrative of the past and integral to the American dream, however, is integrity, the honesty of personal achievement, garnered through God-given talent and relentless work. But this is the narrative for the fan, the baseball purist and baseball writers, not that of the players. Since the inception of baseball in 1845 and the founding of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1875, the players have tried to cheat the game, to cheat the mythical, mysterious integrity of the game. Whether it was Sammy Sosa corking his bat or Gaylord Perry doctoring the ball, players have searched—and found—ways to gain a competitive edge and inflate their numbers and success to a level beyond their natural abilities. Two conflicting narratives, one ultimate goal: fame, fortune and a legacy that lasts forever. None of these acts of cheating and attempts to reach this eternal legacy, however, has been as pervasive or disruptive, nor has any other form of cheating captured the spotlight quite like performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and steroids. The so-called “Steroid Era of Baseball” is a long-lasting, decades long dark mark on the game in which countless players, hitters and pitchers alike, have injected themselves with PEDs to increase strength and stamina, giving them otherworldly power, strength, quickness and endurance. Besides the illegality of taking anabolic steroids—they were classified as a Class III controlled substance 3 under the Controlled Substance Act in 1990, banned by MLB in 199, with league-wide testing implemented in 2003—there is much more at stake for players who choose to use steroids (Baseball’s Steroid Era). The writers hold the key to the Hall of Fame immortality sought by players; When it comes to Hall of Fame induction, journalists are the judge, jury and executioner. It is at this point that we see the dramatic, beautifully dark, twisted and intricate collision of these conflicting narratives: the idealistic commoner versus the fame and glory hungry player, yearning for superstardom. The dichotomy and juxtaposition of these two varying yet intertwined narratives has captured the heart and mind of baseball fans for years. What is the result of the cataclysmic intersection? If the ultimate goal for these players is a plaque in Cooperstown, what impact does the decision to use steroids have on their chances of reaching the Hall of Fame and their public perception? If the key to the Hall of Fame is held by baseball writers who vote on entrance, what role do sports journalists and the media have on impacting public perception and the voting process? In order to analyze this further, I will use the communication theories of agenda setting and framing to establish the narratives created by the media and sports journalists regarding performance enhancement in baseball. Agenda setting is the notion that based on what topics and stories the media produces directly influences what the public thinks about and what they think about these topics. Similarly, framing is the theory that establishes hot people think about a given. Framing theory argues that the cognitive frames established by mass media, the way in which media and journalists talk about a given topic (in this instance PEDs) and how it is established within a greater context will influence and alter the opinions and feelings of the audience for whom the message is created. In order to accomplish this, I will examine pieces written about three confirmed PED users and explain the framework created about these players and their 4 Hall of Fame candidacies. From this, a conclusion will be drawn as to what the overarching narrative in play is and what this narrative says about the supposed impact steroids has had on each player’s candidacy, public perception and legacy. The next step in the process will be to conduct a series of surveys and interviews, to determine the public perception of these players and how the public feels about the Hall of Fame as it relates to players with a confirmed link to steroids. This will allow a comparison of narratives created by sports journalists and public perception to see if the two align. As the theories of agenda setting and framing are accepted and validated theories of communications, this project will not attempt to confirm or refute them. Rather, this study will give insight as to what power sports journalists truly have on public opinion and shed new light on the extent to which these theories permeate the sporting culture, providing a more in-depth analysis of their effect and power in the realm of sports journalism. The players that will be examined in this research will act as case studies. The players were selected for various reasons, and while each player’s narrative is unique and has its own intricacies, it ultimately came down to three factors: they are all confirmed steroids users by their own admission, they all have arguably Hall of Fame worthy statistics (in the case of Braun, on pace for Hall of Fame worthy statistics), and they all have struggled with wide spread popularity before their connection to PEDs and had to answer tough questions after the link was made. I will look at Mark McGwire, because his role as the savior of post-strike MLB and the pariah of the Steroid Era make him the poster-child as the epitome of the dramatic rise and fall from grace as a result of association with steroids. Next I will examine the story of Ryan Braun because of his MVP season, his failed drug test and becoming the first player to ever win an appeal against the MLB for PEDs (albeit on a technicality) and his 5 adamant denial before the revelation of his connection to Biogenesis and his stunning fall from glory as the “Hebrew Hammer” to public enemy number one. Finally, Andy Pettitte, as his approach to being linked to PEDs is the polar opposite of that of Braun and McGwire, a narrative seldom spun by those accused of steroids use: immediate acceptance and apology. Also, the timeliness of his recent retirement has thrust him into the forefront of the debate surrounding PED users and Hall of Fame candidacy. 6 PEDS AND BASEBALL: A HISTORY While this is an abbreviated history of steroids in baseball, it does highlight many key dates, times and factors related to PED use in the national pastime. Also, this segment examines two questions: what led players to taking steroids? What factors led MLB to take so long to implement testing and what led to the Joint Drug Agreement and league-wide testing in 2006? I will also offer an overview of MLB policies regarding steroids and testing and conclude with the release of the Mitchell Report in 2007. The decision to stop with the Mitchell Report came because it is the most current legislative piece concerning steroids and was the key component in MLB taking a hard stance against steroids. The tumultuous relationship between baseball and steroids can be linked to many different occasions, but its official entrance to the game came in 1991, when then- Commissioner Fay Vincent issued a memo to all MLB teams, stating that anabolic steroids would be added to the league’s banned substance list. Vincent’s decision came on the tail of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 and the 1990 Anabolic Steroids Act, issued, which classified steroids and their derivatives as a Class III controlled substance (H.R. 4658, H.R. 5210). Despite resistance by the American Medical Association, Drug Enforcement Administration, Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which argued that anabolic steroids did not lead to the physical or psychological dependence of other controlled substances, lawmakers felt that steroids posed enough of a threat to demarcate them as illegal. Vincent felt that with this designation, he had no choice but to ban steroids from baseball; where he failed, however, was to implement league-wide testing or punitive repercussions for PED use. While it is hard to pinpoint when steroids and PEDs entered the game of baseball, there have been documented cases of their use as early as 1992, 7 when the FBI arrested Curtis Wenlzaff for steroid distribution. While Wenlzaff was not a player himself, he admitted to turning Jose Canseco “from a novice user to a steroid guru” (Steroid Timeline), indicating that steroids had arrived in baseball (Baseball’s Steroid Era). Canseco may not have been the first player to use steroids, but he is certainly the first high profile player to be directly linked to steroid use. Due to the lack of testing in the 1990s, it is hard to know when steroids took off. But the drastic increase in yearly homerun totals during the mid-1990s indicates that this was the pinnacle of their use.