SPECIAL REPORT WHO KNEW? THAT WAS 'S PUBLIC RESPONSE TO THE STEROIDS QUESTION. HERE IS THE ANSWER: PLAYERS, GMs, TRAINERS, DOCTORS, THE UNION—AND THE COMMISSIONER HIMSELF

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C M Y K WHO KNEW? WHO KNEW?

His implication was clear. If team executives hadn’t known about the scourge of steroids, how Introduction was the commissioner supposed to have known? If CODE OF SILENCE p70 baseball writers, who saw players up close every INTRODUCTION PART I day, hadn’t reported the problem, how could they 1987-1994 STEROIDS MEET BASEBALL Part I CODE OF SILENCE accuse Selig of turning a blind eye to it? STEROIDS MEET BASEBALL p71 In short, who knew? The Trainer had many reasons to feel good about Who knew? We all knew: the trainers who The Dealer baseball as he spoke to the press gathered in a looked the other way as they were treating a The Executive Detroit hotel ballroom for his State of the Game whole new class of injuries; the players who saw address during the 2005 All-Star break. Major teammates inject themselves but kept the club- Part II League Baseball would bring in an estimated house code of silence; the journalists who “buried THE TIPPING POINT p74 $4.5 billion in revenues in 2005, nearly the the lead” and told jokes among themselves about THE TRAINER The Fed amount from 1992, when Selig had first taken the newly muscled; the GMs who wittingly The Bodybuilder office. The overachieving White Sox and Nationals acquired players on steroids; and, yes, owners and Larry Starr pulled into the parking lot of Gold’s The Friend were surprise division leaders. The Red Sox and players, who openly applauded the home Gym in suburban . He’d come at the Yankees were in the midst of another epic battle. boom and moved at glacial speed to address the invitation of his boss, . The Reds legend Part III Fans everywhere were talking about Dontrelle Willis problem that fueled the explosion. had ratcheted up his weight training since retiring BUSTING OUT p77 and and . And he had a In a way, the story of steroids in baseball is as a player to manage full-time the previous The Writer labor agreement that ran to the end of 2006. not so much about the power added to the game, September, and he was a fixture at Gold’s. T-shirts The Doctor But then came this question from one of the but about the power that was always there. It’s sold at the gym boasted that it was the “Home of The Vet reporters: are you worried you will be remem- a power that has entranced millions for more Pete Rose.” But as Starr got out of the car, he bered as the commissioner who turned a blind than a hundred years, surviving game-fixing, couldn’t get a friend’s warning out of his head: Part IV eye to steroids? labor strife, all sorts of drug scandals. It’s a “Don’t take off your shoes. I hear there are used CRASH AND BURN p81 Looking slightly irritated, Selig responded, power that has both a bright and a dark side. needles all over that place.” The Union Men “Yes, I’m the , so naturally, Becoming a baseball star is a noble dream, but to It was January 1987. Starr, the trainer of the The Businessman do that, some players did the ignoble, Reds, went back more than 15 years with Rose. ingesting and injecting dangerous and When they first met, late in 1971, Starr was a Postscript often illegal substances to enhance 25-year-old rookie employee with a master’s in FACING FACTS p84 performance. And because the people education and plenty of new ideas about fitness. who depend on baseball for livelihood Two years later, he bought 10 pieces of Nautilus Will to Power and amusement wanted so much to be- equipment and set up the first real clubhouse A BRIEF HISTORY OF STEROIDS lieve in the essential goodness of the weight room in baseball. The players all laughed. IN BASEBALL p78 game and the greatness of the players, . . Tony Perez. Rose. All we missed or ignored the signs: the of them. Now the rest of baseball had caught up to larger biceps, the back acne, the out- his vision. A new generation of players was com- size statistics. (As it happened, ESPN ing of age in state-of-the-art facilities everywhere. The Magazine was born in 1998, as Two of them, and , had WHO ELSE KNEW? The , the historian and totals were exploding, and just finished 1-2 in the Rookie of the injured hurler, for starters. Read their stories we devoted four of our early covers to the Year vote. Young slugger Mark McGwire had LARRY STARR; FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. and more on ESPN.com. Keyword: steroids. Mark McGwire and .) made his big league debut; and Matt Years later, we would all confront the Williams were about to make theirs. Future deception. Or was it self-deception? All-Stars Al Leiter and Tom Glavine were rookies. Gold’s, he noticed a glass case that displayed sup- leaguer would do anything to be in the orbit of a THIS INVESTIGATION SPANNED six months and And so The Magazine decided to go The game still had its hard-partying types, of plements for sale. Starr knew some major leaguers superstar. He and Pete were tight: they played comprised more than 150 interviews and the back and trace the arc of the steroids course. Many of the Mets were still shaking off the looked for help to get “up” before games. One of touch football at the indoor rink across the street examination of hundreds of pages of documents. age in baseball, from introduction to aftereffects of October’s celebration. his power hitters—the one with pale-brown after workouts. Gioiosa, a 5'7" wall of muscle built The series was written by Shaun Assael and Peter proliferation to condemnation. It is a And the specter of 1985’s Pittsburgh drug trials splotches all over his uniform—drank 30 cups of with a chemical assist, extended his hand to Starr. Keating. It was reported by Assael, Keating, Buster I accept this. But in the ’90s, I went from camp tale told through some of the principals: a continued to hang over the game. On the stand, coffee over the course of nine innings. But the Starr didn’t trust the guy. He knew steroids Olney and Amy K. Nelson, with help from Jerry to camp and talked to every , general trainer, a supplier, an FBI agent, a GM, a writer, seven players had admitted to using , names of the products in that case scared the were illegal in this country without a prescription Crasnick and Tom Farrey, and from researchers manager, owners in some cases. And not one per- a doctor and several players—a tale of crime, including All-Stars and Keith trainer. UpTime? The gym was selling stuff Starr and had been for decades. And they were rare in R.M. Schneiderman and Doug Mittler. The project son ever came to me.” He mentioned the names corruption and complicity. Many were put in Hernandez. Six of the users (the seventh had would never endorse. How could he? He had no baseball. In fact, Starr was suspicious of only one was directed by Jon Pessah and Neil Fine. The of well-respected GMs he’d talked to—Billy difficult positions that required choices they retired) were ordered to be randomly tested and to idea what was in it, or, for that matter, what else Red: an who had come to spring train- photographs were taken by Phillip Toledano. Beane, Brian Cashman, John Schuerholz. He also now regret. donate one-tenth of his salary to drug treatment might be for sale at the Home of Pete Rose. ing the year before with 30 extra pounds and a turned the tables on the journalists: “This sanc- Why tell the story now? Actually, with the and prevention programs. Baseball’s rowdy image Rose spotted Starr and ran over. He threw his lame explanation about changing his diet. He’d timonious, ‘Well, he should have known … ’ glory of the White Sox and the beauty of baseball was on the way out. thick arms around the trainer’s slim, marathoner’s asked Starr if he should do steroids, then looked Okay, maybe.” He then went on to decry the lack still fresh in our minds, this is as good a time as There was no doubt where Starr stood on the body and dragged him into the weight room. “This as if he’d ignored the advice. Rose was more of press coverage while the issue was building. any to look back on what went wrong. issue of drugs in the game. In his first season with is the guy I was telling you about,” he yelled to bemused than angry about the possibility. Once, “I’m not being critical of you guys,” he contin- We tell the story now so that we won’t fall into the Reds, he removed a candy jar filled with uppers gym manager Tommy Gioiosa. The 28-year-old when reporters were lingering by the player’s ued. “I was there with you.” the same web of deceit again. from the training room. Now, on the front desk at Gioiosa was Rose’s kind of guy; the ex-minor locker, one of them heard Rose tease, “Tell them

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C M Y K C M Y K WHO KNEW? WHO KNEW? what steroids can do for you.” The guy was still steroid cream that was rubbed on wrists and fore- cerns. Two years earlier, hard-line owners had the exception in the dugout, but Starr wondered arms. He says he soon picked up McGwire as a sacked Fay Vincent, who they thought was too how much longer he would be, especially now client, too. Wenzlaff’s training-session notes show cozy with the players. Now, smoldering tensions that Pete was inviting his Reds to train at a gym he put McGwire on a mix of Winstrol V, testosterone THE EXECUTIVE between owners, led by interim commissioner Bud Rose knew was managed by a self-confessed juicer. and the veterinary steroid Equipoise. (McGwire, Selig, and the players were about to explode. Gioiosa says Rose listened with glee whenever through a spokesman, declined comment.) Steve Phillips walked the cloverleaf of fields that Selig was easy for fans and sportswriters to cari- his bodybuilder buddy talked about the fights he The A’s returned to the World Series in 1989, connected his office to the Gulf Coast and Florida cature as the used-car dealer he once was. Here was started in ’roid rages. Rose also would watch him beating the Giants, and again in 1990, losing to State League teams he oversaw. As he stopped at a 60-year-old man whom friends called Buddy. If shoot up and ask questions about what he was the Reds. Their dominance caused talk among each diamond to watch his draftees being put his demeanor was an expression of his small-town using. Good stuff, Gioiosa would reply. Parabolin. players and doctors and front-office execs: had through their paces, he wrestled with an uncom- values, so was his unshakable belief that small- Human growth hormone. A German extract from Oakland acquired an unfair edge? Wenzlaff contin- fortable question: what to do about the bizarrely market teams like his beloved Brewers had to be the pituitary gland of monkeys. Pete had been ued to hide in plain sight around the Coliseum. If bulky bodies parading in front of him? protected from skyrocketing payrolls. Even before tempted to take a shot himself, especially in 1985 anyone asked what he did, he’d flash a card from In the spring of 1994, Phillips, just 31, was the he took over as acting commissioner in 1992, Selig and 1986 when he was losing bat speed. But he his new business: Lakeview Auto Radio. He never Mets’ hotshot director of minor league operations, had crafted alliances among the low-revenue teams. told Gioiosa it was too late to try something new. sold steroids at the ballpark. He didn’t have to. in charge of one of the best farm systems in base- By 1994 he was finally in a position to make (Rose, through a spokesman, declined comment.) As the grapevine spread his name, he got calls ball. As an executive, Phillips (now an analyst for demands—for a salary cap, an end to arbitration After his workout at Gold’s ended, Rose sug- from men he’d never met. By 1991, he was sup- ESPN) was definitively new school, a goateed for- and restrictions on free agency. The players gested to Starr that they get some lunch. The two plying 20 to 30 MLB players and 10 NFL players. mer psychology major and sometime motivational responded to him by going on strike on Aug. 12. piled into the King’s red Ferrari and drove to a He often flew to their homes with a few thousand speaker; someone more likely to line up pens on his The strike squashed a potentially historic sea- local buffet. They talked baseball. Starr said he dollars’ worth of Deca or Parabolin in vials he’d desk than cans of chaw. But he’d also spent seven son and shattered the covenant between the looked forward to a great 1987 season. wrap in tin foil and stuff into shoes in his luggage. inauspicious years in the minors as a second base- keepers of the game and its fans. The Expos, who But by midsummer, with the Reds hanging onto A year earlier Congress had raised penalties for man; his claim to fame was pulling the hidden-ball had never been to the World Series, owned the a slim lead in the NL West, rumors of steroid possessing those and 25 other anabolics. But now trick seven times in one season. It was a career best record in the game. The AL East-leading dealing in the suburban Cincinnati gym were the stuff violated baseball’s rules, too. On June 7, path that ensured he’d get a steroids education. Yankees were eyeing a return to the postseason for becoming too persistent to ignore. (Word that Rose 1991, commissioner Fay Vincent sent a memo to In 1987, while he was playing was betting on baseball, through Gioiosa among each team and the players union that stated: “The for the Mets’ -A affiliate others, had yet to emerge.) Starr, worried about possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or in Jackson, Miss., Phillips arrived how the talk could taint his friend, called another controlled substance by Major League players or early at the ballpark one day for old pal of Rose’s and arranged an intervention. personnel is strictly prohibited ... This prohibition some extra BP. As he walked into Ralph Greisser, a Nautilus salesman who quarter- the ball sailed over the wall at , everyone played along: Dave Parker, the aging DH, applies to all illegal drugs ... including steroids.” the clubhouse he was greeted by backed the high school team on which Rose was the Wenzlaff jumped out of his seat and hugged the made it clear that when he got home at 3 a.m. from The seven-page document didn’t cover random the sight of one teammate inject- halfback, sat down in the manager’s office at man next to him. a road trip he wanted no one calling him until testing—that had to be bargained with the ing another in his upper body. and got to the point. “Pete, do Getting hugged by Wenzlaff was a risky proposi- noon. But plenty of others tolerated the wake-up, union—but it did outline treatment and penalties. Phillips stared but said nothing. you know what’s going on in that gym?” he said. tion. No ordinary bodybuilder, he practiced the art including McGwire and Jose Canseco. After games, For a while, Wenzlaff shuttled between Cali- The user, who’d shown up at spring “The rumor is steroids are being sold there.” of exteme training. He jolted himself with a cattle many of the would strip off their uni- fornia, Arizona, Texas, Florida and Massachusetts. training with new biceps, shot Starr then heard Rose wave off the issue. “I don’t prod, taped weights to his hands so he couldn’t let forms and head for the gym. Soon, the A’s club- He’d stay an hour with a client and offer diet and back a conspiratorial grin that know anything about that,” he said. “But don’t go and napped in a deprivation tank filled with salt house resembled backstage at a bodybuilding show. lifting tips, too. And his baseball connection helped Phillips says he took to mean, worry—the mayor of Cincinnati works out there.” water. At the Southern California gym where he Wenzlaff says that whenever he ran into either him find other clients. On Jan. 11, 1992, a gym “You know. We all know. And this As a trainer, Starr knew he lived at the bottom worked out, he met . After retiring of them during the 1988 season, he’d sidle up and owner named Eddie Schmidt visited Wenzlaff’s is what it looks like.” He walked of the clubhouse pecking order, working at the from baseball, Jackson had gone looking for a new suggest, “Dude, we should catch some workout Oakland condo to buy $2,000 worth of juice. While away, struck by how little effort pleasure of the manager and the whims of high- challenge and found it in Wenzlaff’s exhausting time.” After the A’s lost the Series to the Dodgers, he was there, he commented on the photo of his teammate had made at con- priced players. Trust was his most precious workouts. As the friendship extended beyond the Canseco accepted the invite. Later, he welcomed Wenzlaff and Canseco that was hanging on the wall. cealment. Players simply took for commodity, and if he pushed any further, it would weight room, Wenzlaff, a former Cal State Fullerton the trainer into his home in Miami. “Yeah, I was his trainer,” Wenzlaff said. “I put him granted that they wouldn’t rat be lost. He left the meeting, just another football walk-on, was treated to a taste of big league Canseco was no steroids newbie. He’d begun to on a couple of cycles.” each other out. frustrated employee convinced he’d never get a life, from the Carlyle Hotel in New York to the VIP use in the mid-1980s, in Huntsville, Ala., while The photo was from simpler days. What was Seven years later, Phillips was hearing for what he feared was coming. tables at Newport Beach’s hottest spots. And all the playing Double-A ball. To look at him was to know, once a lark had become a business. Now, Wenzlaff running across newly minted while, Wenzlaff was plunging ever deeper into the or to choose not to see. The Washington Post’s worried about drawing the wrong kind of attention. monsters more often. And now he world of illegal performance enhancers. Thomas Boswell caused a furor in September 1988 As he drove Schmidt to dinner that night, he was their boss. Concerned, he Around the league, weight-lifting and condition- when he broke the silence. On a CBS News show, he repeatedly snuck peeks in the rearview mirror. “You began to test some who were sus- THE DEALER ing regimens like the one Larry Starr had champi- said Canseco, headed for a 40/40 year and the MVP can’t be too careful,” he said, laughing nervously. piciously oversize and behaving oned were now commonplace. But another way was award, was “the most conspicuous example of a In early February, Schmidt doubled the amount oddly. That summer, the first of STEVE PHILLIPS; BRISTOL, CONN. Curtis Wenzlaff sat in the Oakland A’s owners box infiltrating the game. In Oakland, Dave McKay, a player who has made himself great with steroids.” of steroids he bought from Wenzlaff. He doubled it several players flunked. Phillips behind home plate and watched Mark McGwire foul former who had remade himself into one But Canseco wasn’t in Wenzlaff’s league. Wenzlaff again in May. On July 7, the two met in Room 618 handled it internally, as a human off three straight pitches. The visiting Dodgers of baseball’s first strength coaches, was at the fore- trafficked in exotics. He had a scientist who gave of the Guest Quarters Hotel in Santa Monica and resources issue. Officials at the Mets’ Employee the first time in 13 years. The Padres’ , were leading the two games to front of a new, bigger-is-better movement. He was him synthesized testosterone and a European talked a while before Schmidt ordered room ser- Assistance Program informed the player of the re- hitting .394, had a legitimate shot at .400. Matt none, and with the score 1-1 in Game 3 and one much more gung ho than Starr, instituting morning dealer who sent him the latest Olympic-quality vice. A knock came on the door and Wenzlaff sult, countered his claims of innocence with asser- Williams, with 43 home runs, was on pace to tie out in the ninth, the crowd was itching for weight training for his guys when they were home stuff. Wenzlaff worked out with Canseco more than answered it. He was met by a tall, graying man. tions of the quality of the test and offered him ed- . His teammate , in his McGwire to make something happen. Catching up and coaxing gym owners to open their doors for pri- a dozen times and suggested a regimen built “Mr. Wenzlaff,” said Greg Stejskal, holding out ucation about drug use. second season at Candlestick, had 37. with a 2-2 pitch, the A’s let loose. As vate sessions when the team was on the road. Not around several cutting-edge drugs, among them a an FBI badge, “you’re under arrest.” Soon, though, Phillips had more urgent con- The strike dragged on for 232 days, wiping out

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C M Y K C M Y K WHO KNEW? WHO KNEW? nearly 1,000 games over two seasons. When Selig apartment suggested a better-than-average knowl- clubs. When it was time for the big leaguer to was forced to cancel the World Series on edge of steroids, a knowledge he was happy to head north each spring, Scott sent him off with a Sept. 14, millions of fans came to the same share with fellow athletes on the mend. Hollins, present: 100 vials of Deca—a season’s worth. conclusion: the game wasn’t worth their time, PART II THE who’d lost 15 pounds after it was discovered he had In 1993, Dykstra came to with a money or love anymore. 1994-1998 THE TIPPING POINT diabetes in the winter of 1993, was struggling to get purposefulness Scott hadn’t seen before. It was his The battle intensified the already incredible BODYBUILDER back to his 205-pound playing weight. On visits to option year. “I want to put on size, dude,” Scott animosity on both sides of the table. Labor Scott’s place, he asked about steroids. (Hollins remembers Lenny saying. Scott “prescribed” a secretary Robert Reich, monitoring the stale- Jeff Scott held the syringe up to the light in his denies ever being in the apartment, but a second cocktail that blended several steroids, oral and mate, said he’d never witnessed such hatred in a bedroom, pushing the plunger with his thumb to source besides Scott insists he was there often.) injectable, and watched the little man explode. By negotiation. The deep divide ensured that the supplied the slugger. He’d also said he believed expel an air bubble, and turned to . In the bedroom, Scott injected Dykstra. After season’s end, he was the first player ever to lead players would support Donald Fehr, the union’s Canseco was dealing to other major leaguers. The Phillies’ All-Star outfielder had been kick- accepting payment—100 bucks—he asked if the in at-bats, hits, walks and dour executive director, almost unconditionally. But those details hadn’t come out on Aug. 10, ing around Florida since late January, hoping for a Dykstra wanted to grab lunch. It was all so casual, runs. The Phillies reached the World Series and With the financial stakes so high, steroid test- THE FED 1992, when the U.S. Attorney’s office in Detroit break in the eight-month-old strike. Now it was Scott thought, just two guys hanging out. Dykstra finished second to Barry Bonds in the MVP ing was not at the top of management’s list of unsealed indictments against Wenzlaff and 36 March, and the owners were working out replace- Scott liked to kid that Dykstra was his “science balloting. That winter, the team gave him priorities. When it did come up, it was in the In the two years since special agent Greg Stejskal others. Operation Equine, as it was dubbed by its ment players for the upcoming season; 40 of them experiment.” They’d met four years earlier at Joe a four-year, $24.9 million extension. The deal context of an overall drug policy. Even after the had arrested Curtis Wenzlaff, Stejskal hadn’t told Detroit-bureau FBI architects, had targeted sup- were already at the Phillies’ Jack Russell Stadium 1980s cocaine scandals, the owners hadn’t been anyone on the outside what he’d learned about pliers, not users like Canseco. The absence in the in Clearwater. Watching them whiff at pitches, “I want to put on size, dude,” Scott able to get testing into the 1990 agreement. The baseball’s steroid problem. He certainly hadn’t indictment of any mention of the former MVP boot grounders and muff fly balls in official Philly union and its leader were resolute in their shared his knowledge with . kept his connection to Wenzlaff under wraps. unis made Dykstra madder than hell. He’d already remembers Dykstra saying. So he put him on a position: drug use warranted treatment, not But on this August 1994 night, Stejskal decided Even A’s GM (later Bud Selig’s lost $800,000 and, with a big raise set to kick in steroid cocktail and watched the punishment, and drug testing was a violation of to change that. director of baseball operations) would claim he’d for the 1995 season, he was looking at losing privacy rights. After a day of seminars about sports scandals at never heard of the guy who had hung around another $500,000 for each month those scabs little man explode. Sitting in his office in Florida, Phillips began to his club. Three weeks after the played on his field. It was enough to make him worry that the labor strife might cost him his job. indictments, Canseco had been suggest to a TV interviewer that he might cross a As it was, the federal government was about to traded to Texas, where he’d picket line. Teammate Dave Hollins had to stand make the one he had more difficult. Two months joined a murderer’s row that up at a tense union meeting to defend his friend’s Doogan’s, a Clearwater haunt, after Scott had done showed just how much money was available to after the players walked out, Congress passed a included Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael right to free speech after that one. 13 months in jail for cocaine trafficking. Lenny players who could pump up their stats. law that gutted the FDA’s ability to regulate Palmeiro and Juan Gonzalez. The hardest thing, though, was keeping your made a joke about Scott’s huge muscles. Soon he But it was the beginning of the end for Nails. nutritional supplements. The Dietary Supplement Since that day, Stejskal says head in a game you weren’t playing. Fellow Phillie was asking to score some ’roids. Scott hunted down Instead of pushing it in the gym during spring Health and Education Act freed manufacturers of now, he couldn’t help wondering John Kruk loved to say, “I’m not an athlete, I’m a some Deca-Durabolin for him. (Dykstra declined training of 1994, he lounged at a waterside spa and everything from andro to ephedra to toad venom whether he and his colleagues baseball player.” But Dykstra, at 32, couldn’t laugh comment through his lawyer.) continued a long-running extramarital affair with from the burden of proving them safe. had done the right thing by about his failing body. He walked around with a For that, Scott earned a pass into Dykstra’s the sister of his business partner’s mistress. The That winter, major leaguers—who had been keeping what he knew about Dunhill briefcase full of bottles of pills he took to entourage. In 1991, and again in 1992, Scott was four of them were tight, staying in four-star hotels, locked out of their clubhouse weight rooms— Canseco to himself. He’d hoped ease the postoperative pain in his arthritic knee. his new friend’s January-to-April sidekick, and the drinking $3,000 champagne, throwing around cash. turned to local gyms for their workouts. Awaiting Operation Equine would gener- The bodybuilding trophies that dotted Scott’s two cut a broad swath through Clearwater’s strip Scott was often the fifth in a crowd who often them were strength coaches and gurus who ate huge headlines, that it talked about steroids. One of the sisters says she could now legally pass around performance would deter further steroid use. even injected Lenny in a hotel room bathroom in enhancers as if they were Life Savers. The medi- But while the initial wave of 37 St. Louis because he hated doing it himself. cal department of one American League con- indictments all yielded guilty As the strike lingered on, Dykstra moved back tender was worried enough about unsupervised pleas (Wenzlaff got six months in with his family in a beach house in nearby supplement and steroid use to send a letter to its and a $2,500 fine), the case had Feather Sound. Often, when Scott stopped by players that read, “What you do in the off- received almost no attention. early in 1995, Dykstra looked sullen. A report at season can reflect on your performance next With Hurricane Andrew battering the time said plans for two unbuilt car washes sat year—think twice before you do something that South Florida and an upstart on Dykstra’s desk up in his New Jersey office, and might cause harm to your career.” the FBI’s training center in Quantico, Va., Stejskal governor named Bill Clinton campaigning for the bankers were knocking on his door. Plus, his A federal judge finally issued an injunction found himself at a table with other attendees, nurs- presidency, the press was otherwise engaged. knees still creaked. On one visit, Dykstra invited against the owners in the spring of 1995, saving ing beers and talking about their cases. Kevin Stejskal went back to working bank robberies Scott to watch his favorite movie, A Few Good fans from the prospect of fields manned by Hallinan, baseball’s chief of security and one of the and mail frauds and tried not to be bitter. But in Men. In a darkened home theater, Dykstra replacement players. The owners had put testing presenters, was at the table, too. Everyone was talk- Quantico, almost exactly two years later, and shouted his favorite line: You can’t handle the on the table, but when the union resisted, Selig, ing about work when the subject of Stejskal’s inves- with several Equine-related trials still under truth! Scott wondered whether Lenny meant that anxious to reach a settlement, let the issue die tigations into steroid trafficking arose. What the way, he was talking about steroids again. “Hey, for Tom Cruise or for himself. without a fight. hell, he figured, glancing at the ex-New York City Kevin, you may be interested in this,” the FBI The labor crisis was settled in time to salvage the So did Phillips. Sitting with the Mets owners cop. Might as well let Hallinan know what I found. agent said. Then he spent the next few minutes 1995 season, but the Phillies were out of the race during the abbreviated spring training, he got the Stejskal and his partner, Bill Randall (who’d talking about Wenzlaff, Canseco and their by August. Weeks before, though, Hollins, hitting feeling that his job was to listen, not to lead. And posed undercover as steroid buyer Eddie Schmidt), unexplored relationship. To his surprise, the .229 at the break, was benched and then traded to they were talking finances, not drugs. The pros had been sitting on information that had never security chief just shrugged. Boston. And on July 28 Dykstra went back on the went back to work on April 25. A comprehensive been made public. Wenzlaff, it turned out, had “We’ve heard it too, but what can we do?” DL. The prescription: more surgery on his right testing program for the Mets’ minor league system been a very helpful witness. He’d talked a blue Stejskal recalls Hallinan saying. “The union won’t JEFF SCOTT; PALM HARBOR, FLA. knee. His season was over. Scott would have a lot of would have to wait. streak about Jose Canseco and the drugs he’d let us test the players. Our hands are tied.” work to do when spring training rolled back around.

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But now, on a practice field underneath the And he was right; he hit more than 16 just once he play. In 1996, their first season together, blazing Arizona sun, Joyner was at a career again after 1988. Joyner marveled as Caminiti smashed 40 homers, crossroads. Yes, the team had picked up his $3.75 It didn’t matter then, but it did now. In 1996, knocked in 130, hit .326, played a Gold Glove THE FRIEND million option after a nice 1997. Then again, he’d two players—Mark McGwire and — third and won the NL MVP award. “He’s so intense PART III hit only 21 home runs over the past two seasons, had at least 50 home runs for the first time since it makes the other players want to take their play 1998-2001 BUSTING OUT Wally Joyner had a choice to make. a long way from the 56 he’d hit as an Angel in his 1961. (Anderson’s career high to that point was 21.) to a different level,” Joyner told reporters. This was his third spring training with the first two a decade earlier. Those home runs had That year, three teams—the A’s, Mariners and But he saw the demons that plagued his friend. Padres, and the 1998 season was shaping up to helped make him runner-up to Jose Canseco in Orioles—surpassed the 1961 Yankees’ single-season Most everyone knew about the drinking, and some be a good one. The team already had a trio of suspected the drug use. It was an easy hole to fall All-Stars—Ken Caminiti at third, Tony Gwynn in Joyner approached his friend into. Ballplayers wake up and can’t remember what right, in center—and an intimidating city they’re in, the pressure to perform is , . Acquiring Kevin Brown in and asked how he could get some steroids. relentless, pitfalls abound. Need a pick-me-up? Grab the off-season to anchor the rotation made them Caminiti didn’t blink. a greenie. Need to smooth out? The bat boy will THE WRITER the fashionable pick to win the NL West. grab you a beer. Steroids? A FedEx envelope will be Joyner was one of the team’s most popular “Call this guy,” he said. in your locker tomorrow. Coke? The “green flies”— In July 1998, , a feature players, the kind of guy management dreamed what players call fans desperate to cozy up to big writer for the , hit the about. GM , Joyner’s former teammate leaguers—wait in the parking lot, the hotel lobbies, road to follow the Great American Home and roommate at BYU, compared him to Wally in the gyms and bars. They have whatever you need. Run Chase. As Mark McGwire and Sammy Leave It to Beaver. “He was the good kid on the Joyner saw using steroids as cheating; he Sosa went yard at a record pace, their awe- block,” Towers said a few months after trading for suspected Canseco and others were using and some power and friendly competition rein- him. Joyner was active in charities, the AL Rookie of the Year vote in 1986 and had record for home runs. The next year, McGwire resented what they’d accomplished. But he troduced fans to the virtues of the national played a superb first base and had hit .300 in turned Anaheim Stadium into Wally World. Still, forced a trade, rejoining his old Oakland colleagues, didn’t lump Caminiti with them. Like many of pastime. Crowds that had been driven away three of the previous four seasons. he’d told reporters he wasn’t a home run hitter. manager and coach Dave McKay, in Cammy’s close friends, he was happy the man by the strike once again scanned box St. Louis—and hit 24 homers in 51 games. was for once doing something to build his body scores and bought tickets. Wilstein wasn’t The game was changing. up instead of tear it down. a regular on the baseball beat; going back Joyner was also just shy of 36 years old Joyner stared at the phone number in his hand. to 1971, he’d covered events such as the and beginning to break down. He was one Everyone fights decline. He’d done it by taking more U.S. Open tennis tournament, an Ali title of the game’s early weightlifters, but his BP, studying more video, spending more time in the bout and the Olympics. He appreciated the swing was rooted more in timing than in weight room. But that wasn’t working anymore. chase as a historic, if not magical, event. power, and he felt his bat slowing. His He made the call. A man answered, they But today he admits even he was awed by body, too. Strains and pulls he once shook exchanged a few sentences and Joyner hung up. the Bunyanesque feats of the Cards slugger. off now took weeks to heal. Joyner had The next day, Caminiti handed him one of those After one game in St. Louis, with Big had arthroscopic surgery to ease patella flimsy overnight packages Joyner had learned to Mac taking his time in the trainer’s room, STEVE WILSTEIN; ARLINGTON, WASH. tendinitis on his right knee the previous recognize. It was from the man he’d called. “This Wilstein gathered with a dozen other October, on the same day Caminiti had is for you,” Cammy said. reporters by his locker. As they waited, he had his right knee scoped. Caminiti, 10 Joyner took the package, went back to his began to fill his notebook with descriptions of the Therefore, it is an .” The NFL had months his junior, always bounced back apartment and opened it. Inside was a small bottle scene. He saw a photo of McGwire’s son, a bat boy, banned it a year earlier, as had the NCAA and the from injuries quicker than Joyner did. filled with pills; he didn’t know what they were on the top shelf of the locker, and sugarless gum— Olympics. In fact, , the 1996 gold- And Wally knew why. called. Caminiti had given him instructions on a nice touch: McGwire’s dad was a dentist. He saw a medal shot-putter, had recently been barred from So on this March day, he approached how to use them, though. Joyner carried the pills cap from a Roger Maris celebrity golf tournament. competition for life for using it. his friend after a workout and asked around for a few days, sometimes taking one out Interesting, given that McGwire denied paying When Wilstein sought confirmation of McGwire’s how he could get some steroids. Caminiti to stare at it. Finally, he took one. The next day, attention to the man whose ghost loomed before andro use, the Cardinals dismissed him. “Andro- didn’t blink. He grabbed a piece of paper, he took another. “What am I doing?” he asked him. And Wilstein saw a brown bottle labeled with stenedione?” said a team spokesman. “He doesn’t scribbled a number and handed it over. himself. Ten days passed before he took a third. a word he didn’t recognize. He jotted it all down. even know how to spell it.” But then McGwire “Call this guy,” he said. The Cactus League was going well for the Padres. The moment passed, as did the night. After three admitted to the AP that he’d taken andro for more Joyner adored his teammate. All of the Brown looked sharp, Caminiti looked strong and weeks of tailing Mac and Sammy and Ken Griffey than a year, and added, “Everybody I know in the Padres did, just as the Astros had before leftfielder looked ready to rebound Jr., Wilstein returned home to Palo Alto to write game of baseball uses the same stuff I use.” them. Cammy played the game hard, from a subpar season. But the normally upbeat another story about the race. When he came to the Wilstein’s piece, “Drug OK in Baseball, Not wrestling grounders into the dust before Joyner was somber. He hated what he was doing, name on the bottle in his notes, he called a doctor Olympics,” ran on Friday, Aug. 21. He made it throwing lasers to first and making every hated how dirty he felt. friend. “What’s ?” he asked. clear McGwire had broken neither the law of the at-bat count. His fierceness intimidated In his apartment after a workout toward the end “A precursor to testosterone,” the cardiologist land nor the rules of the game. But he also wrote opponents—and sometimes his own of spring training, he rethought for the hundredth replied. “And it can be really bad for the heart.” that andro’s ability to raise testosterone levels teammates. Once, when a veteran was time the choice he’d made. He’d played 12 years in Wilstein’s own heart skipped a beat. He realized “is seen outside baseball as cheating and poten- griping too much, Caminiti turned to the big leagues, 12 great years. Why ruin that? He he had a story that was bigger than the one he had tially dangerous.” Padres manager Bruce Bochy. “You want walked into the bathroom, held the bottle over been assigned. Andro, he soon learned, was one At the time, McGwire was at 51 homers and me to take care of it?” he asked. “Don’t the toilet and turned it upside down. The pills metabolic step from testosterone and readily con- counting. Big Mac jerseys were flying off racks, his beat him up,” Bochy replied. made a pile under the water. He flushed. verted by the human body. Football’s steroids team was posting a huge attendance gain and the WALLY JOYNER; MAPLETON, UTAH That was Cammy. The ultimate teammate. The next day, Joyner sought out his friend. “It’s adviser, John Lombardo, told Wilstein, “Andro- chase was national news. The revelation threat- He’d do whatever it took. And, man, could not for me,” he said to Caminiti, and walked away. stenedione is a steroid. It has anabolic qualities. ened to unmask the slugger as more Frankenstein’s

ESPN 76 ESPN 77

C M Y K C M Y K WHO KNEW? WHO KNEW? monster than Popeye. Before that could happen, who’d served on the U.S. Olympic Committee. publicly ignored the effects of andro. “I think what take on McGwire and Sosa on Oct. 5, 1998: “All the to 349 in 1998) and hurt badly (time spent on the though, the manager, the team and the press all Steinbrenner put him in touch with Don Catlin, Mark McGwire has accomplished is so remarkable, downsides—the andro revelation ... had less to do DL per injury increased 13% over that span). And shifted blame to the messenger. head of the Olympic drug-testing lab at UCLA. and he has handled it all so beautifully, we want to with them than with us. Besides, what they gave injuries that were rarely problems before all the McGwire himself accused the reporter of “snoop- Catlin told Selig about andro’s anabolic properties, do everything we can to enjoy a great moment in us will far outlast the controversies ... Everywhere THE DOCTOR bulking up were now almost common: patellar ing.” His manager, Tony La Russa, stoked the out- then said there was only one way to rid the sport baseball history.” But he also realized he needed to men were laughing. Everywhere children shouted tendinitis, strained rib cages, torn hamstrings— rage. “A player’s locker isn’t something that you of drugs—random testing, the kind the NFL did. learn more. On Wednesday, Aug. 26, he and Donald ... Thanks to them, we escaped.” Bill Wilder, the medical director for the Cleveland the kind of stuff that happened when oversize should snoop around and see what you can find As commissioner, Selig was facing two realities. Fehr announced a jointly launched study of supple- By the end of the 1998 season, many team doc- Indians, couldn’t believe what he was hearing. As muscles ripped away from bones that could no out,” he barked. “That’s a clear invasion of privacy. tors were warning players to stay away from andro baseball’s physicians and trainers gathered for their longer support them. And it’s causing some real garbage here.” The When he looked through his notes and came to because of its potential to damage the liver and sex annual meetings at Nashville’s Opryland Hotel on Most doctors had neither the time nor strong Cardinals wouldn’t let La Russa bar AP’s reporters organs. But MLB would not take that step unilater- Dec. 12, 1998, the Tribe’s chief doc and many incentive to bring the steroid fight. Wilder, for from the clubhouse. Instead, they permitted the name on the bottle, Wilstein called a doctor ally. In October, as supplement sales were skyrock- others in the room knew their game had developed example, had been with the Indians since 1970 St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz friend. “What’s androstenedione?” he asked. eting—andro sales increased 1,000%, to $50 million quite a drug problem. At least half a dozen physi- while maintaining an office at Cleveland’s Lutheran to stand in front of McGwire’s locker to see if he the year following McGwire’s admission—Selig was cians would later admit to increasing concern about Hospital and a busy private practice. But he and could re-create the infamous moment. “To be able asked about a rumor that had baseball outlawing a growing number of players ingesting anabolics the others also knew it was against baseball’s rules to decipher the label on this andro bottle, you have andro. “It’s not only premature, but very unfair,” he and gobbling . Team employees handed to take steroids, and had been for years. to intentionally look, and look hard,” Miklasz replied. “None of this should ever diminish from out everything from amino-acid shakes to greenies. Updating the memo Fay Vincent had issued in wrote. “And that’s out of bounds.” Mark McGwire’s extraordinary season.” Supplement companies put players on their pay- 1991, Bud Selig had sent out a new policy with Wilstein was disappointed by the reaction, but In December, Wilstein, still working the lonely rolls: 1995 AL MVP hawked a company only minor revisions in May 1997. In contrast to he knew he hadn’t touched anything in the locker. andro beat, wrote that Robert Millman, Selig’s chief called MET-Rx, while All-Stars and their enforcement of baseball’s rules against gam- Plus, he had McGwire’s admission. What he didn’t First of all, baseball’s power jolt had lit up atten- ments, while leaving the details vague. medical adviser, believed he had a dual agenda: as Edgar Martinez endorsed Champion Nutrition. bling, though, many teams were casual about the know was how much added pop andro was giving dance and revenues. But he also knew the players That was enough to satisfy the nation’s physician and as defender of the game. Asked about Ripped personal trainers and “nutritionists”—guys drug policy. Some GMs lost track of it amid other the slugger. That was the part of the discussion union opposed stricter regulation of which sportswriters and talking heads. When Sports the effects of what McGwire was taking, Millman, a the Reds doctor, Tim Kremchek, called Klingons— edicts from the commissioner’s office. Others didn’t Wilstein figured MLB would try to spin. substances its members could take. The union, Illustrated named McGwire and Sosa its 1998 professor of psychiatry at Cornell, said, “There is no infiltrated clubhouses. know for sure if, as required, it had ever been But Bud Selig and his advisers didn’t know chief negotiator Gene Orza said, would not discuss Sportsmen of the Year, the story didn’t mention evidence andro does anything bad or good.” Wilder knew from talking to players that most of posted in their clubhouses at all. The union didn’t what andro was. The Sunday after Wilstein’s story andro “at a time when Mark McGwire’s chase of the androstenedione. ESPN the Magazine, which had “I want to protect McGwire and get the truth,” them didn’t fully understand the effects of what even think the policy applied to its members appeared, Selig sought the advice of his pharmacist home run record might be compromised.” launched that spring, put McGwire on its cover the MLB’s doctor told Wilstein. “That would serve they took. More were getting hurt (the number of because it wasn’t collectively bargained. in Milwaukee and also called George Steinbrenner, So on the Monday after Wilstein’s story ran, Selig twice in its first 13 issues. This was the magazine’s everybody. It wouldn’t hurt baseball, either.” players on the DL jumped 31%, from 266 in 1989 Now, after the publicity Mark McGwire and andro

WILL TO POWER A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE STEROIDS ERA

1926 1988 Ken Caminiti (40, 130, June. Anabolics are found inside. Baseball institutes testing for steroids 2003 Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez and Giambi After stewing 40 pounds of bull Ronald Reagan signs Anti-Drug Abuse .326) is NL MVP. A New York Times special report on for minor leaguers, who aren’t covered David Wells says in draft of book are cited as users. testicles, Fred Koch and Lemuel Act of 1988, outlawing sale of steroids Oct. 11 says “steroid abuse has by MLB Players Association. Perfect I’m Not that 25-40% of big McGee extract 20 milligrams of for nonmedical purposes. 1997 become a problem in baseball.” leaguers use steroids. In Jeremy Giambi tells The Kansas “substance [with] male sex McGwire (58 HRs) 2002 published version, range is City Star he used steroids, calls hormone capacities.” 1991 becomes second MLer (after The Babe) A’s hits career-high Free agent Canseco goes unsigned. downgraded to 10-25%. it a mistake. Commissioner Fay Vincent adds with consecutive 50-HR seasons. 43 HRs with 137 RBIs, wins MVP. He’ll later say he was blackballed and Caminiti is only player 1935 steroids to baseball’s banned list in may write a book. mentioned. In March, Congress holds hearings on Amsterdam chemists isolate male sex memo he sends to all teams and union. Six months after signing new labor deal 2001 steroids in baseball. Selig and union hormone. They call it testosterone. that doesn’t include testing for steroids, Bonds (73) breaks McGwire’s record, works out in off-season U.S. Anti-Doping Agency head Donald Fehr appear, as do 1994 interim commissioner Bud Selig wins fourth MVP. He’ll win next with Bonds and trainer Anderson. Sheff announces existence and history of Canseco, McGwire, Palmeiro and Sosa. 1956 Dietary Supplements Health and reissues memo banning their use. three, too. uses cream he says he believed was THG, fingers BALCO as source. John Ziegler synthesizes Education Act passes on Oct. 25, cortisone. It is tetrahydrogestrinone— The San Francisco Chronicle methandrostenolone. Sold as Dianabol, deregulates supplements industry. 1998 Achy McGwire plays only 97 games. He THG—an undetectable synthetic 2004 reports that Bonds’ it will be America’s first commercially Barry Bonds hires boyhood pal Greg announces retirement in a fax to ESPN, anabolic steroid. In February, Attorney General John paper reports Bonds testified to ex-girlfriend testified he available anabolic steroid. 1995 Anderson as personal trainer. then goes into seclusion. Ashcroft announces 42-count told her he knowingly

D using steroids unknowingly. D O T Padres GM tells LA Times, Y Confidential report by MLB’s insurance indictment against Conte, Anderson and used steroids.

T : S ; T T E S F E G E 1973 “We all know there’s steroid use, and it E two others on charges of conspiracy, McGwire (70 HRs) breaks Roger Maris’ G company notes spike in players’ injuries A

/ 2005 L G

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M Y I Four-minute miler is definitely becoming more prevalent.” record; NL MVP Sammy Sosa ends up O and cites steroids as possible factor. possession with intent to distribute Devil Rays’ Y

MLB and MLBPA announce new drug- O R T Y B F T

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urges universal adoption of recently He estimates 10-20% of MLB are users. with 66, 26 more than career high. M steroids and money laundering. is first player suspended D G I

E testing policy on Jan. 13. It includes / A T G S

/ E ; O R N discovered screening test for S A retired Caminiti is first star MLB for violating new policy. T I P

A year-round testing for steroids and O B S M

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anabolic steroids. 1996 1999 I player to admit to taking steroids. In Senator John McCain tells baseball and O stricter penalties, starting with 10-day C H / R B T L T S

; R

Orioles, Mariners, A’s break single- M football officials in March that Congress )

McGwire (65 HRs), Sosa (63) are first S , Caminiti also says Selig proposes 50-game /

E unpaid suspension for first offense. I E

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1984 season HR record. E will intervene unless tougher testing is

with back-to-back seasons of 60-plus. C 50% of players take them. suspension for first-time S

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M S R V A E E Victor Conte, former bassist in power- I instituted. T steroid offenders and G L Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 2004 K (

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funk band Tower of Power, opens Bay Mark McGwire tells The Denver Post: 2000 P New labor deal includes first steroid- lifetime ban for third

G kicks in, outlawing andro and 35 ster- Y N A M T I H M T T I Area Laboratory Co-Operative— “People are making a big deal about Bonds agrees to endorse ZMA, Victor O testing policy. Confidential and random, The San Francisco Chronicle violation.

E J oids and precursors not banned in 1990. ;

Y G ; S / T S E G T

BALCO—in San Francisco suburb. so many home runs being hit. They O reports on Dec. 2 that Giambi

Conte’s supplement. G it calls for tougher testing if more than N E T I A G T O / M N H C I

wonder why guys you’ve never heard 5% of players test positive in 2003. admitted to BALCO grand Two weeks after taking out ad in USA P A U In his book , Canseco says he

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1986 about are hitting home runs. My I jury he used steroids E Mercedes belonging to Red Sox Manny R Today to congratulate him on 3,000th C and other players routinely injected A G O / M L

W B W

Jose Canseco (33 HRs, 117 RBI, .240) answer is, ‘Let’s accept it. It’s good and human growth M

Alexander but driven by team bat boy is ; USA Today poll of 556 MLB players hit, MLB suspends Palmeiro for A E I each other with steroids. Rafael J S D H I E : S G 0 W wins AL Rookie of the Year. for the game.’ ” stopped in routine traffic sweep in R indicates 79% favor testing. hormone. Next day, violating drug policy. / A 7 Palmeiro, McGwire, Juan A

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C M Y K C M Y K WHO KNEW? WHO KNEW? generated in 1998, Wilder hoped drug use would be At the previous year’s , Bill secret, even from his wife. Upgrading to harder taken more seriously. And he had been heartened Bryan, the Astros doctor, had offered a list of vari- stuff would feel even worse. to see Selig put on the Nashville docket a seminar ous supplements and substances, safe and unsafe, As Brogna waited to hear from potential called New Drug Policy for Major League Baseball. with advice about which ones players should avoid. THE VET employers before the 2001 season, he heard PART IV Then he listened to a presentation by the doctors His colleagues voted to recommend giving the list Andres Galarraga was leaving Atlanta. He told his 2002-2005 CRASH AND BURN who’d recently been commissioned by MLB and the to players. But when they made the recommenda- November wasn’t too early for Rico Brogna to agent to call the Braves. “Do the deal,” he said. union to study supplements. Joel Finkelstein and tion to Robert Millman, Selig’s top medical adviser, begin his 2000 winter workouts. He reached into a “Whatever it takes.” The Braves made a $1.5 million Benjamin Leder, two Harvard endocrinologists, were Wilder heard him say, “We’ll think about it.” bathroom bag for his bottle of andro, popped the offer, and Brogna accepted. But almost as soon as talking, but not about andro; they said it was too (Millman has declined comment.) first of two pills for the day and headed down the the season started, there were days when his early to draw conclusions. Instead, they lectured on “Blithe” was the word that came to Wilder’s mind stairs of his Connecticut home. stiffening spine and hips ached so badly, he testosterone. Testosterone increases muscle mass when he heard Millman’s reaction. Wilder had There were no windows in the basement, just a needed help with tying his shoes. One night, as and endurance, they told the room. No kidding, the expected him to be the doctors’ advocate in the mirror to reflect the quality of his labor: ribbons of he rounded third trying to score, he wasn’t sure doctors thought. They teach that in high school. commissioner’s office, as Dr. Bobby Brown had been rising sinew acquired by attacking the $12,000 of he could make the final 90 feet. Painkillers were THE UNION MEN Wilder was surprised by the scientists’ equivoca- during his term as American League president from equipment every morning. Hours disappeared in all that stood between him and the bench. tions about andro—he and others already had 1984 to 1994. Instead, Millman seemed to be an that room, the clank-clank of the weight machines Atlanta got off to a 26–26 start, but elsewhere By the spring of 2002, Al Leiter, 36 years old and and writers speculate about who was using. advocate for baseball’s drug policy. providing treble to the classic rock that blared as the season was looking like another record breaker. pitching for his fourth team, and Todd Zeile, also 36 Zeile thought taking steroids was cheating, Wilder says he tried again in July 1998, at a Brogna lifted. When he took andro, he felt like he By June 1, Barry Bonds had 29 home runs and was and playing for his ninth, had been around a long plain and simple. He suspected some of the other meeting of team human resources officials at just wanted to keep lifting. “Do another set!” he’d on pace to better Mark McGwire, whose troublesome time. Both had been union men from the start. team reps were on steroids themselves. And he O’Hare Airport. When he asked Millman about tell himself. “And let’s do it again tomorrow!” right knee would limit him to 97 games and force Leiter and Zeile reached the big leagues in the late wondered if Donald Fehr understood the depth of distributing the information, Millman was Brogna remembers first buying andro off the him into retirement. was in his first 1980s, when baseball’s owners had brazenly and the anger of the union members who wanted their noncommittal. The message wended its way to Internet three years earlier, in 1997; he then played season as the $250 million Ranger. Roger Clemens, illegally colluded to limit free agent salaries, sport cleaned up. the commissioner’s office, but the subject the best ball of his career, hitting 44 homers and at 38, was headed to a sixth . eventually paying a $280 million settlement to the Fehr had spent the past two years traveling became one more Ping-Pong ball in the endless knocking in 206 runs for the Phillies over the fol- In July, the Braves decided Brogna, at 31, was players association. Both were there in 1990, when from team to team, trying to forge a consensus on match between MLB and the players union. lowing two seasons. Nearly 15 pounds of fresh mus- finished. To replace him, they brought in a former the owners locked out players for 32 days, and testing. But on the issue of what they did to their So in Nashville, the doctors made one more cle allowed him to feel as strong in August as he did MVP, but one who wasn’t a regular first baseman. again in 1994, when the players walked out. And bodies, his members weren’t easily led. attempt to sound the alarm, this time going in April. Late in the 1998 season, he reaped the Before the Braves let Brogna go, they asked him to both had been team reps, who knew the brethren The men across the table were also holding directly to the union. After Finkelstein and reward: a one-year, $3.2 million extension, easily take one more for the team. would march in lockstep on every labor issue. different cards by the spring of 2002. Since the end Leder concluded their presentation, Wilder his richest payday. The next August, he topped it, They asked him to teach Ken Caminiti how to Until now. of the 1998 season, Bud Selig had tried to educate questioned one of the men who had intro- signing a second extension for $4.2 million. play his position. Steroids had divided the players. And with himself about steroids, but rarely commented duced them, Gene Orza. Why can’t we give Two years later, though, Brogna had the labor deal already expired, union members on the subject in public. Behind the scenes, the players standardized, comprehensive informa- to wonder if his body was finally break- had until Aug. 30, their strike date, to reach a commissioner had told his deputies to “surround tion about the substances they are swallowing ing down for good. The 2000 season had new agreement with the owners. and predicate.” Translated from Seligese, that and shooting into their bodies, he asked. been brutal: a shattered wrist, surgery Publicly, the players union had always opposed meant collect information about steroids, and lay Orza replied with circular logic: not enough on his right knee, pink slips from the testing. But Leiter had seen opinion begin to split the groundwork that would force the players to was known yet about the substances to Phillies, then the Red Sox. With his ca- as early as December 2000, at a meeting of the accept testing in the next labor deal. endorse such a proposal. The doctors’ bewil- reer up in the air, Brogna fleetingly con- union’s executive committee in Arizona. By that The strategy was slow to develop. In February derment curdled into frustration. Over the sidered taking a step up, to injectable time, he’d been fairly certain for years that there 2000, 14 months after the Harvard study was past four years, they’d spent more time in steroids. He’d heard about the benefits were hitters using steroids. So he wasn’t shocked commissioned, Selig received its results: daily meetings talking about smokeless tobacco of those drugs in 1991, when he was when a declared that he was tired of 300-mg doses of andro increased testosterone levels than anabolic steroids. They continued to given a diagnosis of ankylosing giving up 500-foot homers. It did intrigue Leiter by an average of 34% within seven days. Selig advise individual players who asked for help, spondylitis, a debilitating form of when several guys he thought of as “everyday hit- declared he was “pleased to have played a part in but not one ever went public with his worries. arthritis; a minor league teammate of- ters” voiced their concerns, too. Those guys were the advancement of science” but added, “more On Jan. 21, 1999, Wilder walked into his fered to hook him up at the time. More frustrated by sportswriters’ questions about their research is needed,” and took no immediate action. home office, strode past a photo of ex-Indians recently, one Phillie was so overt with loss of power, even though their slugging stats Almost a year later, in January 2001, Selig held a BILL WILDER; LAKEWOOD, OHIO pitcher Dennis Martinez wearing one of his steroid use that on a road trip he hadn’t declined but just looked weaker compared meeting in Milwaukee with about a dozen team Wilder’s stethoscopes, sat down at his com- called Brogna in his room and asked for with the ungodly totals some of their hulking doctors. He asked each one to name the most press- puter and, as he always did after the winter help with the injection. teammates were posting. ing issue in baseball. The same answer came back, concluded it was an anabolic steroid. But he was meetings, typed a memo to GM John Hart. Brogna says he opted against inject- It wasn’t just vs. hitters, Leiter realized. again and again: steroids. shocked by what they weren’t saying about testos- “There is no reason that some preliminary able steroids in 1991 and again in 2000 Steroids were forcing hitters to make an uncom- The doctors told Selig about the rising rate of terone. What about testicular tumors? What about literature can’t be sent out to the players concern- for the same reason he’d declined to fortable choice: get on or miss the ride. disabled-list trips they were reporting. They liver damage? What about discussing whether ath- ing the known and unknown data about the pump them into that teammate: he Over the past few years, Zeile had watched entire described new kinds of injuries they were seeing. letes should be using anabolics at all? performance-enhancing substances,” he wrote. “I hated needles. They were already too teams develop an outsize musculature and won- They spoke of the obstinacy of the players union. It dawned on Wilder: baseball wasn’t about to would like to get something like that out to all big a part of his life—cortisone shots dered, “What do these guys have in their back They said what they had been saying for years. embrace any “new” policy. In fact, Selig and his players, but when I asked Orza, he said wait ’til we offered the only relief from his pocket?” He too had heard the player complaints And yet, Selig expressed surprise. deputies were just coming to the idea that their have more information. That will be never! Orza worsening arthritis—and he’d fainted about steroids, the nonusers worried about losing In March, he finally acted unilaterally and insti- drug rules needed changing. But they were unwilling and the players association want to do ‘further many times from the sight of them. jobs to users. And as the 2001 season continued to tuted in-season testing for various drugs, includ- and unable to move without the union and knew study’—so nothing will be done.” Plus, no matter how he justified to ride baseball’s power surge—Barry Bonds slammed ing steroids and andro, in the minor leagues. And reform would require a long-term political effort. That wasn’t quite true. Change would come. But himself the use of andro, he still felt 73 homers and Sammy Sosa hit more than 60 for in June, more than three years after the team doc- Studying andro was as far as they were willing to go. not before Wilder retired after the 2000 season. dirty popping it. He kept the pills a the third time—Zeile was weary of hearing players tors had offered their original list, MLB and the

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C M Y K C M Y K WHO KNEW? WHO KNEW? union issued a 32-page bilingual booklet called people inside and outside the game who realize From Christmas to July 2003, Anderson called As he looked at Giambi’s blood “Steroids and Nutritional Supplements,” which some things are going on.” Then he added: “Now, do Conte roughly once a month to ask for doses from described the effects of various substances. you expose everybody for it? I think the issue there his exclusive stash. Conte asked no questions. He’d work, Conte knew the Yankees slugger The results of the 2001 minor league tests were is almost as evenly split as those people using it or THE just drop a half-dozen 7-cc vials into a small would be a sitting duck for the new not.” In New York, Leiter told beat cardboard box, cradle it in bubble wrap and leave it writers he favored testing, but BUSINESSMAN at BALCO’s front desk for Anderson to pick up. testers. thought players would vote against it. Giambi later described in grand jury testimony But the divide melted that summer The blood test dated December 2002 made it clear that was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle that under the heat of public glare. For a Jason Giambi had a problem. And as Victor Conte he arrived at spring training in 2003 with both crucial number of players who dis- stared at the report in his office in Burlingame, substances coursing through him. He also was using chief endorser, was making a case for a sixth MVP opportunity to win these games, no doubt about it. liked steroids and mistrusted the Calif., he knew he could deliver a solution. human growth hormone (hGH) that he’d gotten at Pac-Bell Park, and BALCO’s supplements were We just could never seem to get that big hit.” owners, the need to take a real step to Conte didn’t know Giambi. Not personally. Their from a supplier in Las Vegas, where he owned a being sold by 70 companies worldwide. But while The big hit. That’s what his life was about now. clean up baseball trumped privacy. connection was through Greg Anderson, a squarely house. Anderson told him he could supply more Conte counted his millions, federal agents were Like McGwire and Canseco before him, Giambi had And a July 8 USA Today poll showed built personal trainer who was a member of Conte’s searching his trash and rifling through his mail. On become a prisoner of the big hit and all that went there was no turning back. Of the 556 inner circle, as well as a boyhood friend and confi- Sept. 3, they swooped down on his lab. Conte sat in into launching one. Ironically, Giambi was about to players surveyed, 79% favored steroids dant of Barry Bonds. A month earlier, Anderson had his lobby for hours as agents seized his records. take the biggest swing of his career—off the field. testing. In August, the players union been tagging along with Bonds on a barnstorm- Two days later, many of the same agents raided And it would help to expose Conte’s business and announced it would accept random ing tour of Japan when he met Giambi. During Anderson’s nearby apartment. They found steroids, the wall of silence that sheathed it. testing—the first major concession the weeklong trip, Anderson told the Yankees drug calendars, detailed invoices and $63,920 in On Dec. 11, Giambi walked into a grand jury room the union had ever made. “It is not a first baseman about BALCO, the small but cash stuffed in envelopes. Among the names on the in the San Francisco federal courthouse. Three watered-down type of proposal,” Zeile influential nutrition company that produced a calendars: Giambi and Bonds. (Bonds’ lawyers later weeks earlier, MLB had announced that more than told the press. “It is a legitimate pro- supplement that Bonds endorsed. The two agreed asserted the calendars tracked a legal supplement 5% of its players had flunked their drug tests. posal to try to do something.” to meet in California when the tour was over. their client decided not to use.) Testing was here to stay. Now the 32-year-old star The two sides spent the rest of the Despite the autographed photo of Bonds on his The raid hardly registered in the Bronx, where was going to tell all. Did Mr. Anderson provide you month arguing about parameters, not wall, Conte wasn’t much of a baseball fan. He was an Giambi was putting the finishing touches on with injectable testosterone, federal prosecutor principles. They agreed to anonymous ex-high school track star, and the Olympics were another strong season. But by mid-October, he Jeffrey Nedrow asked. According to testimony, survey testing in 2003 that would more his thing. But a Bay Area resident couldn’t looked like a different player. He would later Giambi replied, “Yes.” trigger punitive testing the following help but know about Giambi. The big man had testify that he’d stopped using steroids after the He said he assumed Bonds used the same stuff, alarming: more than 500 players, about 11% of year if 5% or more of players were found to have played seven years across the bridge in Oakland, All-Star break when he injured his left knee, and although he added that Anderson never actually those not on major league 40-man rosters, had illegal steroids in their bodies. The owners sought studying at the feet of McGwire and Canseco. After the injury had only gotten worse since. When the told him so. He also said he’d taken steroids in his tested positive for steroids. Selig didn’t four random tests a season; the players negotiated the A’s barely lost to the Yankees in the 2001 ALDS, Bombers met Boston in the ALCS, he had only three final season in Oakland. And he admitted to using announce the numbers. But with some of those down to one. The owners wanted punishments Giambi had taken George Steinbrenner’s $120 mil- singles in the first five games before redeeming hGH and several different colored pills supplied by users headed for the majors, it was time to reach ranging from a maximum suspension of 30 days for lion to wear the pinstripes of his dad’s favorite team. should Giambi run out and added that his new himself with three solo homers in the final two. His Anderson, including one he thought was Clomid, a an agreement with the union. a second violation to a lifetime ban for a fifth; the The slugger almost gave The Boss his money’s worth, friend was very lucky to be in Conte’s club. struggles continued against the Marlins in the female fertility drug that boosts testosterone levels. When the owners sent their first proposal to the players whittled that to 15 days and a year. The hitting 41 homers and knocking in 122 runs as the As the 2003 season reached its dog days, business Series, and he even asked out of Game 5. After the Conte watched news footage of Giambi leaving players in early 2002, it called for testing only owners wanted to ban andro; the players got them Yanks won the AL East easily. But they were pushed couldn’t have been better for Conte. Bonds, his Yanks lost in six, a somber Giambi said: “We had an the courtroom. By then, he knew his own run was during the baseball season. And it mandated coun- aside by Anaheim in the ALDS. So in seling, not suspensions or fines, for first-time Zeile thought taking steroids Bronx terms, the season was a failure. offenders. Chief negotiator Gene Orza opposed the Giambi knew that the next season A PEEK INSIDE plan on principle: as far as he was concerned, test- was cheating, plain and would be different: baseball would be ing presumed players were guilty and violated simple. He suspected some testing its players for steroids for The message board was a forum where the screen name has been changed to pro- of them having problems.” He went on to Canseco’s tell-all, Juiced, sparked another their privacy. Later, though, he’d say he thought the first time. And Conte knew, as he hard-core baseball fans could indulge in tect the player’s identity.] He’d been in the say that steroids weaken tendons, but round of steroid chatter. One fan posted that the proposal wasn’t as bad as it could have been. team reps were on steroids looked at the blood workup provided shoptalk, a place for seamheads seeking game for more than six years, with only a human growth hormone doesn’t, and plenty MLB didn’t have “the courage to go out and The argument was shifting: the central issue was themselves. by Anderson from Giambi, that the refuge. Discussion threads ranged from the handful of days in the majors to show for it. of guys were taking that. start an investigation into Canseco’s accu- no longer whether to test, but how. Yankees slugger was loaded with arcane (best bench players) to the universal In fact, he’d stumbled onto the site while Finally, some real answers. Throughout sations.” Farmhand clarified: “MLB is not Then, suddenly, everyone was talking about Deca-Durabolin, a steroid that lingers (Yankees payroll). But by the turn of the cen- he was trolling for job openings in Japan. that winter the headlines kept coming, and going to do an extensive investigation into steroids. In May, Jose Canseco told a Fox Sports in the blood for months. He’d be a tury, a new topic had elbowed its way into Before long he was dropping insider knowl- Farmhand kept posting. He said greenies Canseco’s claims because they already Net interviewer that 85% of major leaguers were sitting duck for the new testers. heavy rotation: steroids. edge, and the fans ate it up. They quizzed were actually a bigger problem than know they are true.” juicing. In the June 3 issue of Sports Illustrated, to drop the idea. The players wanted to eliminate Conte considered himself the MVP of the steroid What little the fans knew about steroid him on the difference between a cutoff and steroids. He said he’d never used, himself. On the afternoon of March 17, the fans Ken Caminiti became the first prominent player testing if fewer than 5% flunked; the owners underground. He gave Tim Montgomery a variety of use in baseball they’d picked up from news- a relay throw, the economics of being a On Jan. 12, 2005, he seized on a thread wanted Farmhand’s take on the hearing to admit steroid use in a story that detailed how chopped that to two straight years of 2.5%. performance enhancers and saw him become the papers and TV. That left a lot of room for minor leaguer—and steroids. about MLB’s recently amended steroid pol- Congress was holding on steroids that day. anabolics were saturating the major and minor On Aug. 30, Zeile learned the negotiators had world’s fastest man in September 2002—and no one best-guess speculation: on who might be On Dec. 2, 2004, the discussion was icy. A fan suggested that because chemists In an earlier post, he’d written, “The leagues. “It’s no secret what’s going on in base- averted a strike. There would be no random tests had caught on yet. Two of the drugs Montgomery juicing, how it was changing the game and about the latest headline: Jason Giambi had constantly created new and undetectable prospect of hearings were upsetting a lot of ball,” Caminiti claimed. “At least half the guys right away, and no immediate penalties. Players used were still in Conte’s storeroom: a liquid steroid whether MLB would ever take action. Like told a grand jury he’d used steroids. “Can drugs, testers would fall hopelessly behind. us.” Now, as he battled for a roster spot, his are using steroids. I can’t say, ‘Don’t do it,’ not who were using would have time to clean up. If called the clear and a testosterone-laced lotion their off-line brethren, these fans were just they void Giambi’s contract?” a fan asked. Farmhand was just as pessimistic. “The focus was elsewhere. “My guess is that it when the guy next to you is as big as a house and players who wanted testing had pushed for more, called the cream. Anderson knew their powers well. outsiders looking in. And then one day, in Farmhand jumped: “Do you think that only way those steroids will be found is if will be business as usual, with limited talk he’s going to take your job.” there might not have been any at all. But a tougher Conte says he told him about them himself. the fall of 2004, that all changed. teams never knew? Sure they do, and they somebody rats,” he typed. “I don’t see that on the subject,” he typed. “We’re more con- Reporters rushed to players, asking about steroids program could someday follow. (Anderson, and Giambi, through a spokesman, The minor leaguer who logged on that know that the possibility of the player being happening much.” cerned with getting the pools set up for the and testing. Zeile said, “I think there are a lot of They had, he believed, taken a first step. declined comment for this story.) day called himself Farmhand. [Ed.’s note: great because of it outweighs the possibility The mid-February publication of Jose college basketball tourney.”

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over. The clear and the cream had been uncovered April, he boldly broke with the players union on Something that he says may be making clubhouse and his supplier, whom the feds would later claim the issue of penalties. His demand: a 50-game sus- rounds is testosterone undecanoate, brown, was the self-described father of andro, Patrick pension for first-time violators, 100 games for a football-shape pills also known as the beans that Arnold, was no longer sending him new samples. second offense, a lifetime ban for a third. He also are taken four times daily and clear the body four The BALCO raid had made him radioactive. asked the union to agree to independent testing, days later. Useful stuff in a sport that guarantees But, for the most part, baseball’s wall of silence more frequent tests and a ban on amphetamines. each player will be tested only once per season. stood strong. When a noticeably leaner Giambi Finally, it was Selig who was framing the public Conte’s experience has also taught him that pro arrived at spring training in 2004, beat writers debate. And when the commissioner returned to ballplayers juice up most heavily in the off-season. peppered him with questions about his grand jury Capitol Hill on Sept. 28 with Hall of Famers Aaron, But while MLB’s policy states players “shall be sub- appearance and rumored drug use. He denied ever , , and Ryne ject to” off-season testing, the two sides haven’t taking steroids. So did teammate Gary Sheffield, Sandberg in tow, he glided through his testimony. figured out yet how to make that work. Then who had testified in the case as well. Later that As the Senate Commerce Committee accepted his there’s the elephant in the room of anabolics, summer, as a mysterious parasite and benign arguments, Fehr was left alone on the hot seat. “Are human growth hormone. Scientists are just begin- pituitary tumor threatened Giambi’s health and you and the players in such rarified atmosphere that ning to understand its scary side effects, but Conte torpedoed his season, he never admitted to doing you don’t see this as a transcendent issue, beyond knows if he wanted to get the best-quality hGH, he anything wrong. collective bargaining?” Senator John McCain asked could get it in 10-unit, easily replaceable twist-off Conte knew better. Fehr. “Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand?” cartridges from Denmark for just $1,000. MLB bans growth hormone, but there is no urine test for it. THESE DAYS, owners and players are battling There’s also insulin, which is a favorite among mostly over details of punishment. Both sides have bodybuilders for its muscle-building effects, but is POSTSCRIPT agreed on the basic structure of MLB’s drug policy, not covered by the current policy. FACING FACTS which both Selig and Fehr claim is “working.” “A player,” says Conte, “can “Working draft” is more like it. Baseball’s drive a Mack truck through the loopholes in the “We have nothing to hide,” said Bud Selig, as he policy—which has already been changed once and current antidoping program being administered.” concluded his State of the Game remarks in Detroit is headed for more revisions currently under discus- on July 12. sion—has all the omissions and ambiguities of an ON OCT. 1, tossed a Johnny Damon Perhaps. But the impression to the contrary was early-stage document. But while MLB and the union comebacker to to seal a Yankees win hard to shake. For more than a decade, the men at Fenway, and the club’s eighth straight AL East putting on the show—the owners and the title. As his teammates streamed out of the vis- players—had evidence that there was a serious itors dugout, Jason Giambi found at problem with their product. But they continued to the mound and embraced him. sell a game contaminated by steroids while they Later, Giambi lit up the cramped clubhouse, pursued their separate agendas. Baseball, like cranking music, embracing every teammate and any private business, usually heeds demands coach within reach, popping Korbel corks. He for change from only two groups: customers and talked to the media, slicking back his soaked regulators. And through all of this, we, the fans, hair, rambling on about how a year earlier he’d kept on buying. been so sick that he felt on the verge of col- But the feds are a different story. The flak- lapse and had to be left off the playoff roster. jacketed IRS agents who raided BALCO in 2003 He described how proud he was of his team as and the showboating congressmen now demand- well as himself, for battling through injuries. ing immediate changes to MLB’s drug policy have Giambi didn’t bring up his BALCO testimony, pushed steroids into the open. Since BALCO grand and no reporter asked him about it. His team- jury testimony began to trickle into the news last mates accepted his silence. And so did the winter, it was clear that a season that should fans: five days later, MLB announced they’d have been about Barry Bonds’ pursuit of Hank voted Giambi AL Comeback Player of the Year. Aaron’s home run record was instead defined by a But when Giambi embraced Torre, was growth procession of steroids revelations. try to get the details right, baseball continues to hormone coursing through his veins, the way he And after Selig and Donald Fehr defended base- lose ground in the race against anabolics. Although told a grand jury it had in 2003? ball’s policy even as Mark McGwire was embarrass- players think the policy is already working, they When Bonds passes The Babe next spring on his ing himself and Raphael Palmeiro was denying also acknowledge there are still ways to beat it. way to Aaron, will new designer steroids have steroid use at the congressional hearings in March, Nobody understands this better than Victor found their way into his body, the way he testified Washington smelled red meat. “The only reason Conte, who will be heading to prison for four the cream and the clear did two years ago? Congress became involved in this is because base- months on Dec. 1 for funneling steroids to star Is MLB finally in a position to root out cheating? ball didn’t,” says Representative Henry Waxman, athletes. After taking a close look at the MLB drug Who knows? the ranking Democrat on the House Government policy at the request of The Magazine in late Reform Committee. “Bud Selig has said he won’t September, he concluded that it is still remarkably look back at what happened in the ’90s to make easy for players to cheat. Conte suspects players are WHERE ARE THEY NOW? For updates on the key sure it doesn’t happen again in the future.” already turning to oral rather than injectable players in this story, go to ESPN.com. Keyword: Selig has been flashing new political skills. In steroids, because they clear the body faster. steroids

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