Good article from
Reason about how
Roids are not destroying baseball. They also bring to light the misconceptions about roids. Almost is a piece
T.Mag would have written minus the dirty jokes. Its funny cause they are kind of answering the ridiculous article posted in the New York Times recently that lambasted supplements.
"Yeager isn’t saying steroid use couldn’t increase a batter’s power. He’s saying most ballplayers don’t train properly. "There’s a difference between training for strength and training for power," he says, "and most baseball players train for strength." If hitters carefully and specifically trained their legs and hips to deliver sudden blasts of power, then steroids could be useful to them, but by and large that’s not what they do. "Mark McGwire hit 49 home runs as a 23-year-old rookie," Yeager says. "And, while I think he probably used steroids at some point in his career, he hit home runs primarily because of his excellent technique, his knowledge of the strike zone, and the length of his arms. Barry Bonds could be on steroids, but his power comes from the fact that he has the closest thing to a perfect swing that I’ve ever seen."
Much Ado About Nothing
In what at first blush seems counterintuitive, Yeager asserts that steroid use may have decreased home run levels in certain instances. Specifically, he points to Canseco. "I’m almost positive Canseco used steroids, and I think it hurt his career," says Yeager. "He became an overmuscled, one-dimensional player who couldn’t stay healthy. Without steroids, he might have hit 600, 700 home runs in his career."
In short, steroids are a significant threat to neither the health of the players nor the health of the game. Yet the country has returned to panic mode, with both private and public authorities declaring war on tissue-building drugs."
