A Historical Apology for Steroid-Shooting Ball Players

In 1977 I was working at a shortlived weekly in Minneapolis called Metropolis when Timothy G. Carlson, our photographer and a superb storyteller, went to see Zoilo Versalles, the late great Cuban shortstop (1939-1995) who had won the MVP playing for the Twins in 1965. Carlson came back with a funny story about "greenies," or amphetamines, which I’ll never forget.

He said that Versalles had said that he often took greenies when he was worn out. Someone on the staff, as I remember it, the trainer, would quietly offer them, and he’d take them. Especially if he was playing a day game after a night game. "The first inning, I strike out, I’m nowhere near the pitch. Then in the field I kick the ball, make an error." That’s when someone would pass quietly through the dugout and offer Versalles greenies, and he’d take one or two. By the third inning, he was making trademark plays in the hole and getting a triple in the gap. The manager would come up to him. "Zoilo, what’s going on? You looked terrible in the first inning, now you’re playing your heart out." Versalles made a little fist. "Coach, I’m just concentrating."

Highly anecdotal, I know. But the point is inescapable. Even great baseball players have been taking pills to enhance their performance forever. You say amphetamines aren’t like steroids. I disagree. People used to say, Speed kills. And performance-enhancing is performance-enhancing. The problem is widespread, and probably just as deeply entrenched/secretly-necessary as blood doping in bicycling. What do we do about it? Gosh, what do I know. Maybe cut some of the piety about professional sports? In any case, I’m glad Barry Bonds’s persecution as a pariah is over.