Coley Ward at UmpBump.com reiterates an oft-forgotten fact in the discussion on steroids: They've been illegal in baseball since 1991. Ward quotes Richard Justice's account a memo from then-MLB commissioner Fay Vincent to all the clubs:
Commissioner Fay Vincent sent the clubs a memo in 1991 reminding them that players were forbidden from taking any illegal substance. He specifically mention steroids in the memo and encouraged the clubs to take a get-tough policy on players thought to be using steroids.What could a team have done if it suspected a player of using steroids? Probably nothing.Vincent simply wanted to be on the record as letting the clubs know that steroid use was against the rules and that they shouldn’t be afraid to confront a player.There was no testing for steroids until 2003 (after being part of the 2002 labor agreement).The notion that Bonds wasn’t breaking any rules is ridiculous. He was. He knew he was.
I've often been surprised that people forget this fact. But there's even more evidence to say players in the 80's and 90's knew full well that taking steroids was wrong. After all, nearly every first hand account we hear of players taking steroids secretly occurs behind a bathroom stall door.
If taking steroids wasn't wrong, then why were players hiding it? At the very least, it was morally wrong, otherwise the needles would have broken the skin in front of lockers rather than behind closed stall doors.
Link: Steroids have been against the rules for quite some time now. | umpbump.com.
