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Opening-Day Doses
Baseball returns, and with it come those drug issues
MLB's domestic Opening Night comes on Saturday, and with it arrives Jose Canseco's sequel to Juiced. Seems Rick Ross was wrong; Jose Canseco wasn't "only snitchin' because he's finished" — dude was just getting started.
Am I alone, or does the steroids story feel tired as fuck?
Don't get me wrong. The story of drugs in baseball still fascinates, at least as much as the saga of Kobe Bryant and his technical fouls. HGH and amphetamines are still on the radar. And the Barry Bonds collusion investigation hangs over this coming season. But I don't think you can even get into these issues without examining the deep-seated history of performance-enhancing pharmaceuticals in the national pastime. And I did exactly that last week when I rode out to Apple Valley with a mic and my co-producer/fiancée to speak with legendary pitcher Dock Ellis.
Our piece, which recounts the no-hitter Ellis threw while tripping on pure LSD one June night in 1970, is compelling in its own right. (The piece is set to air on Saturday, with podcasts available at Weekend America's website.) (My fiancée redesigned that website before going free agent, FYI.) Even more interesting than that are the outtake asides that Ellis, 63, gave us about baseball's drug history. (Okay, one fine morsel from the Ellis interview: He could only see the catcher's mitt — not the hitters — on that fateful day. Coaches from Little League on tell young hurlers to ignore batters if they want to throw strikes.)
Am I alone, or does the steroids story feel tired as fuck?
Don't get me wrong. The story of drugs in baseball still fascinates, at least as much as the saga of Kobe Bryant and his technical fouls. HGH and amphetamines are still on the radar. And the Barry Bonds collusion investigation hangs over this coming season. But I don't think you can even get into these issues without examining the deep-seated history of performance-enhancing pharmaceuticals in the national pastime. And I did exactly that last week when I rode out to Apple Valley with a mic and my co-producer/fiancée to speak with legendary pitcher Dock Ellis.
Our piece, which recounts the no-hitter Ellis threw while tripping on pure LSD one June night in 1970, is compelling in its own right. (The piece is set to air on Saturday, with podcasts available at Weekend America's website.) (My fiancée redesigned that website before going free agent, FYI.) Even more interesting than that are the outtake asides that Ellis, 63, gave us about baseball's drug history. (Okay, one fine morsel from the Ellis interview: He could only see the catcher's mitt — not the hitters — on that fateful day. Coaches from Little League on tell young hurlers to ignore batters if they want to throw strikes.)
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