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March 16, 2005

Under The Knife

Steroids by the Numbers

by Will Carroll

Eighty-three.

That's the number of players who tested positive for steroids in 2003, a number I've reported for better than a year. Confirmation of the number finally came when baseball handed over a series of documents to the Congressional committee by Major League Baseball and their attorneys. Baseball Prospectus, along with several other newsgathering organizations, obtained a copy of this letter.

Actually, there were 96 players who tested positive, but 13 appealed the findings. Those appeals were never heard since there were no penalties; even if all had been overturned, there were still enough positive tests to cross the 5% threshold that triggered penalty-phase testing. The most positive result, in the good sense, is that 2004 saw a massive decrease in positive results, down to just 12. All 12 were first-time offenders and were placed on the so-called administrative track. It remains unclear if a second positive test for any of these 12 this year would result in the new "second strike" penalty of thirty days' suspension.

In 2003, the greatest number of positive tests were for nandrolone, a popular steroid that is chemically very similar to testosterone. Unfortunately, nandrolone is the easiest steroid to generate a so-called "false positive" result for, due to the extensive use of nandrolone in cattle farming and the widespread use of a nandrolone metabolite, 19-nandrostenedione. 19-nandrostendione is the substance that Terrmel Sledge and Derrick Turnbow, among others, tested positive for at the 2003 Olympic qualifying tournament.

Nandrolone is known commercially as Deca-Durabolin. This drug, popularly called "Deca," was one that Jason Giambi admitted using. It has been implicated in several high-level athletic steroids scandals, including Linford Christie (track), Greg Rusedski (tennis) and Fernando Vargas (boxing). Deca has a long half-life and is very easily detected at low levels in urine.

However, nandrolone does have the false-positive stigma. Both Christie and Rusedski were able to make convincing arguments that resulted in their suspensions being overturned. In baseball, 73 of the 96 positive tests in 2003 were for nandrolone. Only one positive test in 2004 involved nandrolone. (Note--some players tested positive for more than one substance. This is common due to the practice of "stacking," the use of one or more steroids at a time to enhance their efficacy.)