THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Not sure where you’re going with this other than the mild “shock” value of linking Gibson to steroid use (about which I have no evidence or opinion). Cortisone is a corticosteriod; corticosteroids as a class aren’t related to testosterone, and not subject to the Controlled Substances Act or MLB’s drug policy. The steroids used by athletes are anabolic androgenic steroids, which ARE related to testosterone, subject to the CSA, and part of MLB’s drug policy.

You might as well have called Gibson a drug user; it would be just as accurate - we know that he certainly took plenty of legal, prescribed painkillers, and probably over-the-counter remedies as well.

The point of whether it is part of MLB’s drug policy is really irrelevant for my purposes.  Androstenedione was legal at one time by FDA and MLB, though the WADA had it banned.  Cortisone is banned by WADA.  (Though Sudafed would be as well.) If you want to discuss the qualification of what’s a PED or not, I’d stick with WADA, not MLB.

So, the real question is why is cortisone part of the WADA banned list.  Is it simply because it is part of the steroid family, and therefore, regardless if it has been proven to have PED effect or not, it’s banned?

If only this article would get more play and followup on the issue in a scientific way.  Whenever we hear about the “horrors” of steroids, HGH, or pick your favorite PED, 9 times out of 10 the problem is due not to use, but abuse of the drug.  Sure, someone has medical problems because they abused a drug.  You’ll have problems if you take too many aspirin. 

I would love to RealSports on HBO revisit the piece that Armen Katejan (sp?) did a couple of years ago on the effects of steroids.  He interviewed Clapp and several others.  The result of the piece was that there is strong anecdoctal evidence that steroids taken at the proper level as part of a health regimen can have good benefits with little to no side effects.  To paraphrase the above article, I wish someone would have the guts to do the necessary research on the long term effects of “proper” PED use.