Banned Substances in Baseball in The United States - Jose Canseco

Jose Canseco

In 2005, Jose Canseco released a tell-all book, Juiced, about his experience with steroids in his career. In the book, Canseco named several other players, including Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, and Jason Giambi, as steroid users. The book caused great controversy, and most of these players have claimed Canseco's implications to be false, though McGwire and Giambi have since admitted to using PEDs, and Palmeiro has tested positive.

In 2008, Canseco released another book, Vindicated, about his frustrations in the aftermath of the publishing of Juiced. In it, he discusses his belief that Alex Rodriguez also used steroids. The claim was eventually proven true with Rodriguez's admission in 2009, just after his name was leaked as being on the list of 103 players who tested positive for banned substances in Major League Baseball.

On January 11, 2010 Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids throughout his professional baseball career. The admission of steroid use caused many cases of questioning of whether or not his long list of accomplishments should be rebutted. His most famous accomplishment undoubtedly took place in the 1998 season when he broke the single season home run record previously held by Roger Maris.

It was after this accomplishment that McGwire and a wide array of MLB players came under scrutiny for use of steroids. A news reporter stumbled upon an open container of androstenedione in McGwire's locker in August of the '98 season. At the time androstenedione was not on the banned substance list for Major League Baseball, but was viewed as a precursor to anabolic steroids and was already banned by the International Olympic Committee, the National Football League, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

In 2005, after the release of Juiced, Mark McGwire was among 11 Major League Baseball players that were publicly addressed concerning their use of steroids. During the accusations McGwire was noted for avoiding direct questions from Congress, instead continually saying "I'm not here to talk about the past." Although he never admitted to steroid use, the public certainly questioned whether or not he was a user because of his unwillingness to answer direct questions. McGwire was never officially identified as a steroid user, however his public image suffered after he failed to respond to these accusations.

The truth did eventually come out. Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids off and on throughout his MLB career on January 11, 2010. He claimed to only have used steroids for health reasons and for quick recovery, never for strength or size gains. These claims were publicly disputed by McGwire's steroid supplier, who stated that he did, in fact, use steroids to gain a competitive edge.