Baseball's Steroid Era

A collection of books detailing baseball's steroid scandal that overtook major league baseball over the last fifteen years. The scandal now calls into question not only the integrity of many of the records set during that time, but the integrity of the game itself.

Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and the Steroids Scandal that Rocked Professional Sports
By Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada

The two San Fransisco Chronicle reporters privy to the BALCO transcripts and court documents published this book outlining the entire BALCO scandal. In it they described the laboratory’s supply of ‘undetecable designer’ steroids (including The Cream and The Clear) to track and field athletes, football players and baseball players. Famous athletes such as Marion Jones, Tim Montgommery, Bill Romanowski, Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi had intimate details of their steroid use published. The reporters faced jail time for failing to reveal the source of the BALCO documents to the government.

Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major League Baseball
By Howard Bryant

Bryant’s book is about vastly more than just steroids. It is a pervasive critique of how the sport has changed over the past decade. After baseball was derailed by a bitter strike in 1994, team owners searched for ways to bring fans back into the stadiums. The incredible increase in home runs over the next few seasons offered such a motivation, and Bryant accuses managers and owners of actively ignoring the open secret of steroid use to keep sluggers like McGwire and Canseco in action. Bud Selig, who had the “moral authority" to invoke a stiffer steroids policy waited until he was forced into action by the US government. Bryant also considers how the rules were applied differently to favor hitters over pitchers, and details the intense battle between umpires and league administrators over attempts to reform the shrinking strike zone.

Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big
By Jose Canseco

Ken Caminiti had already admitted his steroid use to Sports Illustrated, but it was Canseco’s book that opened the flood gates. Canseco claimed to have educated and personally injected many players including Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez and Mark McGwire. Canseco described himself as a steroid guru, unabashedly championing steroid use as means to greater production as well as the fountain of youth. It was his book that ultimately led to the congressional hearings.

The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems
By Will Carroll

In The Juice, Will Carroll, an acknowledged authority on baseball's medical problems, calls for a scientific, reasoned approach to the steroid problem. Shunning emotional judgements, he offers a wide-ranging investigation of the drugs, the athletes who use them, the scientific effects and side effects, the testing procedures, and whether drugs have had an impact on the game. He explores the grey area of legal supplements, reviews the law involved in the BALCO case, compares baseball's situation with that of the National Football League, and speculates on the next generation of performance enhancers that may well include gene therapy. In exclusive interviews he profiles the motivations and experiences of professional players, student athletes, drug creators, and those who advocate the legal use of steroids.

Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero
By Jeff Pearlman

In Love Me, Hate Me, journalist Jeff Pearlman, author of the bestselling "The Bad Guys Won," offers a searing and insightful look into one of the most divisive athletes of our time. Drawing on extensive interviews with Bonds himself, members of his family, former and current managers, teammates, opponents, trainers, outspoken critics, and unapologetic supporters alike, Pearlman reveals, for the first time, a wonderfully nuanced portrait of a prodigiously talented--and immensely flawed--American icon, whose controversial run at baseball immortality forever changed the way we look at our sports heroes.

The Cheater's Guide to Baseball
By Derek Zumsteg

Ever see Mike Piazza block the plate? Or Derek Jeter slide hard into second? Illegal. But it happens every game. Baseball’s rules, it seems, were made to be broken. And they are, consistently and creatively, by the players, the front office, and even sometimes the fans. Like it or not, cheating has been an integral part of America’s favourite pastime since its inception. But how do they do it, right before our eyes? The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball will show you how cheating is really done. In this lively tour through baseball’s underhanded history, readers will learn how to cork a bat, steal signs, hurl a spitball, throw a world series, and win at any cost! In the end, they’ll come to understand that cheating is as much a part of baseball as pine tar and pinch hitters. And it’s here to stay. The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball is essential reading for even the most casual fan.