It's Time to Talk About the Pittsburgh Drug Trials - Part Two
Why does this story even matter?
Hi Everyone,
I hope you’re enjoying your weekend. Yesterday, I told you about the Pittsburgh Drug Trials and the events leading up to them. For anyone who hasn’t read the first piece on the Trials, click here to catch up. Otherwise, the TL;DR is this:
The Pittsburgh Pirates were Ground Zero for cocaine use and distribution in Major League Baseball, starting in the 1980s. Players had access to drugs thanks to a group of fans, the “Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven,” many of whom were introduced to the team by the mascot, the Pirate Parrot. But at the end of the day, despite encouraging and facilitating these activities, every ballplayer was granted immunity, while every one of the Seven was sentenced to prison.
Now that we’re caught up, let’s discuss what happened after the Trials ended.
“Baseball is going to - this year - put on the field of play a virtually drug-free sport…We will flat get rid of it. It’s gone.” Those are the real words baseball’s then-commissioner Pete Ueberroth said in a speech at Fresno State University in early 19861. The commissioner was eager to reprimand players implicated in the Trials, even if they received immunity. Seven players, including Dave Parker, Keith Hernandez, and Lonnie Smith, were suspended for the entire 1986 season. Four players were suspended for 60 days. These 11 players and 10 others, would be subject to random drug testing for the remainder of their careers. And that was it. Justice was served. Major League Baseball prospered for another 40 years without so much as a hint of drug abuse.
I’m just kidding, but you already know that. Ueberroth suspended these players, but he also offered them a way out: if they donated 5-10% of their salary to an anti-drug organization and served 50-100 hours of community service, they wouldn’t have to serve a suspension. Basically, Ueberroth offered players a choice between the electric chair and one of those prank things you wear to zap someone during a handshake. Also, that random drug testing? Yeah, that didn’t happen either. The Players’ Union killed that provision, which is ironic because a drug testing program would’ve been helpful when the Steroid Era kicked off just a few years later. MLB didn’t have an official drug testing program until 2003. At the time, all testing was anonymous, and testing positive for steroids carried no penalties. By that point, the single-season home run record (61) had already been broken by three different players who have been accused of or admitted to using steroids: Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds.
It may sound like I am blaming the Steroid Era on both Ueberroth and MLB Players’ Association President Donald Fehr and their leniency on players in the wake of the Pittsburgh Drug Trials. I’m not not blaming them. But I do think it is worth having a conversation about the effect that these systemic failures had on the game’s history. It’s also worth noting that this pattern of behavior, this choice to be reactive instead of proactive, to refuse to punish players for wrongdoing in the name of the game’s “image,” continues to this very day. This is true even beyond the Steroid Era. Rob Manfred granted players on the 2017 Houston Astros immunity in exchange for information on sign-stealing, essentially undermining any future punishment, given that the majority of perpetrators were now immune. Is there no way to protect baseball’s integrity without allowing players to pass the buck?
Still, everything I’ve talked about so far is in the past, and I told you that I wanted to talk about why the Pittsburgh Drug Trials matter today.
Ever since the Supreme Court ruling in 2018, I have been deeply troubled by the explosion of sports gambling across baseball and all professional sports. I want to be absolutely clear when I say that I have no personal opposition to gambling. I am not here to lecture anyone about the pros or cons of betting. If you want to participate in legal sports betting, you do you, and I respect that. I also believe that organizations in the sports world, be it media companies or leagues themselves, should not be allowed to promote or otherwise take money from sports betting companies like DraftKings, FanDuel, or BetMGM.
Last year, Ippei Mizuhara pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and tax evasion after stealing millions of dollars from his friend and client, Shohei Ohtani, to pay off debts he owed to an illegal bookie. When asked about the issue, present-day commissioner Rob Manfred said, “There are all sorts of situations in which [the players] have a privilege, in this case, the privilege to play in Major League Baseball, and that comes with a responsibility to refrain from engaging in certain types of behavior, in this case, gambling, that are legal for other people.” So players have a privilege, and with that great privilege comes great responsibility (Wait, that doesn’t sound right.). But the league itself, which bestows that privilege onto players, is not burdened with the responsibility to refrain from promoting certain types of behavior? Do I have that right? I am constantly confused by the fact so many people seem unbothered by this hypocrisy and greed. It didn’t sit right with me when certain members of the sports media, whether it be on YouTube, The Athletic, Twitter, or whatever, were wringing their hands about Shohei’s potential involvement in a gambling scheme while a BetMGM logo sat in the corner!
Okay, deep breath. To bring it all back, what does sports betting have to do with the Pittsburgh Drug Trials? Two things: first, gambling, like cocaine, is addictive2. And part of the reason that people get addicted, and there are a lot of reasons one can suffer from addiction, but part of the reason is that too many people see addiction as nothing more than a choice. The notion that drug addiction is a mental health issue is a relatively new one. And yes, DraftKings and all of the others remind us to “please gamble responsibly, only gamble if you’re over 18” at double speed at the end of every ad, but the sheer volume of advertising that is in all of our faces undermines that message. My point is when an addictive activity is made available without the proper resources to prevent addiction and abuse, people’s lives get ruined. That’s what happened in Pittsburgh, and it’s starting to happen now.
This leads to my second thing: remember how I talked about parasocial relationships yesterday? And how unhealthy parasocial relationships lead to questions about boundaries and power dynamics? Well, over the last couple of years, there have been reports of players noticing a change in behavior from fans3. Anything ranging from fans being more aggressive to Venmo4 requests for money lost to explicit threats of violence against players and their families5. Sports betting breaks down the barriers of parasocial relationships by giving fans a tangible stake in a player’s performance. And no one has ever done anything stupid or dangerous over losing money…
But listen, I am not trying to fear-monger. I’m not Fox News. I’m also not Nancy Reagan; I know that “just say no” doesn’t work. What I am saying is that, from where I’m sitting, the signs are all there. Systems are used to protect revenue streams (including players) without room for nuance or justice, even if it’s hypocritical. The public is overwhelmed with access to addictive activities, but they aren’t provided with a safety net or resources before people hurt themselves or those around them, whether it be financially, emotionally, or physically. People need to know what happened in Pittsburgh in the 1980s. People need to know about the Drug Trials because those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
I hope you guys enjoyed these pieces. Next week’s piece will also be a little different, but once Spring Training starts, we’ll start talking more about the Sox. If anyone is interested in reading Aaron Skirboll’s book, The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven, it’s hyperlinked there. Anything I wrote that didn’t come from that book will be cited down below. Thank you for reading, and as always, please share this with friends and family who made it interesting, and be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already. Feel free to email me questions or comments at notfrombostonsubstack@gmail.com
If you or a loved one is suffering from addiction, call 1-800-Gambler or text 800GAM. You can also contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.
So on the nose!!