Jose Canseco once confessed about being the godfather of steroid revolution in the major leagues
The use of steroids in the MLB was once exposed by Jose Canseco in a shocking revelation that sent shockwaves through the baseball community.
Canseco admitted with unflinching honesty to being the father of the steroid revolution that swept through the sport and irrevocably changed it.
Canseco revealed a disturbing underbelly in his autobiography, "Juiced," where players used steroids to gain unfair advantages with little opposition from the organization created to protect the integrity of the game.
The information revealed a culture in which the allure of improved performance was welcomed – possibly even encouraged – in an effort to revive the sport's popularity in the wake of the World Series cancelation.
Canseco's admission that he instructed teammates on how to use steroids was largely uncontested. He described how he instructed trainers and others on how to administer these drugs, painting a disturbing picture of a society in which the desire for success occasionally outweighed the spirit of fair competition.
"They wanted steroids in the game to make it more exciting, hoping they would be able to build its popularity back up after the disastrous cancellation of the World Series," Canseco wrote in his 2015 book "Juiced." "So, when I taught other players how to use steroids, no one lifted a finger to stop me.
"When educated trainers and others on how to inject players with steroids, there was nothing standing in my way''.
Canseco's book contained revelations that appeared to implicate a widespread, implicit complicity in the sport in addition to specific players. The use of steroids, which was once a closely-kept secret, seemed to have changed into a widely accepted fact.
HOF candidates linked to PED use still suffer in voting results
Jose Canseco's troubled history with steroids has developed in an unfortunate direction over time. Canseco, who once backed performance-enhancing drugs, now acknowledges that they were bad for his career, finances and health.
The former baseball star attributes his early retirement from the sport, his financial difficulties and even his current infertility to his prior drug use.
Canseco now emphasizes how overrated the allure of steroids is due to a significant shift in perspective.
This point of view is in line with that of late Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, who in 2017 pleaded with the Baseball Writers' Association of America not to induct athletes who had been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
According to Morgan's letter, Cooperstown admission should not be granted to anyone who admitted using steroids, tested positive for drugs or was associated with the Mitchell Report investigation.
He forewarned that the induction of such players might lead to a boycott of the ceremonies by members of the Hall of Fame who do not want to perform on stage with those who are allegedly using drugs.
Alex Rodriguez, Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens did not receive the necessary 75% of the vote to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Only Fred McGriff was inducted into the group, which also included Don Mattingly, Curt Schilling, Albert Belle and Dale Murphy.
The use of steroids in baseball's past is still a contentious issue, with the Hall of Fame serving moral and ethical conflicts.