[ThomasAA23]

Ben Johnson...among many other track stars...

Steroids do not make someone run faster, you already have to be a great runner, with good technique and steroids just help boost the muscles that are needed.

By no means am I glorifying steroid use, being involved in high level sports for so long, the negative effects, the culture, and everything surrounding steroids is awful. But, there is just one thing people often get confused about, they think steroids turn you into a super athlete which is not true. You must already posses the skill, technique and be an elite level athlete for steroids to have a impact.

To address the issue of The Big Red Machine using steroids in the early to mid 1970s, I find it very unlikely that steroids are used. Different athletes peak at different times, it has to do with a number of different factors. When you get introduced to the sport, off-field training, when you went through puberty, coaches, teammates, etc.

One thing you failed to look at is the culture of steroid use doing this time. Steroids were viewed in a very dim light, they were considered the body builders drug and associated with that was an image of a huge guy with muscles on muscles that most people did not want to be like. It was also considered the bad guys drug, as drug use was rampant in Eastern Germany, and parts of the Soviet Union this time. Most people in the USA wanted to show that they were better and did not need drugs to improve performance. It wasn't until the end of the 1970s that USA athletes started to dope on a large scale.

The only sport during this time in the USA that steroids were probably used in was in the NFL, and that goes with the concept of the body builder image the need to be bigger and stronger then your opponent. This body builders image did not fit in the baseball culture as it was often believed that you need flexible wrists to turn on or flick the ball. It wasn't until the 1990s that this view started to shift.

When making an accusation like this, you must look at it from all angles and not just the "numbers".