Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball by the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report

by Kirk Radomski

Book Overview

In this explosive inside account, a former New York Mets employee--who pleaded guilty to distributing anabolic steroids to dozens of baseball players between 1995 and 2005--breaks his silence on life... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594630569
• ISBN13: 9781594630569
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Hudson Street Press
• Length: 246 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Baseball and the Steroid Era.

Great read for all baseball fans. Any knowledgeable fan would indeed find this book very interesting about America's past-time.

Even Playing Field

I enjoyed this book for many reasons. It gave some real insight into the state of the Baseball Players and the Major League Business of Baseball. It also hit me personally since I myself took legal supplements from GNC for nutritional purposes because I was a college baseball player myself. In fact the whole steroid era has been around since the late '80s. When I got to college in 1990 even the Athletic Training programs encouraged legal supplements which were later banned. Athletes do this to help improve themselves and trust their body's with so called experts. The U.S. Government FDA which allowed these supplements to be sold I feel should be put into the spot light more. Just to be clear, I am referring to the supposed legal precursor supplements to steriods. There is no question in my mind that steriods should be illegal and should be tested for. But as Kirk wrote, these Athletes were making millions of dollars and in order to maintain a leveling playing field and get a larger contract, they would do anything possible to improve their statistics. This was an excellent book for baseball enthusiats who really want to get a fair history of the 1990's & 2000's. He does write too much on his so called expertise when it really was trial and error. He almost insinuates that he is in favor of steroids for athletes which I believe is wrong. The again, the real phillosphical question is what drugs or stimulants should be legal. Caffeine? Red Bull? Ripped Fuel? B-12? The FDA in my opinion helped cause this problem by relaxing it's restrictions on control of vitamins and supplements in the early 1990's.

Radomski's Calm Approach Deserves Consideration

For anyone seriously interested in baseball's steroid situation, this is essential reading. To be sure, the book has its flaws, including the author's frequent reminders of his many self-perceived good qualities. As we might expect from a person who made it his life to serve professional athletes, Radomski seems to think he was important because he spent time with big name athletes who made a lot of money. And like other "trainers," Radomski seems to want a lot of credit for what "his guys" accomplished on the field. But the flaws are easily tolerated, and what cannot be ignored is the way this book pushes the debate on steroids and human growth hormone. Like Jose Canseco, Radomski sees the substances so many have harshly condemned as things that enhanced player health. According to Radomski, Senator Mitchell was surprised that he "continued to defend the use of steroids and growth by baseball players." While stories about Radomski's relationships with various athletes probably fill too many pages, here's a very knowledgeable user and observer who says "growth hormones increased a player's healing ability." He says that although HGH doesn't "build muscle like steroids," it allowed athletes to "play at the peak of their abilities every day without enhancing their performance." Radomski sees HGH as something that let's the body heal more quickly than normal. Since "growth hormones promote healing while cortisone simply reduces pain," Radomski can't help but wonder why HGH is still illegal. After spending a few pages echoing themes that are more fully explored in "Asterisk: Home Runs, Steroids, and the Rush to Judgment" (Triumph Books 2008) (regarding some of the many reasons for increased home run figures that have nothing to do with steroids), Radomski says he is convinced that there "was never any crisis in confidence about the integrity of the game on the part of either the players, or really, the public." He argues that amphetamines (which were illegal but allegedly used by most of the players most of us regard as 100% legitimate) have a more immediate and direct impact on performance than steroids. Holding little back, Radomski concludes that "baseball has always tolerated cheating." What is likely to be important about this book is not Radomski's personal role in distributing steroids and HGH to so many players. Instead, the thing that will probably make this book memorable is Radomski's willingness to challenge the prevailing conventional wisdom -- a conventional wisdom that simultaneously sees steroids as magical substances that can turn a Clark Kent into Superman and poisons so dangerous even responsible adults who have to use their bodies to make a living shouldn't be allowed to take them. As Dr. Jesse Haggard points out in "Demystifying Steroids" (Author House 2008), "Proper use of steroids may offer significant quality of life improvements to both individuals and society as a whole. . . . [A]dditional research invol

The Story Baseball Doesn't Want You to Read

This book is must reading for anyone who really wants to get a complete understanding of the steroid/PED problem in baseball. Radomski, who had been in baseball for years, does an excellent job of explaining the game's culture that drove player after player to use PEDs. For players who always tried to keep up on whatever their peers were doing to help them perform better (look at all the players wearing those magnetic necklaces), it was virtually no different than getting the inside tip on a good tailor in each town. "Cheating" was not even part of the conversation. And Radomski lays out a good case why the baseball hierarchy -- from coaches, managers, and owners up to the commissioner -- all knew what was going on, but all kept quiet. He also correctly predicts the entire A-Rod saga, including A-Rod's rationale for using. After you read this book, you'll have no doubt the majority of MLB players did something, and many continue to use. (And why wouldn't anyone use HGH? MLB is not testing for it). For baseball fans, the book is ultimately disillusioning, but in my opinion better to know the real story. Not recommended for young impressionable idealistic fans.