USA Today collects some comments from five of the ten still-active Mitchell Report All-Stars. The most interesting quote comes from Matt Herges, who is clearly not part of the “steroids just help me stay in the lineup” camp:
“I know what steroids did for me. It made me superhuman,” Herges said. “It made me an android, basically. Your body shuts down, and the stuff takes over. You had guys throwing harder than 95 mph when they had barely touched 90 mph their whole life. It wasn’t just that but the strength, the confidence it did for you. “The confidence, the feel, the results, is mentally addictive. It’s habit-forming to say the least.”
People always point to the offensive explosion of the Steroid Era, but I’ve always wondered if it wasn’t the relief pitchers like Herges who benefited the most from PEDs. They’re the closest thing to sprinters in baseball, doing one thing -- throwing fire -- in shorter bursts than anyone else on the field, and I suspect they more than anyone else would benefit from added chemical strength. Hitters still have to have good timing and a good eye. Starters need more stamina and a more nuanced mental approach given that they gotta face guys two or three times. With most relievers, gas makes the difference.
I won’t name the name because I’ve never seen him attached to steroids in print, but there was a Braves reliever who showed up one year in the bad old days throwing the ball approximately 249 miles per hour faster than he ever had earlier in his career. With each pitch I wondered whether his arm or the hitters’ bats would explode first. Turns out the arm did, but not after an uncharacteristically large number of strikeouts. Maybe it was steroids, maybe it wasn’t, but he certainly demonstrated what added velocity can do for a guy who makes his living one inning at a time.
