PED in baseball, football

Performance-enhancing drugs (PED) are a popular topic for Major League Baseball (MLB). A common thread among the stories told about PED in MLB is that there were more players doping in the 1990s than today, but the insinuation for many players not implicated is that they are potentially guilty of abuse too. MLB tests all players every year, but the legacy of some top talent found to use PED (exhibit A: Barry Bonds) makes it all too easy to accuse other successful players of PED without a shred of evidence (exhibit B: Albert Pujols).

 Since 2010, MLB suspended 9 players in total, of which 6 played in an all-star game. This is not a large number of players, but the players suspended have performed better than the average MLB player. The National Football League (NFL) took a more aggressive approach to PED in the 1980s after the public pleas made by Lyle Alzado in the late 1980s. Despite a long history of testing and commitment of both the teams and players union, the NFL suspends players every season for PED. ESPN recently noted that since 2010 the Seattle team lead the league with 5 suspensions. While the impacted players are also among the above average in the league, the list of names lacks the star power of a popular quarterback, wide receiver, or running back.

Between 2010-2013, MLB had 9 PED suspensions, NFL had 50. Yet, the focus of PED remains on MLB because of the individuals found to use PED. MLB has 800 active players (25 players times 32 teams), NFL has 1696 (53 active players times 32 teams). Even proportionately, PED are more common in the NFL; 1.1% for MLB vs. 2.9% for NFL.