Steroids in the MLB
BY: BRANDON J. KNIGHT
Summary
Correlation between known steroid
users and non-steroid users.
Span of 10 years.
Greatest MLB players of all time.
Hits/ RBI/ Runs/ HR/ Pitching
Finding Slope
Data and Background
Sean Lahman Award Winning
database journalist
Author
Creator of Sean Lahman Databse
Largest free to use collection of MLB
stats
Baseballreference.com
Approach
Most Well known
steroid users in MLB
history
Mitchell Report
Implicated in the BALCO Scandal
Marvin Benard
Berry Bonds
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Armando Rios
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Randy Velarde.
Identified as clients of Kirk
Radomski
Chad Allen, Mike Bell, Gary Bennett, Larry Bigbie, Kevin Brown, Mark Carreon,
Jason Christiansen, Howie Clark,
Roger Clemens, Jack Cust, Brendan Donnelly, Chris Donnels, Lenny Dykstra, Matt
Franco, Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne, Jason Grimsley, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Matt Herges, Phil Hiatt, Glenallen
Hill
Todd Hundley, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch, Tim Laker, Mike Lansing, Paul
Lo Duca, Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo, Cody McKay, Kent Mercker, Bart Miadich, Hal Morris, Denny
Neagle, Jim Parque,
Andy Pettitte, Adam Piatt, Todd Pratt, Stephen Randolph, Adam Riggs, Brian
Roberts, F.P. Santangelo,
David Sequi, Mike Stanton, Miguel Tejada, Mo Vaughn, Ron Villone, Fernando
Vina, Rondell White, Jeff Williams, Todd Williams, Kevin Young, Gregg Zaun.
Mentioned in Connection to
Signature Pharmacy
Rick Ankiel, David Bell, Paul Byrd
Jose Canseco, Jay Gibbons, Troy Glaus, Jason
Grimsley
Jose Guillen, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Derren Holmes
Gary Matthews, John Rocker
Scott Schoenweis, Ismael Valdez
Matt Williams, Steve Woodard.
Second Data Set
Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams
Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb, Roger Clemens, Stan
Musial
Mickey Mantle, Honus Wager, Lou Gehrig,
Walter Johnson
Greg Maddux, Rickey Henderson, Rogers
Hornsby, Mike Schmidt,
Cy Young, Joe Morgan, Joe DiMaggio, Frank
Robinson
Process of analyzation
Lahman Database +
Baseballreference.com
Graphing iconic stats
Comparing stats of steroid and non steroid
users in MLB
First 10 years of play
Important Mentions
Major increased stats after first 2 years
Major decrease/ increased stats throughout
Similar stats compared to number of games
3 comparable stats
1
st
Year
Similar N.O.G / highest stat per game
10
th
year
Year 1 : BB – 16 HR , AP – 37 HR
Games : BB - 158 G, 42 HR , AP 158 G, 32 HR
Year 10 : BB – 158 G , 42 HR , AP – 147 G , 37 HR
Highest : BB – 158 G , 42 HR , AP – 167 G , 47 HR
Slope: BB – 0.6074 + AP – 0.0539 +
R² = 0.6074
R² = 0.0539
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Barry Bonds (Red)/ Albert Pujols (Orange)HR Scored/Allowed
Year 1 : BB – 15 RBI , EM – 58 RBI
Games : BB - 157 G, 95 RBI , EM 157 G, RBI
Year 10 : BB – 158 G , 141 RBI , EM – 152 G , 91 RBI
Highest : BB – 158 G , 141 RBI , EM – 157 G , 135 RBI
Slope: BB – 0.60279 + EM – 0.05917 +
R² = 0.5917
R² = 0.0279
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Bret Boone (Red) / Eddie Mathews (Oragne) RBI's
Year 1 : RP – 18 Hits , JV – 27 Hits
Games : RP - 152 G, 178Hits , JV 151 G, Hits
Year 10 : RP – 143 G , 172 Hits , JV – 152 G , 91 Hits
Highest : RP – 154 G , 191 Hits , JV – 161 G , 185 Hits
Slope: RP – 0.3853 + , JV – 0.0492 +
(Joey Votto played only 9 games)
R² = 0.3853
R² = 0.0492
0
50
100
150
200
250
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Rafael Palmeiro (Red) / Joey Votto (Orange) Hits Scored/ Allowed
Year 1 : MR – 9 Hits , AS – 1 Hits
Games : MR - 147 G, 174 Hits , AS 145 G, 170 Hits
Year 10 : MR – 120 G , 152 Hits , AS – 109 G , 127 Hits
Highest : MR – 154 G , 191 Hits , AS – 156 G , 209 Hits
Slope: MR – 0.4082 + , AS – 0.3145 +
R² = 0.4082
R² = 0.3145
0
50
100
150
200
250
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Manny Ramirez (Red)/ Alfonso Soriano (Organge) Hits Scored/ Allowed
Trends and Causes
Similar sets between players
New improvement to nutrition and
supplements
New Technology
Age
New workout methods
R² = 0.0049
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Mark Mcgwire HR Scored
Conclusion
END
