Major League Baseball: Providing a Public Service in the 1980s

Last Friday’s Top 7 included a section on Mark McGwire, which invariably led to the clip of his 1988 PSA for kids and Polio. It got me thinking about other athletes and public service announcements they provided in the decade.

Surely Youtube could provide a plethora to choose from, right? Yes.

For example, Hall of Fame 3B and purveyor of mustache Mike Schmidt was all about the truth in 1986. He wants to remind you that cocaine is nothing but a big lie, and apparently the use of light bulbs is nonsense too.

During the same year, Mets catcher and whore de la media Gary Carter provided the personification of irony.

While Carter was telling you to stay off drugs, Gooden, Strawberry and Hernandez did a couple lines in foul territory. Good gravy.

Also gotta love Carter’s synopsis that it isn’t cool any more. You know, because pre-1986, drugs were awesome.

In fact Davey Johnson used a cocaine substitute in place of the pink stuff for the players to mix in the clubhouse coffee. A couple of years later, Vince McMahon and the WWF hopped on the anti-smoking bandwagon--a noble effort for the kids indeed.

Sure, the Rockers didn’t smoke cigarettes, but that didn’t stop Shawn and Marty from digging into the trenches of coke and pain pills. Jannetty looks as though he hasn’t slept in days in that video.

Sadly for him, he would never turn the corner like tag team partner Shawn Michaels. The Rockers’ one-time partner at the 1989 Survivor Series, the Ultimate Warrior, also feels very strongly about cigarette use.

Safe to say Gene Okerlund never found his carton of smokes that he left in the dressing room.

Where was I? Yes, drugs, and baseball.

At the 1988 World Series, Vin Scully and Commissioner Ueberroth welcomed First Lady Nancy Reagan into the booth. She peered into the souls of America’s youth encouraging them to say no.

There isn’t anything too funny in this clip, other than Nancy’s obvious reading skills and Peter and Vin appearing to be attached to her sides. Oh, and the idea that Peter’s right hand is playing goose with Nancy’s hiney. Oh, and Nancy’s ceremonial first pitch, which experts measured at an astounding distance of 3.4 feet.

Fortunately, it wasn’t all drugs and negativity in the 1980s. Chicken and sex addict Wade Boggs was a staunch advocate for the public libraries of Massachusetts. In fact, he credits the library for making him 1983 batting champion.

And after all that reading, you might need relief. Orel Hershiser has just the thing …

And when you’re through scarfing down your pizza and “Relief Pitcher” (get it?), feel free to inject your veins full of LSD to help send you to the magical world of Nintendo.

Say no to drugs, kids … unless Vince Coleman needs to steal second and you really want to be a part of the action.