MLB: Where Do We Draw the Line on Cheating in Baseball?

In a recent debate about performance-enhancing drug users being included on a list of the 50 greatest baseball players of all-time, I came across several gray areas which I felt needed to be addressed.

We are all aware of the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs that plagued MLB for the past 20-plus years, enhancing stats of most users of the illegal drugs.  Steroids, amphetamines and HGH were the most used.  Guys like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens to name a few, were able to sustain an incredible physical form late into their careers and were enabled to compile record numbers.

No doubt the steroids and HGH built muscle faster and better, giving them a distinct advantage over guys who didn't use them, and ultimately slowed the natural aging process that every player eventually succumbs to.  There were even reports that some of the steroids used not only increased leg and arm strength, both vital for the success of pitchers and hitters, but also improved hand-eye coordination.  If you don't believe steroids gave these players an advantage, you need to get your head checked.

Throughout the history of baseball, several other methods have been used to give players an edge as to where they normally would have been lacking.  However, not much attention has been paid to the use of these methods by past players and I can't figure out why.

So, what were they?

Well reports have surfaced in the past that players in the 1960s, Willie Mays included, used to take "greenies" as a way to wake themselves up before a game.  "Greenies" or "speed" are amphetamines, normally used to increase wakefulness and focus when a person is fatigued.

Often "greenies" were used by players who had a day game after a night game or battling injuries as a few examples.  Whatever the purpose for taking the drug, it gave an artificial advantage over players battling natural factors like fatigue.

During the 1970s, "red juice" became quite prevalent amongst players in MLB.  "Red juice" was packed with amphetamines and was introduced by Latino players, something Bobby Valentine was introduced to in winter ball in Venezuela.  It created instant adrenaline and gave a physical boost to its user.

So, why is it that players like Willie Mays have not been condemned to the extent that current players have?  Didn't they have an advantage by the artificial enhancement that the "greenies" gave them?  Didn't it give them the ability to beat the natural processes of the body like steroids and HGH did?  There is no doubt that when comparing two players who played a day game after a night game, the guy on "greenies" or "red juice" would have the advantage over the guy who took nothing.

So in making that comparison in regards to artificial enhancement, where do we draw the line on cheating?

Isn't drinking a Red Bull or 5-Hour Energy artificial enhancement?  After all, those two products are only two examples of a way to gain energy that the body normally wouldn't produce. Knit-picking as it may be, doesn't that give an artificial advantage to the body?  Doesn't it serve a similar purpose that the "greenies" and "red juice" did?

There are enough gray areas in this debate to make your head spin.  Players who took "greenies" in the modern era were often condemned for doing so, but why haven't the same condemnations been handed down to the old-time players who used them as well?  They are one in the same, giving a physical advantage to their users.  Amphetamines became a prescription only drug in 1965, so the argument can't be made that they weren't illegal yet in the '60s.

In the end, I guess to each their own when deciding what is cheating and what isn't.  I was of the opinion that anything that gives you an artificial edge is cheating. But with all the gray areas involved in "artificial enhancement," I may have to rethink my opinion.