Testosterone Testing for MLB Players, Including Ryan Braun, Is Meaningless

This is not about Ryan Braun.  It is about the possibility that some or many of our baseball heroes, players such as fill-in-the-blank, should have faced the situation Braun faces.

Testosterone testing is flawed to such an extent that it is certain, not probable, that some players with increased testosterone levels passed the test.

The individual being tested urinates into a cup while being monitored to ensure that the urine stream’s path is from the body directly to the cup.

The specimen is separated into two samples.  One is tested in order to compare the ratio of testosterone and epitestosterone; humans produce both substances.

The test for non-natural testosterone is not very accurate, which is the reason that a second test is required if a ratio of four-to-one (testosterone to epitestosterone) results.

The usual ratio is one-to-one, but it can fluctuate tremendously.  The ratio obtained is not, as stated, very accurate. 

Valid studies have produced ratios as great as 10-to-one in males who have not taken any non-natural testosterone.

Having a high ratio proves nothing, which is why a second test is necessary.

The key is that that the one-to-one ratio can vary greatly, which begs the question: How many players whose results produced a ratio of less than four-to-one, but might have had a ratio that would trigger the second test, benefited from the first test’s inaccuracies?

Testing the second sample is performed only when the first test produces a high ratio.

There is a simple way to solve the problem, but MLB refuses to rely solely on the second test for at least two reasons.

First, the test to detect the presence of non-natural testosterone is expensive and time consuming.  Those who run baseball don’t want to do hundreds of them.

The other reason is that baseball’s image would be further damaged if too many players tested positive.

One example illustrates the difficulty of the situation.

Barry Bonds’ friends at BALCO used a transdermal patch that could manipulate the testosterone to epitestosterone ratio.  It was a brilliant way to produce an acceptable ratio. 

The patch increased the epistestosterone levels to better match up with testosterone levels.

There is no need for the first test other than to save the second test, which is reliable, but expensive.

As Chester A. Riley used to say in the 1950s, “What a revoltin’ development this is.”