MLB players that likely never took steroids

Ben Liebman is a writer for FanSided partner BroJackson.com. For more great content, head on over to Bro Jackson and check out Ben’s work.

Jose Canseco’s claim that 85 percent of the players in baseball used some form of steroids in recent years has begun to feel like a conservative number. Ryan Braun is gone. Alex Rodriguez is falling into the abyss. The idea that these violations are can be explained away as outliers has run out of steam. If we bump up Canseco’s estimate to 90% there would still be significant action on the over. No matter how deep the steroid rot goes though there has to be some percentage of players who never needed a teammates help with injections.

Every team had to have one or two straight edges, and those guys deserve special recognition. They avoided giant heads, swollen arms, and eternal ridicule. Here are a few of the better lumpy, gangly, reedy, and awkward players that never seemed to cheat for a competitive edge.

Tony Gwynn

Finding out the round mound of hitting was taking PEDs would be as bizarre as Vin Scully calling WNBA games. Nothing about Gwynn’s game raised any red flags, and his physique reinforced the perception that his worst vice was big league chew. The guy didn’t even need to see his feet to nearly hit .400. Padre fans can rest assured, as if living in San Diego isn’t enough reassurance, that their greatest player of all time is still everyone’s all American.

Greg Maddux

The Mad Dog represents those pitchers who stuck with the body of a middle school history teacher rather than take PEDs. Maddux’s ability to pitch around the edges of the strike zone isn’t a trait that comes from a bottle. He had to be aware teammates like John Rocker were ripping phone books in half while throwing 99 mph, yet Maddux never seemed to alter his approach unlike some of his questionable contemporaries.

David Eckstein

Unlike Steve Rogers in the Captain America movies, David Eckstein decided he didn’t need to acquire super strength through a serum. Eckstein wore the badge of the ninety-nine pound weakling with pride his entire career. He’s listed as the same height as Lyndsay Lohan, and has 35 career home runs to his name. If you needed to put together an Oceans 11 heist with MLB players than you would be hard pressed to find a better guy to hide in a tiny bank box.

Randy Johnson

At first glance the Big Unit might be a candidate for entry on a possible PED user list. The guy was more intense that on the mound than a bomb squad sergeant, and threw hard enough to explode a bird on contact. Yet the laws of physics seem to vindicate Johnson. His height and length combined with the mound made it appear the ball was dropping from a three-story building. It would be much easier to chalk up that fastball and mullet to PEDs, but Johnson gets a pass.

John Kruk

Kruk was on a World Series team with Lenny Dykstra and Mitch Williams so we know he had to have an idea that there were people out there using PEDs. His doughy first base body never showed obvious signs of cheating. Hitting 100 career home runs over nine seasons isn’t the resume of a juicer. Like Randy Johnson he was a victim of the 90s mullet, but not the equally popular syringe of the decade.

Charlie Hough

Any knuckleballer could have made this list, but I went with the sickliest starting pitcher I ever witnessed in person. When Hough took the mound as the first starting pitcher in Marlins history he was 45 years old. On the field he shook like a leaf before every pitch, yet his knuckle was good enough that day for the win. Hough was the kind of player you wanted to take PEDs. He didn’t look like he could put his bag into an airplane overhead compartment without help.

Omar Vizquel

When a player is acknowledged as one of the greatest defensive players of all time he can afford some holes in his offense. The speed and hands he displayed from shortstop aren’t traits you can easily augment with PEDs. His clean persona was only helped when played on the same team as Barry Bonds. When they stood next to each other it looked like the Giants had signed Sully and Mike from Pixar’s Monsters Inc.

George Brett

Finding out the king of Kansas City used PEDs would be akin to reading Superman flew with wires or Batman employed a stunt double. Excessive pine tar was his only real vice. Would a steroid guy have played for twenty-one straight seasons in Kansas City? If we ever find out that molasses-based BBQ sauce gives a competitive advantage then we might look at Brett differently, but until then he is Mr. Clean. Except for his bat handles.