The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems

Will Carroll, an acknowledged authority on baseball conditioning and injuries, calls for a scientific, reasoned approach to the steroids problem. He first explains the science of steroids and other drugs, describes how athletes are tested, considers the scientific evidence of effects and side effects, and, most important, analyzes whether and how these drugs impact the game.

Adult/High School–Carroll is a recognized expert on medical matters related to baseball, and, for the most part, his analysis of steroid use among ballplayers is fair, thorough, and based on solid evidence. As such, his book is in direct competition with several more sensational and opinionated accounts. There is no question, for example, that Juice has more to offer the baseball community than Jose Canseco's Juiced (Regan Bks., 2005), but the latter has received far more attention from the media. At the risk of being slightly pedantic, Carroll refuses to sidestep the many complexities surrounding the use of performance-enhancing drugs. He considers PEDs not just a baseball or even a general sports problem, but rather a social issue on par with the use of recreational drugs. Despite a few factual errors, and some uneven writing (several of the chapters are written by other experts), this book belongs in most public and school libraries. Many who read it will gain from it, but none more so than the high school athlete who will confront, most likely for the first time, the truth about these illegal substances.–Robert Saunderson, Berkeley Public Library, CA
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