Baseball without greenies: Not as much fun?

Posted on December 21, 2009

Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers gets ready in the dugout while drinking an energy drink out of a can before the game against the Oakland Athletics at the McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, California on September 13, 2008. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

Red Bull is not just for teen age kids anymore. Ever since Major League Baseball starting testing for amphetamines in 2006 the game has changed. While steroid testing gets most of the headlines, it is the ban on amphetamines, known in baseball circle as “greenies” and on the street as “speed”, that effects more ballplayers every day. Amphetamines speed up the heart rate and have been proven to fight fatigue, increase alertness and sharpen reaction time. Ballplayers have used them to challenge the limits of endurance — and mask the accompanying pain.

The use of amphetamines in baseball goes back a long time. Greenies, a nickname coined by ballplayers because of the color of the pills, were introduced to the game in the 1940s. In Jim Bouton’s 1970 classic tell-all book “Ball Four” he detailed the use of “greenies” — as an antidote for everything from hangovers to garden-variety fatigue. During the Pittsburgh drug trials in the mid-1980s, outfielder John Milner testified that Willie Mays introduced him to a liquid amphetamine known as “red juice.”

In a Kansas City Star story several years ago, former Royals outfielder Brian McRae recalled how there were always two pots of coffee brewing in the clubhouse — one conventional and the other laced with stimulants. “I had to make sure I got the unleaded,” McRae said. Big league ballplayers go through a grueling eight month schedule that starts in February and ends in early October. With crazy cross-country air travel, night games after day games and long rain delays on the east coast during the summer months it can be very difficult to remain “up” every day to play.

The use of greenies in big league clubhouses was one of the worst kept secrets in baseball for decades. Players used to talk about whether to “bean up” or “play naked” — go without greenies. There were code names for pills, such as “black beauties.” In 2006 Oakland A’s third baseman Eric Chavez said, “Anybody who thinks you can go through the season normally and your body can just respond normally, after what we go through, is unreasonable. I’m not saying taking away greenies isn’t a good thing, but guys are definitely going to look for something as a replacement.”

In order to replace the effect of greenies players started to look elsewhere for a caffeine boost in April of 2006. This is when I first noticed many ballplayers drinking Red Bull and other energy drinks in the dugout before and during games. Ron Washington, who was the A’s third base coach at the time had this to say in 2006, “You can’t be out in those bars with any regularity anymore because you ain’t got help now.”

When I first started shooting in the late 1980’s the only thing you saw players drinking in the dugout was Gatorade (see above). The sudden increase of visible energy drink intake was intriguing to me. Like others I wondered if the players would be listless without a greenie boost? Would there be a drop-off in the quality of play? This is tough to tell, but I shoot many afternoon games (day game after night game) and there are many times when we photographers will complain about the lack of action and great plays on the base paths. It always seems like great stuff happens at night games when I am not there.

Do the fans care if their favorite ballplayers “bean up” before a game? Did Giants fans back in the day care that Mays drank “red juice” before a ballgame? I don’t think so. Most fans pay their money, and lots of it, to attend a big league game and enjoy that $9 beer. They want to root for their team and see their favorite player do well. They don’t want to hear any excuses about travel or fatigue. If the players need greenies let them have ’em I say. They are adults. If they want to do damage to their bodies I really don’t care. I just want to get a great picture!

I have talked to a few former big leaguers who miss the greenies so much they “bean up” while they play with their old teammates in fantasy camps with fans who are living out their childhood dreams. For all the money people pay to travel to Arizona or Florida to participate in one of these camps maybe a big bowl of greenies should be provided for them in the clubhouse. It would allow them to enjoy the REAL big league experience. And they would have more fun.

Baseball without greenies – Images by Brad Mangin