With the steroid scandal rocking the major leagues, it seems hardly newsworthy to mention the less dramatic, though also performance-enhancing drug that many players are using - legally.
Although amphetamines are prohibited by MLB rules, players can take other stimulants, such as ritalin or adderall, if they can prove the need for a "therapeutic-use exemption" due to ADD. Stimulants boost athletic performance because they "mask pain and increase energy and reaction time."
And what do you know? According to Slate, over the course of one year, player claims of ADD jumped from 28 to 103. That's significantly above the rate of ADD seen in the general population, although that rate is also increasing.
Of course, to be fair, I suppose we need to consider the possibility that boys with ADD are disproportionately drawn to baseball over other sports. Baseball, the slowest moving of all the major sports, the only one in which players spend half the games sitting in a dugout and . . . chewing.
I'm doubtful. I've got no statistics to back me up on this, but I'm doubtful.
