The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems [Hardcover]

Will Carroll (Author), William L. Carroll (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2005

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.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

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
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

He explains the science...and, most importantly, analyzes whether and how these drugs affect the game. (Newswise.com )

The answers are here in Carroll's well-researched, fact-filled book. (San Diego Union - Tribune )

An indispensable guide to today's controversies. (Newsweek )

Carroll lays out a small wealth of data, compressed into simple enough terms, to inform the reader what steroids are [and] what they are not. (Jeff Kallman )

Anyone who knows Will Carroll, or who has read his writings for Baseball Prospectus, knows he cares deeply about the game of baseball. It is the very reason he has authored The Juice. Will’s book will help those in the game, and the fans who follow the game, understand the issues of a problem that needs to be faced before it can disappear. (Fred Claire )

Will Carroll does a simple, brilliant thing in this book: He asks questions...and he goes about answering them, in a deliberate, curious, and rational way. His prose is clean and his aim is true, and in one fell swoop he’s raised the level of debate about steroids in this country. ...From now on, if a person wants to pontificate on the question, he’d better have read The Juice first. And if a person hopes to speak intelligently about how performance-enhancing drugs affect the games we play and the sports we follow, she will have certainly read The Juice. (Eric Neel )

The Juice is a great resource for information on the history and presence of banned and illegal performance enhancers in sports. Will Carroll’s work really is a baseball book (on steroids)! (Tom House )

It's brimming with cold-eyed analysis, digestible science and shoe-leather journalism. No histrionics, no agenda; just an exhaustive look at steroids and what they mean for the game. It’s the most important work of its kind. (Dayn Perry )

Eye opening! This is an important book for everyone who influences young athletes. The Juice is an objective look at the world of performance enhancement drugs today and tomorrow. (Karl Kuehl )

Everyone talks about steroids, but no one knows anything about them. Will Carroll’s The Juice is the first step in our education. (Allen Barra )

There’s a difference between thinking critically and criticizing, and Will Carroll demonstrates that throughout the text. The Juice is a must-read for legislators, sports administrators, educators, lawyers, doctors, journalists, athletes of all levels, and fans. (Will Weiss )

Stop! Don’t say another word about steroids until you’ve read The Juice. (Rob Neyer )

Will Carroll’s The Juice fills the yawning educational gap that exists in discussions on the topic. Are steroids in baseball a real problem? Absolutely, but if you want to have an intelligent conversation about them, make sure you first read The Juice. (Jeff Erickson )

A good job of showing why the situation involving performance enhancing drugs is more complicated than you might think. (Ben Adler New Republic )

A fascinating new book. (Espn.Com )

Our education has begun.... Carroll...sifts through facts and myths and helps understand the layers of performance enhancements. (Peter Gammons Espn.Com )

Riveting...tremendously important: spelling out the complex arguments and issues regarding baseball and drug use.... A blessedly blather–free book. (Brown, Daniel Mercury News )

A professional and insightful approach to defining the ramifications of steroid usage as it applies to playing the sport of baseball. (Bernie Gilmer Sports Ramblings )

Intriguing detail. (Art Thiel Seattle Post-Intelligencer )

A dose of enlightenment. (Brandon Wilson Baseballmuse.Com )

A must for any involved in the sport's finer issues. (Bookwatch )

This book...is a great example of how to objectively examine a subject. (Greg Hack Kansas City Star )

Riveting. (Leo Roth Democrat and Chronicle )

Engaging reading. (Russ Smith New York Sun )

One of the more important baseball and sports books written this decade. (Royalsreview.Com )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (April 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156663668X
• ISBN-13: 978-1566636681
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,636,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Objective, thorough, enlightening look at PEDs, May 16, 2005

By 

Diane B. Firstman "dianagramr" (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems (Hardcover)

I've been a follower of Will Carroll's work on Baseball Prospectus for a while now, and got a great deal of knowledge out of his last book "Saving the Pitcher".

"The Juice" is an excellent introduction to the ever-expanding and rapidly-changing world of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Mr. Carroll presents a brief history of how athletes (and their trainers) have been seeking versions of magic elixirs for centuries, and then details the physiological changes and risks (and potential benefits) associated with use of PEDs.

Those readers looking for a tell-all on Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco should look elsewhere. "The Juice" DOES devote a chapter to the BALCO investigation, but it is presented in terms of the legal pathways that are being pursued, and who is being targeted and why. Bonds DOES get mentioned, but the book thankfully does not to jump to conclusions.

The chapter that "made" the book for me detailed the use of HGH by a high school pitcher who was told by a scout that he wasn't tall enough. The interviews of the kid and his parents was amazing and thought-provoking.

Well done Will!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting overview on a controversial topic, July 4, 2005

By 

Adam Strasberg (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems (Hardcover)

"The Juice" provides a nice overview on topic that sports fans hear about constantly but nobody is really saying anything new about.

The book discusses many of the drugs in question -- both providing a history of PED (Performance Enhancing Drugs) and their effects (both positive and negative) on the human body. Included in this discussion is a section on supplements and other PEDs (caffeine! amphetamines and the like) which I found an interesting side note in the PED conversation that is often left out (how many players who get caught say they were taking a supplement).

The best sections -- which play to Will Carroll's strength, a conversational writing style that makes complex medical issues understandable, are the interviews with a Minor League player and steroid user, a high school baseball player and HGH user, a PED Lawyer, a Trainer who knows PED, a man who runs a top testing company, and a man who claims to have created THG (at the center of the Balco trial).

Those sections provide a behind the scenes look if you will at the issue.

My biggest criticism of the book is that in the end, Will Carroll doesn't seem to draw any new conclusions despite all the information he provides. I wish he had been better able to tie the book up, somehow his conclusions (which were nothing new) left me unsatisfied.

Still this book is a quick read, tightly written book that raises the bar on the PED discussion -- giving you a view of the other side (which is never heard), providing the reader with important information and raising critical issues in this debate.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full disclosure, June 13, 2005

By 

Matthew O. Nugent "chaglang" (Somerville, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Juice: The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems (Hardcover)

The review below ("Terrible Book") was written by a guy who hawks HGH on the internet, and thus has a financial interest in discrediting books like The Juice. He's obviously not an objective reviewer.
The Juice is as insightful and well-researched as Carroll's Baseball Prospectus column, of which I am a longtime fan. Highly recommended.