An Illustrated History of Recreational Drugs in Sports

1970 – “How fabulous are Greenies?” Jim Bouton’s Ball Four blows the lid off big league amphetamine use  and the ancient art of “beaver shooting”. 

1970 - Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitcher Dock Ellis throws a no-hitter while tripping on LSD.  Ellis recalls:
“The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes I tried to stare the hitter down and throw while I was looking at him. I chewed my gum until it turned to powder. They say I had about three to four fielding chances. I remember diving out of the way of a ball I thought was a line drive. I jumped, but the ball wasn’t hit hard and never reached me.” -From Dock Ellis in the Country of Baseball by Donald Hall.

1971 – MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces a long-term Drug Education and Prevention Program.  According to the Program: “…unprescribed possession and distribution of amphetamines and barbiturates (including greenies) is a violation of federal and states laws.  Discipline will be considered by the Commissioner’s Office in cases of illegal involvement.  Such matters will be handled on a case by case basis.”

1976 - The 1967 NL MVP Orlando “Baby Bull” Cepeda is caught claiming baggage containing 150 pounds of marijuana in a San Juan, PR. Cepeda spends 10 months in a Florida prison.  He goes on to become a practicing Buddhist and to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1980 - Texas Rangers pitcher Ferguson Jenkins is suspended by Major League Baseball after he is arrested with cocaine, and convicted of narcotics possession in Canada.  The Player’s Union files a grievance and the suspension is lifted.


1981 – Former Dodger “Sweet” Lou Johnson tells the Associated Press that he sold his 1965 World Series ring to cocaine dealer for $500.

1981 - Dr. Patrick A. Mazza, a former Phillies organization doctor, is cleared of criminal charges that he improperly prescribed amphetamine pills to Tim McCarver, Steve Carlton, Pete Rose, Larry Christenson, Larry Bowa and his wife, and the wife of Greg Luzinski.  Mazza has his medical license suspended for one year.

1981 - Confessions of a Cocaine Cowboy by Dallas Cowboys Pro-Bowl linebacker Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson appears in the December issue of Playboy.
1983 – Henderson is arrested and charged with sexual assault and false imprisonment after he admits smoking crack with two teenagers in his apartment.  He serves 28 months in prison.

1982 - When N.L. East favorite Montreal Expos finish third, team president John McHale tells the New York Times that he blames cocaine: "We felt we should’ve won in ‘82. When we all woke up to what was going on, we found there were at least eight players on our club who were into this thing.” Rookie All-Star Tim Raines, the only user publicly identified adds, "I had it in little gram bottles that I kept in my pocket…when I carried it in my pocket, I’d go in head first.’’

1982 - Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star pitcher Steve Howe leaves the team for drug treatment and is suspended by the Dodgers. Howe goes on to be suspended for drug use a MLB record seven times.

1982 - 3-time Knick all-star Michael Ray Richardson is traded to Golden State amid drug rumors.

1983 – Richardson is traded back east to the Nets. In camp, Michael Ray goes missing for three days; he then enters a drug rehabilitation program at NBA partner Hazelden Life Extension Institute.
1986 - Richardson fails his 3rd drug test.He is banned from the NBA.
1987 - Richardson is denied reinstatement, he moves to Europe to play professionally for the next 13 years.
2003 - Richardson returns to the U.S. and is named Denver Nuggets Community Ambassador.

1983 - The NBA introduces the first professional sports drug policy.  The policy is aimed at stopping use of cocaine and heroin.  According to the policy, Players who test positive in “reasonable cause” tests are banned from the league for a minimum of two years, when they may apply for reinstatement.

1983 - Kansas City Royals Jerry Martin, Willie Aikens, and A.L. batting champ Willie Wilson plead guilty to attempting to buy cocaine and are sentenced to three months prison. MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspends the three from baseball for one year. 

1983 - Chili Davis tells the New York Times Giants coaches warned him that the FBI was watching him.  “The coaches’ whisper, ‘Hey, they think you’re on cocaine. You’re not getting mad when you make outs any more.’”
1984 - Pitcher Pascual Perez serves three months in a Dominican Republic prison after a conviction for cocaine possession. 

1984 – One year after playing in the NBA All-Star game and following a stint in drug rehab, Dave “Skywalker” Thompson falls down a flight of stairs at Studio 54 disco, effectively ending his career. 

1985 - Curtis Strong, a Pittsburgh caterer, drug dealer, and friend to baseball players is tried on 16 counts of distributing cocaine in Pittsburgh from June 1980 to May 1984.

Players Lonnie Smith, Keith Hernandez, Lee Lacey, Enos Cabell, Rod Scurry, Dale Berra, Dave Parker, John Milner, Jeff Leonard, Tim Raines, Al Holland, Lee Mazilli and mascot Kevin Koch, alleged to have kept cocaine in the beak of his “Pirate Parrot” costume, are listed as government witnesses and granted immunity. 

Dave Parker tells the court he had made it possible for his ‘’primary supplier’’ to get into the Pirates’ clubhouse at Three Rivers Stadium and to fly on the same plane with the Pirates when they traveled to other cities to deliver drugs.

Keith Hernandez tells the court: cocaine was “the devil within me.” He recalls using cocaine, including playing a game high.

Dale Berra, subject to defense attorney Adam Renfroe Jr.’s questions during cross-examination, tells of drug use as a Pirate:
“Q. Where did you get them [amphetamine pills, or, “greenies”]?
A. From Bill Madlock. You could get them from Willie Stargell.
Q. So Willie Stargell gave you amphetamine pills?
A. Yes.”

John Milner, in cross-examination, testifies regarding his tenure as a Met: ‘’Willie had the red juice…
Q. Willie who?
A. Mays.
Q. Willie Mays?
A. That’s right, the great one, yes.”

Lonnie Smith tells the court, “The majority of the time, I hid it on me, had these Playboy socks with pockets in them and I’d stick it in there. I had ways of folding my clothes, 10, 12 pairs of pants in a suitcase. I learned it from a Latin friend in Venezuela. People who wanted to check wouldn’t take the time… We Federal Expressed it back and forth, I Federal Expressed the money, he Federal Expressed the stuff. He would use a phony address for his address. I thought it was kind of creative in a way. He’d send me newspapers from Philadelphia and tape the stuff inside the papers.’’

Strong is convicted on 11 counts and sentenced to 12 years in federal prison.

1985 - John “Hot Rod” Williams is acquitted of charges that he took money to fix Tulane basketball games.  There were reports that cocaine was involved but drug charges were never filed.

1985 - Cy Young Award winner Denny McLain found guilty of federal charges involving racketeering, extortion and narcotics and sentenced to 23 years before the convictions are overturned.

1996 – McClain is convicted of conspiracy, theft, money laundering, and mail fraud.  He is sentenced to eight years in Federal Prison.

Class of ‘86
#2 Boston Celtics - Len Bias (Maryland) dies of cocaine induced heart attack in his University of Maryland dorm room on draft night.  Bias allegedly smoked “a pure form of cocaine free-base” with teammates.  The New York Times reported that one teammate said, “Hey Len, you’re hitting the pipe too hard.”

#3 Golden State Warriors - Chris Washburn, (NC State) is banned from the NBA for life in 1989 after failing his third drug test.  1991 Washburn is convicted of cocaine possession and sentenced to three years in prison. 1996  Washburn is shot by an acquaintance to which he allegedly owed money.

#6 Phoenix Suns - William Bedford (Memphis State) is named in a 1987 indictment alleging that he either witnessed or knew of drug transactions by Sun teammates. 1988 Bedford enters rehab and returns to play in the NBA until 1993.

#7 Dallas Mavericks- Roy Tarpley (Michigan) is banned from the NBA for life in 1991 after he refuses a drug test, his third drug violation of league drug policy. 10/1994 Tarpley is reinstated.  12/1994 Less than a year after signing a six-year, $22 million contract Tarpley is banned again for drinking alcohol, violating his after-care agreement.  1997 Tarpley is arrested and charged with burning his girlfriend’s stomach with a clothes iron

1987 - Dwight “Doc” Gooden’s friend and teammate Darryl Strawberry tells the New York Times ‘’I saw on TV last night that people were saying he had a drug problem in 1985. It’s not possible. As far as having a serious drug problem now, that’s not possible, either.’’

1987 - In a voluntary drug test to “end the gossip” Mets pitcher Dwight “Doc” Gooden tests positive for cocaine and checks into rehab for 28 days.

1994 - The Dodgers announce Strawberry has a substance abuse problem and place him on the disabled list.

1996 - Gooden throws a no-hitter in a comeback with the Yankees.

1999 - Strawberry is charged with possession of cocaine and soliciting a prostitute. Strawberry allegedly solicited an undercover officer for sex for $50. When searched, police find 0.3 grams of powder cocaine was inside of his wallet.

1987 - Waltergate: FBI gambling investigation leads to indictments for ten Phoenix Suns players on drug charges. James Edwards, Jay Humphreys, Grant Gondrezick, Garfield Heard, Mike Bratz, Don Buse, Curtis Perry, Walter Davis, William Bedford, and team photographer Joseph Beninato. Walter Davis, the key prosecution witness is “forced to turn on teammates.”   The case is never tried and all criminal charges are eventually dismissed.

1989 - Bob Probert of the Detroit Red Wings is suspended from the NHL for life for smuggling 14.3 grams cocaine into the U.S. Probert is reinstated in 1990. 

1994 – Probert, now a Chicago Blackhawk, enters an NHL rehab center in California.
1991 - Phoenix Sun Richard Dumas tests positive for cocaine and suspended by the team.

1995 – Dumas is banned from the NBA for violating an aftercare agreement prohibiting alcohol.

1997 – Dumas tells the New York Times “If they tested for pot, there would be no league”

1991 - USC star Todd Marinovich, groomed by his father, former Raider lineman Marty Marinovich, to be an NFL quarterback, is stopped by police in Newport Beach, CA. Police report finding cocaine and marijuana. 

1996 - Marinovich is arrested for growing a marijuana plant in his house.

1993 - Tennis prodigy Jennifer Capriati is arrested in Coral Gables, Florida for marijuana possession. She agrees to six months of drug counseling.

2001 - Capriati returns to form and wins the Australian and French Opens, earning the USTA #1 ranking.

1993 - Robert Parish, the oldest player in the NBA is arrested when police find marijuana in his home and in a FedEx package addressed to him.  Parish and Alaa Abdelnaby are rumored to be called “Chief and Chong” by teammates.

1993 - Cincinnati Reds pitcher Tom Browning is arrested for possession of marijuana.

1995 - Former Houston Rocket Vernon “Mad Max” Maxwell is found with marijuana when he is stopped for running a red light.

1996 - Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin is arrested with former Cowboy tight end Alfredo Roberts in a motel room with cocaine, marijuana, and two topless dancers. Irvin is charged with felony cocaine possession.  Prosecution witness Rochelle Smith described drug use and group sex with Irvin. Dallas police officer and Smith boyfriend Johnnie Hernandez is arrested when he attempts to hire an undercover police officer to kill Irvin.  The NFL suspends Irvin for five games.

1996 - Portland police see Trailblazer Isaiah Rider smoke marijuana from a soda can and arrest him on possession charges.

1998 – The NBA’s career leading scorer, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, is caught carrying marijuana in a Toronto airport.  Canadian customs officers fine him.

2000 - Abdul-Jabbar is arrested in Los Angeles for driving under the influence of marijuana.

1998 - Lawrence Taylor is arrested twice in one year.  Charged with buying crack in Florida, and possessing drugs in  New Jersey.

2003 - In his autobiography, LT: Over the Edge, Taylor admits he smoked crack cocaine before games.

2000 - Kevin Stevens of the New York Rangers is arrested for possession of crack cocaine and is admitted to the NHL’s treatment program.

2001 - Former Dallas Cowboys and 6 time Pro-Bowler Nate Newton is arrested in Louisiana when police find him driving a van containing 213 pounds of marijuana.

2001 - Out on bail, Newton is arrested when police find him driving a van containing 175 pounds of marijuana.

2003 - Newton is sentenced to five years in federal prison.

2001 - Boxer Pernell Whitaker, a former champion in four divisions, is arrested on drug charges in Virginia Beach when police find cocaine among the boxer’s belongings when he is sentenced to four days in jail after pleading guilty to speeding and driving without a valid license.

2001 – Portland Trailblazer Shawn Kemp checks himself into a drug rehabilitation program for cocaine abuse.

2002 – Trailblazer Damon Stoudamire is charged with felony possession of more than 150 grams of marijuana after police respond to a burglar alarm at Stoudamire’s house.  Search later ruled illegal.

2002 – Trailblazers Stoudamire and Rasheed Wallace found with marijuana during a traffic stop.

2003 – Stoudamire sets off an airport metal detector carrying more than an ounce of marijuana wrapped in aluminum foil.

2004 - Former MVP and admitted steroid user, alcoholic, and abuser of painkillers Ken Caminiti dies in the Bronx, as a result of what the New York City Medical Examiner calls “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of cocaine and opiates.” 

2005 - MLB officially bans the use of amphetamines.

2006 - Former Philly third baseman and Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt’s, Clearing the Bases, is published.  Schmidt writes that amphetamines “have been around the game forever.”