The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven How a Ragtag Group of Fans Took the Fall for Major League Baseball

In terms of sheer dirt, three baseball scandals rise to the top: Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox, the 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials, and the steroid era. The former and latter have been covered extensively. Yet there has never been a book detailing the biggest drug trials in baseball history. The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven tells the whole story in all its shocking details. The MLB participants were among the game’s elite, but most of the guys who took the fall for these superstars were just average fans, not heavy hitters or major drug dealers. In 1985, it seemed the league was poised to implement a drug-testing policy for the players. Of course, that didn’t happen, and because of this inaction, the steroid era came along. The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven is a prescient and compelling story and a necessary read for any baseball fan today.

Aaron Skirboll is a writer. He lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.