Baseball Players Have Trouble Paying Attention

Look, I’m no doctor, but it’s my understanding from my four five seven years in college that ADHD pills were prescribed and taken by students for one reason: To party until sunrise. At least, that’s the only time I ever witnessed (note: witnessed ) anyone consuming them.
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↵Apparently, my understanding of this medication was way off. Its actual use is to help men hit baseballs:↵↵⇥106 players were authorized to use drugs for Attention Deficit Disorder last season, Major League Baseball revealed. ...↵⇥↵⇥“This is incredible. This is quite spectacular. There seems to be an epidemic of ADD in major league baseball,” said Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the committee that determines the banned-substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency. ...↵⇥

↵⇥↵⇥“I’ve been in private practice for a lot of years. I can count on one hand the number of individuals that have ADD,” he said. “To say that (7.86%) of major league baseball players have attention deficit disorder is crying out of an explanation. It is to me as an internist so off the map of my own experience.”↵⇥

↵↵Anywhere between 1-4% of Americans are prescribed ADHD medication, so basically the study suggests that at least twice as many MLBers are on the pills than would be considered normal. This number shouldn’t be all that shocking considering the job of a professional baseball player is to sit/stand around for about three-and-a-half hours, yet be fully alert for the four or five times they actually have to do something during a game. This requires some outside help to stay focused.
↵↵Besides, what drug did you expect baseball players to turn to once the league took away their greenies? ↵

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