Adam Rountree, Associated Press Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig gestures while speaking to the media after MLBs quarterly ownership meeting in New York Wednesday, May 11, 2005. Selig briefed 30 club owners on the policy regarding steroid usage that he submitted to the Major League Baseball Association on April 25, 2005. Click photo for larger image.

The baseball commissioner has come to the sudden realization that players are using illegal stimulants to get up for games and vows to rid the sport of amphetamines through testing.

When Bud Selig made that pronouncement last month, it had a familiar ring. Because 20 years ago, in what became known as the Pittsburgh drug trials, commissioner Peter Ueberroth said much the same thing when some of the biggest names in baseball were linked to amphetamines during the prosecution of a cocaine dealer briefly employed as the Pirates' clubhouse caterer.

"It's not something they just found out," said J. Alan Johnson, a former federal prosecutor who tried the high-profile case. "They knew it 20 years ago. If you don't ban it or test for it, it's not just going to go away. Here it is, 20 years later."

After decades of revelations and denials, baseball still has no ban against the use of amphetamines, which are called greenies or beans by players, speed by college students cramming for final exams or synthetic adrenaline by doctors. Since 1970, their use without a valid prescription has been a federal crime under the Controlled Substances Act.

In an April 25 letters to Players Association chief Donald Fehr, Selig proposed a ban on amphetamines as part of his call for tougher penalties on steroids.

"It's time to put the whispers about amphetamine use to bed once and for all," Selig wrote. "To the extent that our culture has tolerated the use of these substances, the culture must change."

Post-Gazette file photos John Milner said Willie Mays helped him keep his eyes open years before he joined the Pirates. RIGHT: Pitcher Jim Bouton's controversial book "Ball Four" cast the spotlight on amphetamine use in clubhouses and earned him a trip to the commissioner's office in 1970. BOTTOM LEFT: Bill Madlock was said to have turned teammates on. He was later exonerated. Click photo for larger image.

Selig and Fehr will be in Washington today for another round of congressional hearings. The commissioners of all the major sports have been called to talk about drug-free sports legislation that has been introduced to establish uniform, random and independent testing for steroids. Violators would be subject to stiffer penalties than the leagues currently enforce.

While steroids have garnered the bulk of attention in recent months, amphetamines have been around longer. Their use is more prevalent than performance-enhancing drugs, and they are considered more menacing, according to health experts.

"Amphetamines have far less impact on performance on the field, but they are way, way more dangerous," said Dr. Charles Yesalis, a professor of health and human development at Penn State University who is writing a book on stimulants. "They can stone-cold kill you on the spot."

Although amphetamines have been around for more than 100 years, their modern use stems from World War II because of their ability to delay the onset of fatigue by stimulating the central nervous system. Combat soldiers, pilots and supply truck drivers were given them to stay awake. The Germans, Japanese, Americans and British used them, with the Japanese even giving them to workers in defense plants, said Yesalis, whose father was in the 101st Airborne Division.

Returning servicemen who found that the drugs gave them a jolt playing recreational games brought them home from overseas.

"It spread like wildfire," Yesalis said.

In March, baseball was chastised for its lack of action on amphetamines by Dr. Gary Wadler, associate professor of clinical medicine at New York University and a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine. He noted that baseball banned the stimulant ephedra after the 2003 death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler but has not banned amphetamine.

"It clearly should be a prohibited substance, no ifs, ands or buts about it," Wadler said in a telephone interview. "To me, the proof is in the urine."

Amphetamines were banned in Olympics in the 1960s after the deaths of two cyclists during competition -- Kurt Jensen of Denmark and Tommy Simpson of Great Britain. The NFL also bans them, but only tests for their presence once a year.

In baseball, the secrecy surrounding amphetamine use stems from the code of silence -- what one sees or hears in a clubhouse stays in the clubhouse.

But at a news conference earlier this month, Selig said he first heard about amphetamines when he walked into the Milwaukee Braves' clubhouse in 1958. In essence then, baseball has been played on speed and high testosterone for decades.

When the U.S. Attorney's office in Pittsburgh began investigating cocaine sales to baseball players 20 years ago, Johnson said he was "surprised" to hear about amphetamines.

"They weren't part of the case. They were part of the evidence," Johnson said. "Players used them for the same reason anybody else would use them -- they get you going."

During the trial of caterer Curtis Strong, Pirates Dale Berra and Dave Parker testified that they got greenies from teammates Willie Stargell and Bill Madlock, two of the leaders on the Pirates' 1979 World Series team.

In addition, John Milner testified he took a stimulant called "red juice," which he found in the locker of Willie Mays when they were with the New York Mets.

"The great one. Yes," Milner said. "I don't know what kind of speed it was, but it kept your eyes open."

Stargell, Madlock and Mays denied using stimulants and were later exonerated by the commissioner's office. There is a statue of Mays outside San Francisco's ballpark and one of Stargell outside PNC Park.

"Baseball didn't move on it," Johnson said. "Why didn't they?"

As it turned out, Ueberroth proclaimed in 1986 that "baseball's drug problem is over."

The commissioner's office proposed a testing plan. But a federal arbiter said testing had to be part of the collective bargaining agreement, and no agreement has been reached with the players association over the years.

Johnson said he had a conversation with one player about why amphetamines were taken. The answer: The physical and mental grind of a marathon season, the pressure to perform in day games following night games, the cross-country flights.

"This isn't an excuse. But he said that people may think of baseball as a pastime or a fun hobby, but the demands are excruciating, and it's a pressure-packed business," Johnson said.

Amphetamines usually take 30 minutes to kick in, and the buzz one gets can last three hours. One familiar story around clubhouses is that players hate rain delays because they have to guess when to take a bean in order to get the desired effect.

But getting up for a game also means a player must come down, and health experts warn of an addictive cycle with continued use.

Despite the code of silence, amphetamine use has been outlined in books written by players, who describe them as common as coffee and caffeine-loaded soft drinks, Red Bull or nicotine.

First and foremost was Jim Bouton's "Ball Four," which was about his 1969 season pitching for the Seattle Pilots.

"We don't get them from the trainer because greenies are against club policy, so we get them from other teams who have friends who are doctors or friends who know where to get greenies. One of our lads is going to have a bunch of greenies mailed to him by some of the guys on the [Boston] Red Sox," Bouton wrote.

In his 1984 book "The Wrong Stuff," former Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee said stimulants were an antidote to hangovers and fatigue.

"Amphetamines weren't being used for kicks, they were being used to sober up," Lee wrote. "A player did not gulp down greenies with the expectation that it would enhance his performance. He did it to get his pulse going on the morning after the night before."

Dwight Gooden and the late Tug McGraw wrote about their use. David Wells preferred a six-pack of Diet Coke as his pre-pitching boost, but he also wrote of amphetamines in his 2003 book "Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball."

"Cheap and easy to find, these little buggers will open your eyes, and sharpen your focus, and get your blood moving on demand, over and over again, right through a full 162-game season," Wells wrote. "As a pitcher, I won't ever object to a sleepy-eyed middle infielder beaning up to help me win."

How easy to find?

"A lot of guys will buy themselves a season-long stockpile at one time. We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of pills. With that in mind, it really ain't hard to get connected," Wells wrote. "Stand in the middle of your clubhouse and walk 10 feet in any direction. Chances are you'll find what you need."

On the other hand, those who have spoken out against the use of stimulants include Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves and former San Diego Padres star Tony Gwynn, now the baseball coach at San Diego State University. Those who don't "bean up" are described as playing "naked."

"I don't want to say guys are addicted, but it's like putting on your uniform," Jones told The Los Angeles Times. "You have your glove, your batting gloves, your bat, you take your greenie and you're ready to go."