After reading this article about former second baseman Chuck Knoblauch claiming he has “nothing to hide” in terms of the steroid investigation, we decided to look at ole Knobber a little more carefully. Knoblauch was named in the Mitchell Report as a user of performance-enhancing drugs, but he has not yet come out to refute anything in the report.

Then we started wondering - when did Knoblauch likely start trying out steroids? Knoblauch entered the big leagues in 1991 playing for Minnesota. In his first year in the majors, Chuck committed 18 errors in 150 games. He was a rookie, just getting used to life in the MLB - 18 errors is understandable. Then, as he got more comfortable at this level, his play in the field improved as well. Over the next 3 years combined, Knoblauch made 18 errors total. From our estimation, no steroid use yet.

For the years 1995-1998, Chuck stayed pretty consistent with around 10 errors per year. But after that 1998 season, that’s when we think Knoblauch started trying out the steroids. Why? Because it was around that time that a lifelong infielder suddenly became unable to accurate throw the ball from second base to first. In 1999, Knoblauch committed 26 errors in 150 games. He had committed a grand total of 32 over the previous 3 season.

Throwing from second to first is the shortest throw in baseball. Yet, in 1999, Knoblauch all of sudden could not make that throw any more. What do steroids generally do? Make you stronger. And all of a sudden in 1999, a guy who played second base all his life and won a Gold Glove in 1997 was throwing the ball 10 feet over the first baseman’s head! See where we’re going with this?

Some called it “the yips,” saying it was just in his head. Nope, we think it was what he was injecting around that time. How else does a guy go from making a few errors per year to throwing the ball so far over the first baseman’s head that it goes into the stands? Yeah, he really did this and the ball hit Keith Olbermann’s mom in the face.

It had to be the ‘roids, right? It’s just like when the freshman in high school grows 8 inches in 2 months. He’s not used to his body yet, so he’s really clumsy. He used to make free throws all the time, now he can’t. that’s the same theory we’re going with here for Chuck. He got not get used to his new body and new strength - hence he could not figure out how to adjust that throw from second base e had been making his entire life.

Whereas Bonds and McGwire got better due to performance-enhancing drugs, Knoblauch amazingly got worse - assuming our theory holds true. But as one side note, Chuck did have a career high in home runs in 1999.