ADD at Bat
This blog occasionally mentions how our ADD nature can be an advantage. But I hadn’t thought about this one:
As Major League Baseball begins to dig out from its steroids scandal, new kinds of performance-enhancing substances are sweeping big-league clubhouses: Ritalin, Adderall and other drugs designed to help with Attention-Deficit Disorder. According to records MLB officials turned over to congressional investigators as part of George Mitchell’s probe into steroid use in baseball, the number of players getting “therapeutic use exemptions” from baseball’s amphetamines ban jumped in one year from 28 to 103—which means that, suddenly, 7.6 percent of the 1,354 players on major-league rosters had been diagnosed with ADD.
One possible reason for this increase: in 2005 baseball banned the use of “greenies,” amphetamines that help players remained focused and energetic through the rigors of a 162-game season. Amphetamines were once as common as deli spreads in big-league clubhouses—in some, greenies were used to spike the coffee. Players are now seeking doctors’ prescriptions for ADD medications, usually Ritalin and Adderall, apparently to replace the now-illegal energy boosting drugs…
– Charles Euchner in Are players using an ADD diagnosis to evade the amphetamine ban?, Newsweek Web Exclusive. Feb 6, 200. Click title for full article at Newsweek.
This full article is worth a read for more than the tidbit, above. There’s mention of athletic activity as “the best cure for ADD” via its emphasis on both exercise and focus. There’s also mention of how the player’s working lifestyle (lots of travel, irregular schedules, and other things that match the experience of a business executive) fuel the symptoms of ADD.
