How can you not love the cheating culture in baseball? Deer antler spray puts corked bats and steroids to shame. According to SI’s Tom Verducci:

Deer antlers? Yes, chemists have figured out the velvet from immature deer antlers includes insulin-like growth factor, or IGF-1, a precursor to producing human growth hormone. The antlers are harvested from young deer, ground up and packaged into spray form. The substance is sprayed under the tongue. One manufacturer touts among its benefits “anabolic or growth stimulation,” “athletic performance” and “muscular strength and endurance.”

IGF-1 is a banned substance, but like HGH, cannot be detected in the urine tests used by baseball. Under the right circumstances, it could be detected in a blood test, but the players association has not agreed to blood testing.

Based on the pathetic offensive numbers this year in MLB, clearly not enough hitters are hip to the potential benefits of deer antler spray. Nevertheless, Verducci reports that MLB recently warned players to cease and desist with the use of deer antler spray as a steroid alternative. I’m fascinated by how this works. Is it one spray a day, like binaca? Do you need to keep track of your spray cycles on a calendar? [SI]