In the year after Major League Baseball banned the use of amphetamines, the number of players claiming they needed stimulant drugs to control attention-deficit disorder rose from 28 to 103, the New York Times reported Jan. 16.

During this week's Congressional hearings on the use of performance-enchancing drugs in professional baseball, lawmakers questioned baseball commissioner Bud Selig over the rising use of drugs like Ritalin and Adderall between 2006 and 2007. Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), noted that use of such stimulants last year was about eight times higher among ballplayers than among the general public.

"We are trying to break down why it happened and how it happened," said Selig, while baseball players union head Donald Fehr said that the ADD rate among ballplayers might be higher because they are younger than the average adult population.

Previously, the players union had blocked former Sen. George Mitchell -- who was investigating drug use in baseball -- from having access to information on players who were claiming a "therapeutic use" exemption to the amphetamine ban.

"When you see the number 28 one year go all the way to 103, it makes you think that we have a loophole here with performance-enhancing drugs," Tierney said. "We shouldn't have to have hearings like this all the time to stay on top of these problems with baseball. It was a good thing at least that Mr. Selig recognized the increase."

Steroids have received most of the attention in the hearings and the Mitchell report, but Allan Lans, former team psychiatrist for the New York Mets, said, "The No. 1 drug use of sports is really amphetamines. Amphetamines are the real performance-enhancing drugs that people should always have been worried about."

"The ballplayers who are smart want a legal way to get amphetamines, not an illegal one," he added. "The doctors are easily conned."