Cheating has a ripple effect. And in baseball’s steroid era, the lies and rule breaking extended far beyond the stars that sparked the scandal. Players at all levels of the game had to decide if they should use—and reap the benefits—or stay clean. In this hour-long special from Religion of Sports and PRX, we’ll learn how steroids took hold of baseball and meet two men whose choices reveal a story that Major League Baseball would rather forget.

Crushed is written and reported by Joan Niesen. Jessica Pupovac is our senior producer. Our associate producer is Devon Manze and our production assistant is Meghan Coyle. Michael Garofalo is our editor. Jane Ackermann fact-checked the series. Gotham Chopra, Ameeth Sankaran and Adam Schlossman are our executive producers. Special thanks to Lisa Pollack, and to composer Michael Kramer.