Physician Says Mays Was Taking Cough Syrup in 1973

The longtime physician for Willie Mays said in a television interview Friday that the Hall of Fame outfielder was using a prescription cough syrup at the time a former teammate said Mays kept a stimulant mixture in his locker.

Mays’ name came up Thursday when John Milner, who played with Mays on the 1973 New York Mets, testified in federal court in Pittsburgh that Mays kept a “really nasty” stimulant nicknamed “red juice” in his locker. Milner noted, however, that he never saw Mays use the mixture.

Mays, upset over his name coming up in the trial, told the Associated Press: “If you’re going to bring me into this, that’s un-American. This is a trial of a different meaning. These guys are into hard, hard drugs.”

Milner’s statement was made as a witness in the trial of Curtis Strong, 38, who is accused of selling drugs to major league players in Pittsburgh on 16 dates from 1980 to 1984.

Strong’s defense attorney, Adam O. Renfroe Jr., told the court that, according to pharmacists, “red juice” is made by breaking an amphetamine capsule into water or another beverage and that it is sometimes used by college students to help them study long hours.

Dr. John Jackson, described as Mays’ longtime doctor, was interviewed by Dan Rather on the CBS Evening News.

Jackson said that the solution was a prescription drug called Phenergin VC, a cough syrup. He said it was prescribed for Mays’ ongoing sinus problems and for colds he had at the time.

“I have never seen anything in Willie that I thought was even suggesting that he had any problem with drugs,” Jackson told CBS.