Cansecos Steroid Allegations

694 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Drugs in sport current issues

In Jose Canseco’s 60 Minutes interview, he stated that he and some of his teammates used steroids in the past. With all the hoopla surrounding Major League Baseball and its connection with allegations made by BALCO president Victor Conte, this report is intriguing at the least. High profile athletes such as Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds have been under direct scrutiny over the past year because of the steroid issue. Canseco firmly states that he and former teammate Mark McGwire casually injected together during their playing days as an Oakland Athlete. “After batting practice or right before the game, Mark and I would duck into a stall in the men’s locker room, load up our syringes and inject ourselves” with steroids, starting in 1988, Canseco wrote, according to an excerpt made by the N.Y. Times. Tony Larussa, manager of the A’s at the time denies that his players ever used steroids. Supposedly, steroids give an edge to a players’ psyche as well as increased size and strength. Larussa then reiterated that McGwire got his strength and size from weightlifting and a careful diet. In a league where the most glaring aspect of the sport is the art of the homerun, it seems as if these allegations could be possibly true. Homerun king Mark McGwire has made a name for himself with hitting the long ball. He and Sammy Sosa, another alleged user has a hit an impressive amount of homeruns over the span of their careers. Canseco also called out former Texas Ranger Rangers teammates, Ivan Rodriguez, Jose Gonzalez, and Rafael Palmeiro. All the players named above are potential Hall of Famers.

The reports made by Canseco have sparked another issue as to where the integrity of the sport lies, which is very significant to sport management. Baseball is America’s pastime and it’s a shame to see how the image of the sport is being tainted by these allegations. Although baseball recently adopted a tougher steroid-testing program due to the BALCO trial, it will take some time for the MLB to rid themselves of these issues. With new stiffer testing, the production of the major leagues elite might decline in the upcoming years. Sosa and McGwire chased Roger Maris homerun record of 61 by totally eclipsing it, smashing 66 and 70 homeruns respectively. Maris’s record was one of the longest standstill records in baseball history before the record was broken.

Show More
Related

  • Rodrigo Villagomez's The Designer Player

    272 Words  | 1 Pages

    Rodrigo Villagomez, in the essay, “The Designer Player,” has an opposite view of steroids in professional sports as Peter F. Martin in the essay, “Destroyed.” He argues that the status of athletes is to be entertainers; therefore, they should use steroids. “Baseball is a multibillion-dollar entertainment industry” (Villagomez 586). Baseball is not just America’s pastime, it is more than that. Players are under pressure to be their best. To achieve their goals, they try out steroids. “Because of this pressure, more professional baseball players are turning to performance-enhancing drugs, specifically steroids, to aid them in their quest for greatness” (Villagomez 587). Athletes play a sport to win even if it means winning by using steroids.

    Read More

  • Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jose Canseco is best known for several things: A fly ball bouncing off his noggin and landing over the fence, dating Madonna, his tape measure home runs, having numerous run-ins with the law, being the first man to ever hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season, and his bulging biceps. In Juiced, Canseco recalls other steroid user’s stories within the sport ...

    Read More

  • Babe Ruth: Steroids In Baseball's Hall Of Fame

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    Taking illegal substances gives players a distinct advantage over others and should not be recognized in the Hall of Fame. Steroids have been a part of the game for years and more and more players are using them. It is inevitable that they are an easy way to help improve a players numbers. Based on statistics gathered from Major League Baseball, during a three-year span Melky Cabrera increased his slugging percentage by 100 points (Victor). Slugging percentage is the number of total baseball divided by a players number of at bats (“Slugging Percentage”). Cabrera was an outfielder for the Chicago White Sox. In Melky’s case, he quickly went from an average player to one of the games best. 100 points is a drastic change in only a few seasons. These steroids improve a players strength and recovery time. This is a major advantage because the MLB is season is very long and taxing on the body. Steroids help promote quicker muscle recover so players can be stronger and fresher game after game. In the same way, taking steroids also gives a player an upper hand when it comes to hitting home runs. It is the improvement in this power category that most people think of in regards

    Read More

  • Anabolic Steroids are Ruining Major League Baseball

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    Major League Baseball (MLB) has widely been regarded as America’s pastime for the longest time, however it is now becoming known as the sport tainted by one thing, anabolic steroids. An anabolic steroid is related to the natural steroid, testosterone. They are able to stimulate growth in the muscle tissue. They usually increase muscle mass and strength. The MLB has created some of the most historic American icons, such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Players like them showed us what it was like to play baseball the right way. They played with passion, heart, and above all they had fun playing. Players today in the MLB focus way too much on becoming the best player ever to play. They see what the greats did before them and they want to match them, so they turn to anabolic steroids. An example of this is Alex Rodriguez. In 2003 he tested positive for anabolic steroids because he was “naïve” and couldn’t take the pressure of his expectations of being called the best. He felt the pressure from the game and he turned to steroids. Anabolic steroids are ruining the game of baseball. They are tainting the records and the changing the game for the worse.

    Read More

  • Anabolic Steroid Use in Baseball

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    Baseball?s reputation has been painted with a red asterisk. The non-medical use of steroids has been banned according to the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. Many baseball athletes have been caught or presumed illegal users of HGH or Steroids since the act passed in 1990. All these athletes have one thing in common, they want to have an edge or advantage on the game. Some athletes even admit to administering the drug to other athletes and themselves. Jose Conseco testified to personally injecting the steroids into Mark McGuire (Cote).

    Read More

  • Steroids in Baseball

    2573 Words  | 6 Pages

    The past fifteen years of baseball have contained dirty play by some of the best players to ever play the sport. Kids all over America look at these athletes as role models. The money hungry players proceed to send a terrible message to fans of the game by taking drugs to succeed. After commissioner Bud Selig cracked down on steroid use in 2005, several baseball player’s legacies have been ruined due to steroid allegations. Players are even being charged with perjury by lying to Congress over steroid use to protect their reputation.

    Read More

  • PED in Sports

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    Performance enhancing drugs have been a longstanding problem in sports. It not only deteriorates the honesty of the game, but also can have broader social affects that one may not even realize. The use of performance enhancing drugs is especially apparent in Major League Baseball. This problem can be traced back to the 1980’s when baseball was facing one of its first “dark periods”. During the 1980’s Major League Baseball was experiencing a home run drought. Home run totals were down as far as they had been since Babe Ruth, and fans were seemingly becoming bored with the sport. The lack of home runs was a growing concern for players whose salary relied on home run totals. Players needed to find a quick way to boost their power and performance in order to keep the sport alive and to keep bringing in their paychecks. This desire for fame and fortune introduced steroids into Major League Baseball in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Home run totals jumped tremendously during these decades and players were willing to risk being caught using illegal substances in order to shine above the rest. New idols and role models started to sprout up from these outstanding home run statistics and young children started to take notice. This all came tumbling down when these new idols and role models who were making the big bucks and hitting the ball out of the park tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. Here lie the affects of a growing social problem in sports. These famed athletes become walking advertisements and promotions for the use of performance enhancing drugs in sports. The influence professional athletes have over aspiring young athletes is very powerful and these roles models make it seem acceptable to use performance ...

    Read More

  • Steroids in Baseball

    1529 Words  | 4 Pages

    People frown upon steroids in baseball because they say they are an unfair advantage even though they can be used as big advantage. Steroids have always been looked down on because people say that they are unfair and unsafe to use. So far players that have used steroids in Major League baseball have been healthy and the only side effects of them have been success. Steroids have become a huge part of baseball since the 1990’s. players feel like they need to use them to stay competitive. Steroids help increase muscle mass and help athletes train harder and faster. This results in better play on the field. Most steroid users in the MLB (Major League Baseball) are pitchers and homerun hitters. Steroids need to be legalized in Major League Baseball to bring more excitement into the game so that more people will watch, it will level the playing field for all the players, it will keep athletes healthy during the long season, and it will be more efficient since the consequences for using the substance does not keep players from using them.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Steroids In Baseball

    1738 Words  | 4 Pages

    “We have to make some radical move to get the attention of everyone. Cheaters can 't win and steroids has put us in the position that it 's OK to cheat” (“Steroids Quotes”). Unfortunately, baseball has been plagued with the assistance of performance enhancing drugs to lengthen players careers, to boost statistics, and create an extraordinary ballplayer out of an average player. Contrary to the steroid abusers’ beliefs, steroids are not positively influencing any aspect of their game or personal life. The credibility and dignity of baseball has decreased due to performance enhancing drugs, which is not only cheating, but it also leads into a even

    Read More

  • Steroids Impact on Major League Baseball

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since at least the 1980’s performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) have been a major challenge in the world of Major League Baseball, and past trends indicate they will continue to pose an ongoing problem. A number of the most prominent and accomplished professional baseball players, such as Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens, are also the most famous examples of baseball players who have broken longstanding records, attracted countless numbers of fans, and allegedly have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes who have been caught using steroids in order to increase and better their performance rates have been suspended, fined and traded from the teams on which they once played. Despite the punitive actions taken against them by the League and lawmakers, players continue to use performance-enhancing drugs and likely will continue to do so, because the associated athletic effects will draw more fans and bring more money to the individual player and franchise.

    Read More

  • The Steroid Era

    1228 Words  | 3 Pages

    The era in sports from the late 90s and into the 2000s has often been nicknamed “The Steroid Age” due to the raging use of anabolic steroids and other PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) by professional athletes. The usage of drugs in sports has never been more prevalent during this time, and many people are making it their goal to put an end to the abuse. Influential athletes such as Lance Armstrong, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens, who were once held as the highest role models to the American people, now watch as their legacies are tarnished by accusations of drug use. The American population, and lovers of sports everywhere, have followed in astonishment through recent years as many beloved athletes reveal their dark secrets. As organizations such as the USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) and BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative) attempt to halt the use of PEDs, both the drug users and their high-end suppliers work diligently to avoid detection. The use of performance enhancing drugs in recent years has proven to be cancerous to the honesty and competition of modern sports. Although some strides have been made over the past few decades, the use of steroids is in full swing in Major League Baseball, The dangerous side effects of the drugs are often overlooked and many do not realize the message this sends to the youth. The support for halting the usage of PEDs is in need of attention or professional sports will face the loss of all progress made through the past two decades in its war on steroids.

    Read More

  • Peds In Sports Essay

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    Back in the days before the “steroid era” there was no doubt that players were taking substances that probably helped them stay on the field longer or recover from injuries faster, but whether they enhanced performance is a whole different story. The chances are most of the league was taking some sort of PED, but people only know of the big names such as Alex Rodrigues, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, they fail to look at the players who took these substances and were still average ball players or barely hanging on to a job in the major league. From this it is seen that a certain amount of skill was extremely necessary in order to excel at the professional level. People turn to Barry Bonds as the prime example of PEDs enhancing performance because of his record setting number of seventy-three homeruns in the 2001 season. What these people to fail to look at is that Bonds averaged over forty-five home runs in the eight seasons prior to that and the few years after; he was also traded to a team that played in one of the smallest fields in the country (Fosko 2009). Bonds was a great player before he took steroids and he still was after, if PEDs continuously helped Bonds hit the ball farther he would have been

    Read More

  • Performance Enhancing Drugs In Professional Sports

    384 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the year 2009, a famous baseball player known as Alex Rodriguez finally confessed to using performance enhancing drugs between the years of 2001 and 2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers. He said he felt pressured into doing so because he needed to be able to really perform. Rodriguez was a first overall pick in 1993 by the Seattle Mariners, a 14-time All-Star, and three time American League MVP. Rodriguez wound up being suspended 162 games and missing the entire 2014 season after admitting to using performance enhancing drugs. The above incident just shows that even the top athletes in professional sports have used doping and that is why performance enhancing drugs should be

    Read More

  • Why Do Professional Athletes Appropriate Behavior Of Players?

    1687 Words  | 4 Pages

    Firstly, inappropriate behaviour exhibited by athletes should result in long-term consequences as it reflects poorly on the leagues and teams. The biogenesis scandal that shook the sports world in 2013, revealed that the league’s MVP Ryan Braun was caught using Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED). Steve Eder, writing for the New York Times thought this questioned whether the league can survive the tarnished image. “Three years after Major League Baseball's commissioner declared the so-called steroid era ''clearly a thing of the past,'' the sport faces persistent doping problems similar to those that have crippled cycling and track and field. The latest baseball star-turned-culprit: Ryan Braun” (Eder, par. 1). Consequently, letting players get away with PED use with small or no repercussions has resulted in certain baseball players gaining an unfair advantage. Thus, if the MLB had made quicker and more sweeping changes to how severely

    Read More

  • The Role Of Performance Enhancing Drugs In Sports

    1310 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark McGwire was a MLB baseball player who` confessed using performance enhancing drugs throughout his entire career (Grier, 2010). Peter Grier is a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor and was a co-winner of the Society of Professional Journalists National Reporting Award and was twice a finalist for the Livingston Award, making him credible. When McGwire took steroids in 1996, he hit for fifty-eight home-runs,and he later signed a 40 million dollar contract with the St. Louis Cardinals (Pantuosco, 2011). Louis Pantuosco is a Professor of economics that received a Ph.D at Northwestern University, making him reliable. Since the athlete is playing much more proficiently than they did before, they get more attention from franchises, which leads to them gaining a higher

    Read More

More about Cansecos Steroid Allegations

Open Document