Steroids have become prevalent in baseball, with more players getting involved with them. Although they entered the game through trainer Curtis Wenzlaff in 1992, they have become a big part of the Major League today in 2014. However, players and the game's image suffer when they become caught up in steroids. Some of the best players to ever play the game, including Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire, have been caught up in steroids. These players are supposed to be role models for younger kids, yet when they see their idols using steroids, they are tempted to use them as well. Steroid users damage their own well-being and the image of the sport. Baseball players who decide to use anabolic steroids are affecting themselves just as much as the game of baseball itself. One way steroids affect players is the effect on the mind and mental health of users. When baseball players take steroids, they put their bodies at risk. The risks include psychiatric symptoms such as bipolar disorder (Mitchell 55). Studies have shown that if baseball players get involved with steroids, there is a strong chance they will experience symptoms like bipolar disorder or severe depression. Steroids also affect the cardiovascular system, causing heart attacks and increased or decreased cholesterol levels, and can cause the heart to become enlarged (Mitchell 55). The liver is also affected by steroids, as it can become impaired, become cancerous, and cause skin to yellow (Mitchell 55). The Mitchell report highlights the illegal use of steroids and other performance-enhancing substances by players in Major League Baseball (Mitchell). The report shows that baseball was slow to react to players' steroid use (ESPN). Steroids in baseball have become a significant issue that needs to be addressed to protect the players and the game itself.
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.
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).
Ex-girlfriend Recounts Barry Sanders Steroid Use: A news story of an eye witness that recounts Bonds' personal steroid use.
decades or so covering baseball on the subject of steroids -- what they do, how the game
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 ...
We face the issue that players are not motivated to try hard, have an alternative option that puts a reoccurring substance in their body. Young adolescents should focus more on getting bodies into shape and ready for the sport they are pursuing. While upcoming stars should be making a name for them showing that without drugs can play my best and be the best too. But performance enhancing drugs have played a major role in sports, especially baseball. The usage of the drug has players performing over the top of others who work equally and mentally as hard. Enacting the new system will catch the players who are cheating in game of baseball with a blood test that checks if a player is enhancing their performance in the...
Children who have grown up in America have been brought up with baseball and have looked up to a sports figure as one of their heroes. Steroids and other PEDS have tarnished the American past time favorite game. These drugs have cause doubts and suspicion about the validity o...
Thompson, Teri, and et al. American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print.
Morse, Dan. “Elite Users of Steroids Rarely Face Criminal Prosecution.” Wall Street Journal, 14 Dec. 2004: B1. eLibrary. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
Recently the topic of steroid use in baseball has been everywhere in the news. It has finally come to the attention of Major League Baseball, and now the general public, that a vast percentage of players have been using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. This not only casts a cloud of suspicion over which players are using steroids, and makes one wonder which players are genuine, but it tar...
“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
The MLB arguably has conveyed a series of mixed messages with regard to its players and their use of steroids. On the one hand, the League apparently cooperates with lawmakers on the issue of regulating drug use among its players; on the other, some of the best athletes in the MLB are suspected of drug use and yet continue to be marketed and revered. Examples of drugs used by MLB stars have included: Anavar, Andriol, Clomid, Depo-Testosterone, Insulin, Stanozolol, and Testosterone1. These drugs are steroids, typically prescribed by medical professionals to patients fighting specific disorders (such as low testosterone or infertility) or provide relief for immense pain or other severe symptoms; they are used “off-label” by athletes for increa...
SCHMIDT, Michael. "Baseball to Expand Drug-Testing Program." NyTimes.com. The New York Times, 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
Webb, Topher. “Should Steroids be Allowed in the MLB?.” dailyutahchronical. The Daily Utah Chronical, July 15, 2013. Web. 9 May. 2014.
Smith, Chris. "Why It's Time To Legalize Steroids In Professional Sports." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 24 Aug. 2012. Web. 05 Jan. 2014. .