Year 1965, this year will be exceptional because there will be no living player whose name is going to Cooperstown for the induction into the baseball hall of fame (Breitbart Sports Para 1). The great players of the era such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens received very low votes because of being associated with performance enhancing drugs (Breitbart Sports Para 4). Even though the game baseball forbids the use of performance enhancement drugs such as steroids, more players are today opting to risk bans on several games so as to improve on their performance. Some sportsmen who are excellent players use the drugs to help them relax or recover quickly from injury. The controversy comes in on whether the good players who have tested positive on performance enhancing drugs should be admitted to the Hall of Fame (Berkovich 2). Some people argue that since the MBL Hall of Fame rules do not mention the issue of performance enhancement drugs; thus, the players can be admitted. However, the voters still believe that it would be unfair to vote in a player that cheats on performance using the drugs. This paper supports this view and argues that it is not ethical to honor players who have tested positive on performance enhancing drugs. Baseball is a competitive sport that requires teams and individual players to compete fairly. From the point of trails to join teams, players are expected to prove their skills in playing the game as well as their physical fitness. Players who have skills but need physical fitness must exercises in order to improve on their fitness and be allowed to play. Therefore, players who use the shortcut of performance enhancement drugs such as steroids should not be considered as great players. Despite their high skill... ... middle of paper ... ...s a game that requires players to work as a team and put in individual effort in maintaining physical fitness. Winning a game because of physical advantage caused by drugs such as steroids is cheating and should never be entertained by the Major Baseball League Hall of Fame. Works Cited Berkovich, Karlo. “Grey areas exist on performance enhancement”. Waterloo Region Record, 17 Feb 2009. Web. 30 Nov 2013. Breitbart sports. “Steroid era: baseball hall of fame induction includes no living players”. 28 Jul 2013. Web. 30 Nov 2013 Parrish, Paula. “Olympic drug use outruns tests”, The Gazette. 25 June 2000. Web. 30 Nov 2013. Rymer, Zachary D. “Should MLB HOF Change Eligibility Rules to Ban PED Users from Inclusion?” June7, 2013. Web. 30 Nov 2013. Sandomir, Richard. “Only Echoes Stir the Quiet at the Hall of Fame” .New York Times. July 28, 2013. Web. 30 Nov 2013.
To fully understand this book, people must go behind the book and find the true state of mind of the author. Unfortunately in this case, the author is the one and only Jose Canseco. Jose Canseco is what I like to call, “The black sheep in the family of baseball.” Canseco’s history can be related to such incidents of drug using, heavy drinking, numerous sexual encounters with hundreds of partners, and unreasonable acts of violence. This book goes into grave detail on how steroids have changed his life and how it is currently changing baseball.
In the late 80s to mid-2000s, steroids changed the way baseball was played. It became known as “The Steroid Era,” and it is a part of history that baseball wants to forget. The players during this time did some of the greatest things to ever happen to baseball such as Barry Bonds breaking the single season homerun record with 73, and Roger Clemens winning his record seventh Cy Young Award (Ortiz). These are Hall of Fame worthy stats, but they have a very slim chance of ever getting into the Hall of Fame because they are linked to using Performance Enhancement Drugs. These players should be allowed into the Hall of Fame because of their accomplishments, but they need to have a wing dedicated to “The Steroid Era” players because conditions change so dramatically in different eras that it is hard to compare them to players now (Ringolsby). Even though PED users cheated the game, they should be allowed into the Hall of Fame if they have their own wing. They played in a different era than the players now, and it is hard to compare the different eras.
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
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.
Throughout the history of America’s pastime, baseball has continually battled scandals and controversies. From the 1919 “Black Sox” scandal to the current steroid debate, baseball has lived in a century of turmoil. While many of these scandals affected multiple players and brought shame to teams, none have affected a single player more than the 1980’s Pete Rose betting scandal. Aside from the public humiliation he brought his family and the Cincinnati Reds, nothing has done more to hurt Pete Rose than his lifetime ban from baseball making him ineligible for hall of fame. While many are for and against putting Pete Rose in the hall of fame, the four ethical theories, Kantianism, Utilitarianism, Egoism, and Ethical Realism, each have their own unique answer to the question. Through Kantianism Pete Rose should be inducted into the hall of fame, while Egoism, Utilitarianism and Ethical Realism all support the lifetime ban.
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).
Even though many people agree with famous baseball athletes using steroids being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, other people disagree for many reasons because steroids are an illegal drug and the use of this drug should not be rewarded with such an honor as being inducted into the Hall of Fame. There are very many people who vote for players to go in the Hall of Fame, but many people may have the same opinion as Tom Verducci who stated. When I vote for a player, I am upholding him for the highest individual honor possible. My vote is an endorsement of a career, not part of it, and how it was achieved. Voting for a known steroid user endorses steroid use.
The issue of performance-enhancing substances in baseball has been mostly present over the past ten years. The reason for players taking steroids is simple, by taking steroids, hitters like Barry Bonds gained more strength to hit better averages and more home runs, while pitchers like Roger Clemens gained better stamina and powerful arms.... ... middle of paper ... ... Steroids are not fair to the players who worked hard everyday to achieve Hall of Fame status, without performance enhancements.
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...
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...
Vinton, Nathaniel. "In MLB, There Were No Positive Steroid Tests out of 5,391 Samples." NY Daily News. New York Daily News, 29 Nov. 2013. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
While visiting the hall of fame for a particular sport one would expect to see exhibits, busts, and plaques showcasing the most significant people and various record-holders in the sports history. Thus to the casual observer it may come as a quite shock that the baseball player with the most hits in baseball history is absent from it’s Hall of Fame. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York contains no mention of the game’s career hit leader because Pete Rose, he of a record 4256 career hits, had been permanently suspended from the game of baseball since 1989. (Rychlak, 1998) On August 24, 1989, Bart Giamatti, the commissioner of the MLB (Major League Baseball) suspended Pete Rose indefinitely for betting on the game of baseball. (Higgins, 1990) Of the reasons for his indefinite suspension, perhaps the most disturbing was Rose’s alleged gambling on games featuring the Cincinnati Reds, a club that he had been managing at the time of his banishment. (Chass, 1989) For the first 15 years of his indefinite suspension Rose would vehemently denied any and every accusation of him having ever bet on baseball, only to finally admit to having done so in his 2004 autobiography My Prison Without Bars. (Dodd, 2004) Pete Rose will not be able to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame until his indefinite suspension ends because the Executive Committee that runs the hall of fame prevents suspended players from appearing on ballots that are sent to the voters at the Baseball Writers Association. (Rychalak, 1998) Baseball’s hesitancy to honor someone who had put it’s credibility at a serious risk is understandable but Rose’s impact on the game of the baseball is so substantial that it’d be a travesty for him to not eventually have at least some ...
Abstract: Since the beginning of sports competition, athletes have always looked for some kind of edge over their competitors. They will do whatever it takes to be one of the elite, and that includes injecting supplements into their bodies to make them bigger, stronger, and faster. Steroid use is probably one of the most common drug misuses in sports competition. Athletes found that with anabolic steroids, one could become a better athlete twice as fast. Not until 1975 was the drug first banned from Olympic competition because of the health risks it produced.
Mohun, Janet and Aziz Khan. Drugs, Steroids, and Sports. New York, NY: F. Watts, 2008.
06 Jan. 2014. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470510544.ch70/summary>. Haugen, Kjetil K. "Why We Shouldn’t Allow Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sport." Academia.edu. Academia.edu, 1 Apr. 2011.