Steroids in Major League Baseball
Anabolic steroids have been abused by Major League Baseball players for years, it’s time to forever ban the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs before they ruin America’s past time. Why should athletes be able to cheat when teammates or rivals are competing with honest effort? Every year records are broken and new heights are achieved, the game of baseball is very simple yet very humble, and to deceive the game you love, forever will you be punished. Let me inform you with the origin in which PEDs were first used and where they came from, regulation, and a possible solution.
Testosterone use goes back as far as 1889. Pud Galvin, a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys used a testosterone hormone derived from animals. The first hormones came from mostly pigs and dogs. “Even Babe Ruth, a legendary New York Yankee, tried to inject himself with extract from sheep testicles in 1925.” (Joshua Z.) The use of steroids was not common until the 1970’s. It was estimated that every team had at least six to seven players using. It was the 80’s when Anabolic steroids blew up the market. Anyone from future Hall of Famers to new up and comers were using amphetamines. The use of amphetamines as stimulants became very common and was a problem for the game which began raising suspicion. “By the 1990’s, steroids had become an epidemic.”(Joshua Z.) In a spend of three years, three players including San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds, St. Louis Cardinals Mark McGwire and Chicago Cubs Sammy Sosa hit sixty homeruns a joined seven times. Before that from 1927-1998, only Babe Ruth and Roger Maris had hit more than sixty homeruns in a season. It’s only a coincidence those three players have steroids in common.
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...past time before it’s too late.
Major League Baseball and steroids do not mix, not now and not ever. Saving the game of baseball will forever be grateful in the long run. Believe me when I say HGH is bad and stay away from it. Practice makes perfect in athletics, hard work beats talent and drugs any day. Stand by that and take your skills a day at a time. For all you athletes pass the word and stay clean.
Works Cited
1. Lavine, Jashua Z. "Juicin’ In The Majors: A History Of Steroids In Baseball." NYU Local Juicin In The Majors A History Of Steroids In Baseball Comments. NYU Inc., 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
2. Rymer, Zachery D. "Full Timeline of MLB's Failed Attempts to Rid the Game of PEDs." Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report Inc., 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
3. "The Steroids Era." ESPN MLB. The Walt Disney Company, 5 Dec. 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
Players since the beginning of baseball have used some type of drug to enhance their game such as in 1889 Pud Galvin ingested monkey testosterone and Grover Cleveland Alexander used banned alcohol to enhance his game (Chafets). This should prove that baseball will never fully stop the use of PEDs, they can only cover up the ones that have. As Zev Chafets puts it “Chemical enhancement won’t kill the game; it is the cover-up that could be fatal” (Chafets). This cover up will ultimately hurt the game of baseball so the league should give the players the opportunity to use the PEDs, and if they choose not to then that is their decision ...
The Web. 6 May 2010. Fainaru-Wada, Mark, and Lance Williams. Game of Shadows: Barry Bonds, BALCO, and more! the Steroid Scandal That Rocked Professional Sports.
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).
Many athletes use steroids to become stronger and improve their ability to play their sport. Certain players believe there is nothing wrong with using steroids. Athletes who excel greatly would normally be chosen to be in the Hall of Fame, but if using steroids, they should not be allowed. Steroids have many effects on people. Baseball players are big influences on children and teenagers, which could cause even more steroid use because of major league baseball players.
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.
Solberg, J, and R Ringer. "Performance-enhancing drug use in baseball: The impact of culture." Ethics & Behavior. http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.howardcc.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DA-SORT&inPS=true&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=c (accessed December 5, 2013).
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.
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...
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.
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.
Steroids where originally made back in World War I as an aid for soldiers who suffered from any sort of weaknesses to being stronger. Steroids have been a known substance for increased performance in anything physical for the past 100 years now. Steroids have been looked upon and even banned all the way back in the 1910s in the Olympic games. The Anabolic Steriod Act was passed in 1990 which placed steroids in the same class as other illgal drugs such as amphetamines, methamphetamines, opium and morphine. It was then finally banned in Baseball on June 7, 1991. “Major League Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent said, The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players or personnel is strictly prohibited... This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs and controlled substances, including steroids” (Farrey). And ever since the banning of steroids, its usage has still been high and everything is done in order to stop it.
Major League Baseball (MLB) has a big issue when to comes to performance enhancing drugs. The current era of the MLB has not been firm enough with its athletes that use and have used performance enhancing drugs. The first punishment usually doesn’t stop players from doping after they come back. Players such as Jenrry Mejia, Neifi Pérez, and Eliézer Alfonzo are examples of players that have been suspended more than once, proving that the first punishment needs to be stricter. If the MLB succeeds in doing this, there will be some hope that the world of baseball will become cleaner than this current era has been and that athletes have a chance to play baseball purely. Baseball desperately needs to make a stricter anti-doping policy, including
Many Athletes are willing to do whatever it takes to become a professional. One of the easiest ways to enhance natural ability is through performance-enhancing drugs or, PEDs. PEDs are substances used by athletes to increase their performance. The use of PEDs in athletic competition can date back to ancient Greece. Athletes use PEDs to run faster, jump higher and recover at an increased pace. Many athletes are pressured into using PEDs by coaches or managers and are not thoroughly educated the harmful health issues that can come along with taking performance-enhancing drugs. A rising issue is if performance-enhancing drugs should be allowed in professional sports. I believe that in any professional sport, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes should continue to be banned because this rule will help to keep athletes from abusing these harmful drugs.