Steroids Use in Major League Baseball (MLB): Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds

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Steroids in baseball, particularly in Major League Baseball (MLB), have become a major issue. Two specific athletes have affected Major league Baseball dramatically; these players are Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. It is hard to catch a steroid user. Don Catlin, a former director at the UCLA Olympic testing lab says time after time they try to find the users and test them method, after they have evidence, however, this method does not work (Quinn). Mark McGwire’s and Barry Bonds’ use of steroids affected baseball in terms of trust issues, record holders, drug policies, and the future of baseball.

An easy way to try to get out of being caught using steroids is to lie. Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire both lied on many occasions. This is the spark that started debate of steroid use being legal. George Mitchell, a United States senator believe that any one that has played a part in baseball throughout the last two preceding decades have responsibility in the era of steroids (Kuenster). Not only are the lies of using steroids of the players known, but people do not believe them. Chicago Tribune sports writer Rick Morrissey states, “Many of us [baseball spectators] don’t believe in the things we’ve seen in baseball players do over the past 10 years. We know that kind of strength [the strength that steroids give players] doesn’t occur that quickly, that dramatically” (qtd. in Verducci). Barry Bonds was so confident about his lies that he told federal prosecutors to prove that he is guilty, that he would like to see them do it (Henry). He denied the use of steroids repeatedly or at least he did so in the public’s eye. It is not just Bonds that uses steroids however, many other players do. Jeff Novitzky, a federal investigator, stated th...

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McGrath, Ben. “King of Walks.” New Yorker. 87.6 (2011): 52. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.

“McGwire Strikes Out!.” Current Science 84.14 (1999): 8. MAS Ultra-School Edition. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Nemec, David, and Saul Wisnia. 100 Years of Baseball. Lincolonwood, Ill.: Publications International, 2002, Print.

Price, S.L. “The Liars Club.” Sports Illustrated 103.25 (2005): 110. MAS Ultra-School Edition. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Quinn, T.J. “Baseball’s Steroid Era.” Mens Fitness 23.6 (2007): MAS Ultra-School Edition. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.

“Socher, Abraham. “No Game For Old Men (Cover Story).”Commentary 125.3 (2008): 55-58. Humanities International Complete. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

Verducci, Tom. “Is Baseball In The Asterisk Era? (Cover Story).” Sports Illustrated 100.11 (2004): 36. MAS Ultra-School Edition. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

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