Should Baseball Players Take Steroid To The Hall Of Fame?

The Major League Baseball organization is one of many sport organizations that takes a strong stance on athletes that use performance enhancing drugs. Mark McGwire played for the Cardinals in 1998. He had an amazing career as he broke the homerun record with 70 homeruns. Through his accomplishments, there was speculation that he took steroids. He was questioned about it in Federal Court and at first, he denied it. Later on, he admitted using Andro, which is a form of anabolic steroids. Another baseball player had a very similar story. Barry Bonds played for the San Francisco Giants. He likewise had very notable achievements, such as beating McGuire for the homeroom record and he passed Hank Aaron as the career all-time home run hitter.

Throughout the history of major league baseball we have seen countless astonishing hitters come pass through, some putting up record breaking numbers, at times too good to be true. Barry Bonds, known as the “homerun king” was able to put up an amazing total of 73 home runs in 2001. The very next season, he continued to present his skill with a .370 batting average. Between 1999 and 2007, Bonds’ stats were shocking, hitting 351 home runs, winning four national league MVP awards, and racking up 780 RBI’s, 69 stolen bases, and just over one thousand hits. Alex Rodriguez, better known as “A-rod” is another huge name when talking about the greatest hitters in baseball. For nine seasons out of Rodriguez’s twenty two season career, 8.5% of the balls he would put into play were home runs. By the end of his lengthy career, he was able to collect 698 home runs, over two thousand RBI’s and runs scored, with over three thousand hits. He was also named All-Star fourteen times. With numbers like these, it is hard to

Steroids are a hot topic of debate and controversy in the world of athletes and sports. Steroids fall under the umbrella of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and are a dark cloud that have been hovering over the sports world for a long time. In the world today, steroids are the most relevant in major league baseball. Many baseball players, such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Mark McGwire, just to name a few, have ruined their reputations because of steroids. There are repercussions for PED use in major league baseball, which have cut down on the substance abuse by players but have nowhere near eliminated the problem.

Some of the greatest athletes in the history of sports are Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGuire. One thing they had in common was that they all were Kings of hitting home runs in the 1990s and early 2000s. Another thing they all had in common, they illegally took performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during their careers in Major League Baseball. They have been labeled as having a high lack of sportsmanship, being a poor role model for children, and cheaters, which are a couple of reasons why none of these players have been elected into the hall of fame. There have been experiments and studies that have proved that the use of PEDs affects both the physical and psychological parts of the human body. This is why athletes should be banned

Baseball traditionalists got wind of this after a while though and charged the mound in essence to prove doping was wrong. That doing steroids undercuts baseball as a whole and its records left behind by legends. The medical community as a whole would later back this up and told of the serious side effects that ranged from male breast development to mood swings that would be later known as ‘roid rage. This would not be good for the public because the fans emulate what their idols do and if that’s what they believe needed to be done to be more like them they would. Eventually in almost every high school in the country, young athletes are told about these health risks associated with using Performance-enhancing drugs.

One of the most controversial subjects in Major League Baseball is that of hall of fame voting. Players who have tested positive should not be eligible for the hall of fame ballot. This is a great honor for players who are truly great and play the game the right way. The hall of fame has no room for players who try to gain unfair advantages through performance enhancing drugs. One of the greatest players of all time, Pete Rose, was denied from the Baseball Hall of Fame do betting on his games. This shows how seriously the voters take being inducted. Players who have tested positive for steroids should be banned from the hall of fame, which is what Major League Baseball is moving toward.

The MLB is just a giant business. How can you see it otherwise? Steroids in baseball have changed dramatically over the past ten years and a major factor impacting the changes may be players’ use of performance enhancing drugs. Do these players not realize that they are cheating? They are putting a drug into their bodies to make them better then everyone else. In less than four years Babe Ruth’s single season record of 60 home runs has been broken by Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. These were three of the players who were faced with a charge of using steroids and notice how they are three of the top hitters. McGwire just retired too, I think steroid use, and people finding out had a smidge to do with it. All these players aren’t losers, they are all stars and looked upon from all over and know are being accused of cheating. (Kingsbury)

“Bacsik 3-2 again. There’s a swing and a high fly ball, right-center field. Back it goes. Racing back, Logan jumping up, and that ball is gone! (Four-second pause) No. 756. Barry Bonds stands alone. And on the night of August 7, 2007, in San Francisco, California, Barry Lamar Bonds has hit more home runs than any major leaguer in the history of baseball.” (Times Union, ESPN). Barry Bonds hold the record for the most homeruns in baseball. His legacy is very well known, but it is also tainted. Barry Bonds took performance enhancing drugs, to get to where he is today. Performance Enhancing Drugs are hurting sports, and people. It defines the word “cheating” in all aspects.

According to the dictionary a Hall of Fame is a building set aside to honor outstanding individuals in any profession. The Baseball Hall of Fame specifically is an American History Museum and Hall of Fame for Major League Baseball. There are however certain players who have not been allowed entrance to the hall of fame. These players may not have been allowed in for two reasons; the first is possibly because of their use (alleged or proven) of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs), or it may also be due to a personality issue. Having players who are widely considered the best to ever play the game not be in the Hall of Fame due to the mindset of people who report on the sport is not a fair or balanced system. Players should be allowed in based on what they did on the field and not what they did off the field.

A prime example of steroid controversy on the Hall of Fame ballot is Mark McGwire. McGwire (pictured left) hit 583 home runs, including what was once a record of 70 in the 1998 season for the St. Louis Cardinals. McGwire’s career was tainted when he was caught with Androstenedione in his locker during the 1998 season. Androstenedione better known as Andro, is a steroid precursor which is banned from baseball. When McGwire was questioned about steroid use at a Congressional hearing on March 17, 2005, he repeatedly said, “I’m not here to discuss the past” (qtd. in McGwire Unlikely). This damaged McGwire’s candidacy for the Hall of Fame ballot by raising the suspicion of drug use, influencing BBWAA writers not to vote for him. McGwire has received close to a 25 percent vote on the ballot the three-years running up to 2012. Not nearly the 75 percent needed for induction. Several BBWAA writers discussed their stance on McGwire’s silence at the Congressional hearing; that it was a tacit admission that he used steroids while playing. McGwire needs to clarify his past and explain whether or not he used steroids, in order to maintain his integrity and character. When evaluating McGwire’s 16 year

Everyone who he named was playing good baseball at the time he said they were taking steroids. For example, Mark McGwire was one baseball player’s name that came up. He broke the record for home runs in a season in 1998. It seemed impossible to break that record at the time, but he did it. Now nobody knows if he was on steroids or not. When he had to come in front of a court recently, and they asked him questions about doing steroids, he said that he could not say not because his lawyer advised him not to and that it might hurt him and his family in the long run. When he did not answer the question, I myself lost respect for him because, to me, that meant he did indeed do steroids. He was the only player that did not answer the question. Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmerio answered that they did not do steroids. Canseco also said that he not only injected McGwire, but also Jason Giambi. Giambi was the most obvious steroid user, and he actually admitted to doing steroids this year in front of a grand jury. If steroids were allowed in the MLB, there would probably be all kinds of new records, but this would not accomplish much because they were broken with the help of steroids.

Before steroids Barry Bonds was a lock for the Hall of Fame, now it is believed he will not even get in because he cheated. “Bonds gulped as many as 20 pills at a time and was so deeply reliant on his regimen that he ordered Anderson to start "cycles" -- a prescribed period of steroid use lasting about three weeks -- even when he was not due to begin one”(Williams). Some extreme fans are calling for an asterisk next to his statistics in the record books. Barry still played after the news came out, and the harassment got so bad, that Barry eventually retired. When he went to opposing stadiums fans would hold up signs with an asterisk mark, or they would throw toy syringes at him while he was in the field. Chants of “who’s you’re dealer?” also surfaced at opposing ball parks. The fans took harassment to the next level on Barry Bonds.

Mark McGwire, a home run hitting machine, was on the verge of being elected into the Hall of Fame. Mark McGwire had the third best record of home runs in a season(70 home runs). Mark McGwire “had hit 50 or more home runs four seasons in a row from 1996 to 1999” (Introduction to Performance-Enhancing Drugs: At Issue). Mark McGwire was on his way to become one of baseballs best hitters. When being nominated in “ 2007, American sportswriters did not elect McGwire to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He received only 128 of the 545 votes cast. Many speculate that sports writers failed to select McGwire due to his connection with baseball's steroid scandal” (Introduction to Performance-Enhancing Drugs: At Issue). All because of being associated with the use of steroids and the steroid scandal, Mark McGwire lost all hope of being elected into the Hall of Fame. Many other athletes have suffered from the same problems. Even though these penalties seem harsh there are still many athletes getting away with drug use. Testing and punishments should be stricter, harsher, and more consistent.

With steroids being available to all athletes, it is then abused by college athletes causing it to jeopardize their career. College athletes see in the news that a certain Major-League Baseball player has used steroids which then

However the spotlight that steroids find themselves in are in professional sports, mainly Major League Baseball. Steroids have been an on-going issue with Major League Baseball. The MLB has been tainted in one way or another since the game began. However, now the game has been tainted with drugs that are giving some players an advantage over others. These players are also taking risks with drugs because they are constantly trying to attain a drug that does not get detected when they get drug tests. The MLB should outsource their drug testing policies to an independent organization like the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between players and the MLB. In 1994-95, the MLB suffered a strike that resulted in the cancellation of the post season. Afterwards, fans were deterred from the sport. So in 1998,