Steroid Abuse Hurts Baseball Essay

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.

     It was a warm, sultry night in September. The fans were crazed in anticipation as Mark McGwire stepped to the plate. With a gentle stretch, he paused, patiently poised, waiting for what would eventually be the greatest hit baseball had ever seen. The pitcher, Steve Trachsel, came set. He shot a determined look to the dirt. In a rivalry such as this (Cubs, Cardinals) he did not want to be the one to give up the great number 62. He cocked his arm back, to let loose what would be an eighty-eight mile an hour fastball that most men would not see fly by, but Big Mac was not most men. With one mighty swing, sixty-one was no more, ney sayers were silenced, and the game

The steroid era as many know now started roughly 2003, but there was a time in which many forget. In

Baseball is known as America’s pastime and is one of the most popular, respected sports on earth. Since the beginning of the sport, it seemingly advances with technology every year making faster and stronger players. The use of steroids became rampant and spread among players and has carried them away from the true history of the game they play. Controversy still today runs around the sport today about fines, punishments and record breaking. The past two decades of Major League Baseball have been tainted because of the use of performance enhancing drugs, also known as steroids, causing the loss of many fans and the true meaning of America’s favorite sport.

Since Major League Baseball all-star Ken Caminiti openly admitted to Sports Illustrated to have used steroids during his career, steroid use as a muscle and performance enhancer has been uncovered and become a big issue Major League Baseball is wrestling with. The “ongoing and delicate subject, baseball’s dirty, little secret that is no secret anymore,” is a huge and growing problem (Curry B20). Now that light has been shed on the issue, critics are beginning to realize the magnitude of this problem and do not like it. Steroids are a cheating virus that is spreading quickly. Users cheat other players, themselves, the fans, and the game itself. Action must be taken to rid Major League Baseball of this virus

“Going, Going, Gone, Home Run!” everyone knows what this means when an announcer says it. The game of baseball is a different sport, unlike basketball and football; you do not necessarily need strength to be dominant. So, why are steroids a big issue in baseball? Steroids, in particular, anabolic steroids, build up cellular tissue or muscle. However, they do not give you the necessary skills to play the game. I am almost certain the world’s strongest man could not hit a home run on a major league field, so why punish those who have used steroids? Steroids are not like magic and transform and average man

Today’s players are bigger and stronger than the baseball heroes of yesterday and many sports writers and baseball analysts suspect the reason involves the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids. U.S. lawmakers are considering a national anti-steroid policy to discourage players from using illegal performance-enhancing drugs. (Miga) Anabolic-androgenic steroids are man made substances related to male sex hormones. These steroids are used by athletes to artificially raise testosterone levels in the body. Raising testosterone levels allows the user to train longer and harder, increase

In Major League baseball this off-season, there has been a lot of controversy about steroids. The commissioner of MLB, Bud Selig, has banned steroid usage from the game. Everyone this off-season was shocked when Canseco wrote a book called “Juiced,” in which he told when he

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.

Then two years later, he resembled an NFL linebacker. He played in an era that many sports writers have labeled “The Steroid Era” and with his sudden jump in production and size is a great piece of evidence that should be held against him. His statistics over a three year span had increased at such an amazing rate, one of the fastest rates in Major League history. Over the years of 1996 thorough 1999, Barry Bonds averaged 35 home runs per year (Elias). But in 2000, Bonds hit 49 home runs, then came out the next year and hit a record setting 73 home runs in a season, which is a great indicator that he used performance enhancing drugs over this specific time (Elias). The evidence that has been found and recorded on the topic of Bonds and performance enhancing drugs is plentiful, and all of this information should be used against him in a movement to convict him of robbing the game of baseball and hurting the structure of the game so many Americans love and enjoy.

Growing up, I looked up to guys like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds. They were some of the best players to ever play the game. In the recent years, it was revealed that these players were taking anabolic steroids throughout their career. I always thought with hard work and dedication, I could be just like them, but that was not possible because they were all cheating to get an edge. Anabolic steroids were added to the list of Class III Substances in the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. This act makes it illegal to possess anabolic steroids in the United States without a prescription. Congress passed this in hope to avoid the use of anabolic steroids in sports. However, the majority of steroid users are in fact

Steroids are laboratory-made versions of the human hormone testosterone, which aids growth of muscles, bones and skin. Testosterone is primarily a male hormone, though females produce trace amounts. Doctors, for medical uses, may legally prescribe steroids. Steroids for muscle building are obtained illegally; they are produced overseas or in clandestine laboratories in the U.S. For all the health risks, research shows steroids do work when it comes to building muscle and power.

In the days when steroids were only being used by body builders and professional wrestlers, stories about performance enhancing drugs could only be found on the back pages of the newspapers. When former Oakland Raiders All-Pro Lyle Alzado admitted to steroid use in a 1991 Sports Illustrated article the whispers about what professional athletes were using steroids began to get louder. (Puma, 2005) Finally, in 2002, when Caminiti, a former MVP, came clean, two things were clear; athletes in all sports were using these drugs, and that they worked. The fact that steroid use had permeated our national pastime combined with the media explosion of the internet and 24 hour a day sports talk created a perfect storm which created the biggest sports story of the new millennium so far. However, two other facts remained clear, performance enhancing drugs were old news, and athletes in all sports from all over the world had been using them for years.

If Rob Garibaldi had one wish it would be to play major league baseball. Growing up he played baseball throughout high school and college. There was one problem. He wasn’t as big as the other players. Beginning in his junior year of high school he was strongly influenced to take supplements to increase his strength. A few years later, after continued use of steroids, his life started to spiral out of control. He was feeling very depressed, struggling academically, and had become very aggressive. That bright, young man with aspirations to play major league baseball ended up taking his own life with a fatal gunshot on October 1, 2002. Ultimately, Rob Garibaldi killed himself but steroids could easily be deemed his accomplice.

Since when do team owners care so much about the long-term health of their players? By the time they finish playing out their careers, some can barely walk or lift their arms above their heads due to the rigorous demands of their employer. Players are expected to play hurt or they will be categorized as “soft,” and “soft” players do not get the same respect from their team’s owners. If a player wishes to put something into his body, it is his choice. After all, “Professional baseball players are competent adults who are capable of processing the risk of ingesting steroids.” (Peterson 2). The recent death of former baseball player and admitted steroid user Ken Caminiti raised many eyebrows. But Ken Caminiti was also a known cocaine and alcohol addict, among other things. His death was more attributed to that rather than his use of steroids during his playing career.