Steroid Abuse Research Paper

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.

Drug abuse, and its consequences, is a problem in all sports, even among sports most decorated athletes. For instance, Alex Rodriguez was a professional baseball player who played with the New York Yankees. He was a three time all star with 696 homeruns under his belt. Towards the end of his career, MLB authorities found that he had been using performance enhancing drugs after failing a drug test. Rodriguez was issued a one-year ban and a ruined reputation. In a similar case, Lance Armstrong was an accomplished cycling in a familiar situation to Rodriguez. Lance won the Tour de France from 1999-2005, making him one of the best cyclist ever. However, in 2012 the great cyclist was caught up in a doping scandal

Attention Getter: On August 7th, 2007, Barry Bonds hit home run number 756, passing Hank Aaron for the most home runs in Major League history. However, this record is controversial, due to steroid use.

Why Major League Baseball players would use steroids is the biggest question that every person in the world wants to know. I think MLB players use steroids so they can bulk up and get stronger, which will allow them to last through the long, seven-month season. I think that because they play 162 games a year during these seven months that this causes a great deal of wear and tear on their bodies. Especially if a player gets hurt, they might try to take illegal medicines, such as steroids, to help them get back on the field quicker, hoping that maybe they could help their team win the pennant.

Arguably one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game, Barry Bonds is most widely known as the all-time homerun leader in Major League Baseball. Over his 22 year career, he hit more homeruns than anyone, and was also one of the most widely hated players in baseball. The way that Barry carried himself was unique, and the league’s viewers made him out to be something that he wasn’t. At times he was even disrespected by his own teammates and coaches, something a player should never have to go through.

Barry Bonds and steroid use continues to be a very hot topic in the professional sports world. The history that Bonds erased from the game because of his drug use, especially the records that he erased from all time greats such as Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, is a great deal to the fans and historians of Major League Baseball. Barry Bonds broke two of the biggest and most well-known records in the Major Leagues. In 2001, Bonds broke the single season home run record by hitting 73 home runs in one season,

Baseball is known as America’s favorite pastime. Any fan of baseball has heard the name Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds is one of the best baseball players of all time statistically. He leads the MLB in home runs in a single season (73), most career home runs (762), MVP awards (7), walks in a single season (232), and another 13 more records. Barry Bonds career was shrouded with a shadow. He was abusing steroids in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After winning 4 straight MVPs, and setting the single season record for homeruns, the MLB established the steroid and performance enhancing drugs bans. Barry Bonds was one of the athletes under investigation. Barry Bonds’ Steroid Scandal was a huge shock to the sport of baseball and the world of sports.

Bonds did not spend much time in the Minor League before he was brought up, each season being a good season for the young Barry Bonds. He started out in the minors, was brought up to the majors by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and was sent back down again. He was brought up yet again by Pittsburgh, and spent the rest of his career in the Major League. In his first Minor League season, he played 71 games, with 76 hits and 13 home runs. Of his 76 hits, he drove in 37 runs, with an on base percentage of .383.

Steroids and performance-enhancing drugs were a prominent item that was, and still, is used in baseball. Many well-known name athletes used PEDs to take their game to a higher level. For a player like Barry Bonds, he was already great before he took steriods. With the flow of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs, Barry Bonds changed the perspective of baseball in a negative way. First off, the record book is scared in Major League Baseball. Those who attempted to break records or did break records did it in the clean way. Henry Aaron totaled 775 home runs during his career without PEDs. Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs the right way, which was without steroids. Willy Mays finished his career with 660 home runs without the help any illegal enhancing

In 1991, Performing Enhancing Drugs known as steroids was put on the list of baseball’s banned substance. You would think that, that would put a stop to Steroid use in Baseball, but it did not. The reason why players would keep on using the banned substance is because Major League Baseball did not begin to test players to see if they were using Steroids. There is evidence that there was an intense use of steroids before the testing had begun. Offensive production rose up more than ever. Mark McGwire was known as an offensive workhorse, a monster. He broke the all-time Single Season MLB home run record; this was during the 1998 season. Then in 2001 Barry Bonds at the age of 36 broke McGwire’s home run record by hitting 73 Home Runs in a season, which is the current single-season

For years players have been using steroids to improve their performance. For example, Ronny Paulino, Ryan Braun, and Jose Canseco have all tested positive for steroid use before. One of the bigger names, that everyone knows, is Alex Rodriguez. He has used steroids a lot, but I won’t talk about him. Jose Canseco played for the Oakland Athletics,

Although steroids improve a person’s skill level at their particular sport, these drugs can also have many negative everlasting effects that might not materialize until it’s too late. Anabolic steroid use has been associated with a wide variety of side effects and they range from physically unattractive, such as acne and breast development in men, to serious and life threatening such as heart attacks and liver cancer. Most are reversible if the abuser stops taking the drugs, but others can be permanent (DrugFacts). Long-term use of Anabolic steroids can also have devastating effects on the brain. They can affect some of the same brain

All the anabolic steroids that were used by Johnson, Armstrong and the athletes in the Russian doping scandal have the same purpose: to mimic the effects of testosterone, a hormone that contains numerous physical improvements to the athlete. Examples of these improvements are the ability to work out harder, strengthen muscles, and reduce body fat (Yesalis, 153), capabilities that are particularly useful for various sports (Mayo Clinic). Although anabolic steroids do indeed provide many advantages to the athletes, they are not without their flaws. Users will develop severe side effects namely infertility, tendon rupture, blood pressure increase, and possibly HIV (Mayo Clinic). In addition, these drugs have the ability to cause acne and liver illnesses as well as death (Brodwin). Yesalis, an expert of drug abuse for over 20 years, has collected evidence of deaths due to the usage of anabolic steroids from many of his colleagues. According to his evidence, more than 10 athletes alone have died after usage (Yesalis 180, 181, 182, 195). Given that an anabolic steroid is able to cause so much harm to an athlete him or herself, its effects are undeniably dangerous to every individual user. Thus, the negative health effects caused by anabolic steroids is a crucial consequence that an athlete must emphasize and not

Anabolic drugs carry with them many risks to one’s health and wellbeing. However, with the current incentive of making them undetectable rather than safe, performance enhancing drugs (such as steroids) bring with them many more severe and dangerous risks to one’s health. The dangers steroids pose to your health are confirmed by Dr. David E. Newton. He tells us that some of the adverse health side effects of steroids include severe acne, liver disease, tendon ruptures and tears, increased cholesterol levels, and psychological problems that include increased tendencies toward rage, aggression, and especially violence (103-104). Even more potential harm from steroids can include liver and kidney tumors, damage to the heart, damage to one’s

Roger Maris was the first major league baseball player to hit 61 home runs in one season in 1961, beating Babe Ruth’s record of 60 in 1927. Thirty seven years later in 1998, St. Louis Cardinals player Mark McGwire and Chicago Cubs player Sammy Sosa fought hard to see who could break the previous record of 61. At the end of Sosa’s season, he finished with an extraordinary 66 home runs, five home runs over the record. However, McGwire finished remarkably with 70 home runs, nine home runs over the record. Twelve years later in 2010, McGwire revealed that he had used androstenedione, a common over-the-counter drug. At the time of the record chase, androstenedione was still legal in baseball, but in the International Olympic Committee, the NFL, and National Collegiate Athletic Association, androstenedione was considered illegal and you would be disqualified or even expelled from the league if it was found in your blood. Today, people still argue whether or not McGwire should be the record holder. Drug testing for professional athletes should be required because performance-enhancing drugs are unhealthy, they can lead to negative consequences, and they are not a good influence for children looking up to these athletes.