Steroids : Steroids And Steroids

Thesis: Today I am going to persuade you all about the use of steroids in Major League Baseball, persuading you why steroids should not be allowed in Major League Baseball. I have a call to action for all of you to help others if they are considering using steroids, and next time you watch a MLB game to realize the impact of steroids.

     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 media affects society in positive and negative ways. This can be seen in America’s national pastime baseball. Baseball is a sport that became the national sport in the United States in the late 19th century. From the beginning of the sport they tried to keep the highest standards to each player and ball club. There were times of scandal, but of all the things that happen to baseball substance abuse has been portrayed as one of the worst thing a player could do. To defame the baseball was to ruin everything the sport stood for. This research paper will look at one of the worst blotches in baseballs history, the steroid era.

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

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.

“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

The performance that goes beyond the possible one by an average player received a critical attention by the Major League Baseball. The article, “Under Mounting Pressure: A History Of Media Influence On Major League Baseball Steroid Policies,” is based on the relationship between Major League Baseball and the media. The authors break down how the media reports on

“The Steroids Era” refers to a period of time in Major League Baseball when a number of players were believed to have used performance enhancing drugs, resulting in increased offensive output throughout the game. During the 1990’s, Major League Baseball experience an increase in

For as long as sports have been around, countless numbers of athletes have been driven towards being the best, and doing whatever it takes to become successful. As sports become more competitive, many athletes strive to find a way to improve their strengths and abilities. One possible solution to the problem, is with the help of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), also known as steroids. Steroids first came to flourishing in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 1970s, when Tom House a former pitcher in (MLB) openly recognizing that there were multiple players per team experimenting with steroids and human growth hormones. During the 1900s steroids quickly became much more excessive and widespread, according to Juicin’ in The Majors: A History of steroids in baseball written by Joshua Z. Lavine February, 2013. “ By the 1990s, steroids had become an epidemic….Rick Helling, a pitcher for the Texas Rangers and a player representative, stood up at the winter meeting of the Executive Board of the Major League Baseball Players Association and reported this problem…” Despite the pitchers cry and plea for awareness of the problem, he was ignored. Eventually the statistical evidence on the issue had come full force and much too strong to ignore. During the 1990s-2001 multiple players had hit sixty or

Athletics play such an important role in our society, but, unfortunately, some in professional sports are not setting much of an example. The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message -- that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character. So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now.”

I can say something that less and less people can say these days; I love baseball. I like football and basketball just as much, but I do love the game of baseball. It’s America’s pastime, what is there not to love. But for some reason the MLB has been clouded with steroid use, more so than a lot of other professional sports leagues. Once I found this section in the readings I wanted to investigate it and dig a little deeper into how big of an issue it really is, and what the league has or has not done about it. Fortunately, this trend has seemed to fade away and become less of a problem. However, I would still like to dive into this subject and see the progression from when steroid use began to peak and see how the league and everyone else

Reading the recent articles “We, the Public, Place the Best Athletes on Pedestals” by William Moller, and “Cheating and CHEATING” by Joe Posnanski, I found occasion to consider the use of steroids in baseball for the first time. In these essays, Moller and Posnanski tapped into the running commentary about performance-enhancing substances and their relative acceptability in the baseball arena (no pun intended). “We, the Public, Place the Best Athletes on Pedestals” proclaimed that “the entire steroid outcry is pure hypocrisy” (Moller, 2009, p.548),

Opening day isn’t even here yet, and already we have enough controversy to last us the whole season. At a time when we’d much rather be thinking about the smell of fresh cut grass, hot dogs and pennant dreams, we’re forced to deal with a far darker issue. Now more than ever, there is alarming suspicion concerning apparent steroid drug use in Major League Baseball. As an avid baseball watcher and player of the game for twelve years this scandal is of great concern to me. In the time to come I will be informing you of how steroid use has tarnished baseball’s image, allowed for more records to be broken unfairly and the harmful effects it has on your body.

Players like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Alex Rodriguez, just to name a few, have disobeyed the game of baseball, and for what? To add an extra 2-5 mph on their fastball, or to hit the ball farther. If scouts liked you when you weren’t on steroids, why would you need to go on to them. It totally takes out your natural ability of what made you the baseball player that scouts recruited you. This isn’t only happening in the MLB; this is also happening in the Minor Leagues. The entire sport of baseball has been infected by the virus of performance enhancing drugs. The definition of steroids is a synthetic steroid hormone that resembles testosterone in promoting the growth of muscle. Such hormones are used medicinally to treat some forms of weight loss and (illegally) by some athletes and others to enhance physical performance (Dictionary).

The sport that has gotten the most attention on the subject of steroids is Major League Baseball. Due to the suspected prevalence of them from the late 80’s up until the present day, the so-called baseball purists now question all the records and achievements