Why Did Barry Bonds Use Steroids?

In Major League Baseball, numerous players have put up tremendous statistics and record breaking numbers. There are a great amount of players in the league that have done this naturally, however it is not uncommon to see star players get caught taking performance enhancing drugs or steroids. Steroid use in baseball has been an issue since the earliest days of the game, and can be seen very frequently in players today. Jose Canseco was a star hitter in the major leagues, who had admitted to steroid later in his career. Canseco once estimated that 85% of other players were also taking performance enhancing drugs. Though that estimate is not proven, there are still many players today that are taking these steroids, and it needs to remain an issue in the eyes of the MLB. Taking these drugs not only promotes the risk of significant side effects and health problems to the player consuming them, but it makes changes to the game itself as well. The way the game is being played has changed over time due to this issue, and players are receiving advantages that other players are not. Overall, these illegal drugs are unfair to other players in the game and simply are not safe, and should never become legal in the league.

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

Many children all across the United States and other countries try to replicate their favorite superstar athlete. Many athletes become the children’s idol and once the child learns that the athlete has cheated the game the athlete plays the child no longer looks up to the athlete. It is almost gotten to the point where no athlete that excels in a particular sport can be trusted. Every time a single athlete becomes great at their respective sport, speculation of steroid abuse immediately follows.

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

           Today in the United States, millions and millions of kids, teens, and adults watch and play in the sport of baseball. It is probably the number one sport looked upon and what is happening to it is a bit discouraging. Players have started “cheating” by using steroids to help them play stronger and better. They are in league where you have to be the best at what you do to play, and if your using drugs to cheat your way in, then it ruins the ethics of the game of baseball.

The "steroid era" has been devastating for fans that appreciated the game, but no one cannot say that. Kids and adults were leaving the action players brought to the field every day. Many did not know a lot about the steroids being used by famous players, but there were rumors in and out teams. Having a substance that will guarantee help in hand-and-eye coördination, better endurance, speed, power, agility and more is the miracle substance for any athlete. Being fun and all, there are numbers that alarms scouts, managers, general managers, fans, media, and more when a player is being productive. When a player is having a good year on the field, making a noise and maintaining the level of play throughout the season is coming. Seeing the same player having more than one horrible season is also common. But when players’ stats are constant for many seasons, that is when red flags come up and questions are followed by it.

Perhaps one of the most controversial topics in Major League Baseball is the discussion of the use of steroids and human growth hormones. Both are completely illegal in the sport, and come with drastic consequences. One would think a fifty game suspension as a first offense would scare players away, but for some reason steroids in baseball is occurring more and more often to the disappointment of Major League Baseball. The reason players take steroids in the first place is to enhance their performance on the field. Steroids make players stronger and they perform at a higher rate. Another use for steroids is to help the players on certain rehab assignments for injuries. Either way, it is still illegal and banned in the sport.

When people think of Barry Bonds, steroids and the homerun record holder should come to mind. There was a time when Bonds didn’t use steroids, when he was early in his career and he was considered a great already. So what drove Bonds to begin using steroids if he was already great and continuing to get better? If people look back into baseball prior to Bonds, they can see he wasn’t the one who set the rules. In the early 70’s is when steroids started to become prominent in Major League Baseball. During the 90’s and early 2000’s, this was considered “the steroid era”. This was when most players were using steroids to gain a competitive advantage on other players, and Major League Baseball turned their heads to this

The steroid era, which began in the 1990s, provided some of baseball’s best entertainment. It was filled with home runs and fastballs, but as Joe Solberg and Richard Ringer say in “Performance-Enhancing Drug Use in Baseball: The Impact of Culture," sports fans can only wonder which records achieved during those twenty years were earned fairly, and which ones were achieved through the use of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) (92). This blemish on the history of baseball makes stats and record keeping complicated. Barry Bonds, an admitted steroid user, broke Hank Arron’s all-time home run record during this time. This raises questions such as, should these record breaking players be allowed to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame? Bonds, who was eligible for induction into the elite club for the first time in 2013, did not receive enough votes to get in. Fans are now forced to question if a player used steroids, which negatively hurts baseball’s reputation and integrity. However, since increased measures have been taken to improve drug testing, it is assumed that PED use in baseball has decreased if not gotten rid of. This is a cultural impactor because it changed how the fans feel about the game. Baseball has always had a culture of cheating in some way, whether it’s altering the baseball in some way or corking a bat. Now that the steroid era is over, what

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

Of course, when theirs a homerun hit fans go crazy especially for that many being hit and start seeing the athleticism in the athlete. While the years went on changes started happening to Barry Bonds body and even fans noticed them too. Everything was changing to his body and was oddly huge, his arms, legs and even his head was getting bigger. During the season fans were starting to talk and of course it all was about Barry Bonds using steroids. In the year 2003, they began to get deeper into the investigation of Barry Bonds whether he used steroids or not. Two substances were brought up, the clear and the cream. The clear substance was a new steroid that wasn’t being tested in the MLB. As for the cream substance, it is one that gives protection

The most commonly discussed issue in sports of the 21st century is the use of performance enhancing drugs by professional athletes. Over the past four years, it has been nearly impossible to turn on the television without hearing something about athletes and these drugs. From former National League MVP Third Baseman Ken Caminiti's admission of steroid use in an issue of Sports Illustrated (Verducci, 2004) to 2006 Tour de France Champion Floyd Landis being stripped of title due to a failed doping test (Blue, 2006) virtually every sport is involved. Are performance enhancing drugs a substance that threatens the very existence of professional sports, or are they the future? Perhaps the issue

Professional sports are a competition between the greatest athletes in the world. And when I go to a game, that’s exactly what I expect to see. Sports are entertainment. There is no room for purity and respecting the limits that athletes had in the past. Modern athletes should utilize all the resources that they have available to them. This includes steroids, which enhance an athlete’s performance. After all, performance is what really matters.