Performance Enhancing Drugs in Baseball

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At age 16, Taylor Hooton was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 180 pounds. Hooton was a pitcher for his high school baseball team. His baseball coach told him that if he wanted to be an all-star player, he would have to get bigger. (Ingram) Taylor decided to take steroids orally and by injection at the same time, to get bigger. During the winter of 2003 Taylor gained 30 pounds of muscle. (Ingram) Taylor’s attitude took a dramatic turn. He started punching through walls when angry and yelling at his closest friends. (Ingram) When he decided to stop using steroids he became severely depressed and a month after his 17th birthday, he committed suicide. (Ingram) His coach pressured him take steroids to be a star, but if Major League Baseball really cracked down on steroid use then Taylor might not have started taking steroids in the first place and he could still be alive today. Although many scholars have argued that a suspension and a fine will fix the drug problem in baseball, banning the players for life on the first offense will be a better way to stop it from continuing.
Athletes often abuse this drug to help build muscle and improve athletic performance. This is illegal and dangerous to do to your body. Most athletes use steroids to gain an advantage on their opponent so they will become better than them. This may help them short term become better. However, in the long run, their body may pay for the abuse of steroids. Many people do not understand the dangers they could face while taking steroids. These dangers, along with the drug being illegal, could definitely lead to the wrong path for anyone. Players use steroids to get more muscles so they can hit the ball farther and get more home runs, run faster, or even have th...

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...hese drugs to be better players in the Major Leagues and it's likely because of that they are not getting the votes to get into the Hall of Fame and will only be remembered for cheating, not for their accomplishments. Cal Ripken Jr., has shown us that you do not need drugs to be an everyday player in the Majors and be a Hall of Famer. Major League Baseball is cracking down on performance enhancing drug use as the years go on with harsher punishments for offenders of the drug laws. This is the first time the MLB has added a life-time ban for players who continue to use steroids after being caught. Why take the chance to use these performance enhancing drugs if it only ends in failure? Neither heaven nor hell would question my word that cheaters never win, and if you use performance enhancing drugs to be better at anything you will forever be labeled a cheater.

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