Seve Rodriguez
Mrs.Collazo
English 11
18 February 2014
Steroids in Baseball
Steroids in Baseball has always been a big controversy and brought up a bunch of talk about its use. Most everyone’s opinion on the use of performance enhancing drugs in all sports let alone baseball have all been negative towards it. It gives certain athletes unfair advantages over others to help their team wins games and break records. The game will never become fair if the use of steroids is continued and is working on being stopped in the MLB with new steroid testing policy they have implemented.
Steroids where originally made back in World War I as an aid for soldiers who suffered from any sort of weaknesses to being stronger. Steroids have been a known substance for increased performance in anything physical for the past 100 years now. Steroids have been looked upon and even banned all the way back in the 1910s in the Olympic games. The Anabolic Steriod Act was passed in 1990 which placed steroids in the same class as other illgal drugs such as amphetamines, methamphetamines, opium and morphine. It was then finally banned in Baseball on June 7, 1991. “Major League Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent said, The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players or personnel is strictly prohibited... This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs and controlled substances, including steroids” (Farrey). And ever since the banning of steroids, its usage has still been high and everything is done in order to stop it.
Anabolic steroids are a type of synthetic drug that are aimed to copy the effects of the hormone testosterone. What this does is boost the levels of development of male reproductive tissues which i...
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... big emphasis on stopping the use of steroids. Ever since the use of them has begun, MLB has tried numerous things to stop it, from weekly check-ups to worse and worse consequences on getting caught. Just recently Major League Baseball's investigators used new high-tech tools to collect the evidence they needed to find some players guilty of steroid use. Alex Rodrigues is one of these caught players. In early 2013, the Miami New Times obtained documents from a former Biogenesis employee that suggested several major league baseball players tested positive for steroids, including testosterone.(Ross) Because of this he is now held to over 100 games suspension. Technology is evolving for the fight against steroids and so is the policy’s the organization makes with it. This is just to make the game as fair as possible and to keep it from one ever being ruin as a whole.
Players since the beginning of baseball have used some type of drug to enhance their game such as in 1889 Pud Galvin ingested monkey testosterone and Grover Cleveland Alexander used banned alcohol to enhance his game (Chafets). This should prove that baseball will never fully stop the use of PEDs, they can only cover up the ones that have. As Zev Chafets puts it “Chemical enhancement won’t kill the game; it is the cover-up that could be fatal” (Chafets). This cover up will ultimately hurt the game of baseball so the league should give the players the opportunity to use the PEDs, and if they choose not to then that is their decision ...
Major League Baseball (MLB) has widely been regarded as America’s pastime for the longest time, however it is now becoming known as the sport tainted by one thing, anabolic steroids. An anabolic steroid is related to the natural steroid, testosterone. They are able to stimulate growth in the muscle tissue. They usually increase muscle mass and strength. The MLB has created some of the most historic American icons, such as Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Players like them showed us what it was like to play baseball the right way. They played with passion, heart, and above all they had fun playing. Players today in the MLB focus way too much on becoming the best player ever to play. They see what the greats did before them and they want to match them, so they turn to anabolic steroids. An example of this is Alex Rodriguez. In 2003 he tested positive for anabolic steroids because he was “naïve” and couldn’t take the pressure of his expectations of being called the best. He felt the pressure from the game and he turned to steroids. Anabolic steroids are ruining the game of baseball. They are tainting the records and the changing the game for the worse.
Baseball?s reputation has been painted with a red asterisk. The non-medical use of steroids has been banned according to the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 1990. Many baseball athletes have been caught or presumed illegal users of HGH or Steroids since the act passed in 1990. All these athletes have one thing in common, they want to have an edge or advantage on the game. Some athletes even admit to administering the drug to other athletes and themselves. Jose Conseco testified to personally injecting the steroids into Mark McGuire (Cote).
Many athletes use steroids to become stronger and improve their ability to play their sport. Certain players believe there is nothing wrong with using steroids. Athletes who excel greatly would normally be chosen to be in the Hall of Fame, but if using steroids, they should not be allowed. Steroids have many effects on people. Baseball players are big influences on children and teenagers, which could cause even more steroid use because of major league baseball players.
The issue of performance-enhancing substances in baseball has been mostly present over the past ten years. The reason for players taking steroids is simple, by taking steroids, hitters like Barry Bonds gained more strength to hit better averages and more home runs, while pitchers like Roger Clemens gained better stamina and powerful arms.... ... middle of paper ... ... Steroids are not fair to the players who worked hard everyday to achieve Hall of Fame status, without performance enhancements.
By adding steroid testing, the playing field has been leveled so that no one person has a distinct advantage over another. Both are examples of how the game has developed to benefit both the fans and the players. The whole world is evolving into a time of equality and fairness, and baseball is the last of the major sports in America to adapt this rule of reviewing plays that are controversial. Works Cited Kepner, Tyler. A. "New Call in Baseball: Previous Play Is Under Review, in New York.
People frown upon steroids in baseball because they say they are an unfair advantage even though they can be used as big advantage. Steroids have always been looked down on because people say that they are unfair and unsafe to use. So far players that have used steroids in Major League baseball have been healthy and the only side effects of them have been success. Steroids have become a huge part of baseball since the 1990’s. players feel like they need to use them to stay competitive. Steroids help increase muscle mass and help athletes train harder and faster. This results in better play on the field. Most steroid users in the MLB (Major League Baseball) are pitchers and homerun hitters. Steroids need to be legalized in Major League Baseball to bring more excitement into the game so that more people will watch, it will level the playing field for all the players, it will keep athletes healthy during the long season, and it will be more efficient since the consequences for using the substance does not keep players from using them.
Steroids in baseball have become a significant issue that needs to be addressed to protect the players and the game itself.
history of sports, the Black Sox scandal is the most infamous in all of sports history. The Pete Rose
...s from using certain companies' steroids in attempt to monopolize the business for certain other companies. These other companies will compensate MLB with large sums of money. Those certified companies will pay MLB an annual amount for being able to sell drugs to the players. Enabling players to use steroids will bring in a lot of money to baseball.
Steroid usage is rampant in baseball and players make choices to use the steroids despite the fact that MLB banned the usage of steroids in 2001 (Drug Policy, 2014). MLB did not begin drug testing for steroids until March of 2003 or institute fines and suspensions until 2005 (Drug Policy, 2014).
“We have to make some radical move to get the attention of everyone. Cheaters can 't win and steroids has put us in the position that it 's OK to cheat” (“Steroids Quotes”). Unfortunately, baseball has been plagued with the assistance of performance enhancing drugs to lengthen players careers, to boost statistics, and create an extraordinary ballplayer out of an average player. Contrary to the steroid abusers’ beliefs, steroids are not positively influencing any aspect of their game or personal life. The credibility and dignity of baseball has decreased due to performance enhancing drugs, which is not only cheating, but it also leads into a even
people being aware of it, is the incentives given in a player’s contract. Getting rid of the six figure bonuses commonly given for a certain amount of home runs, hits, strikeouts, innings pitched, etc, will help reduce the apparent need to use steroids as a source of instant reward and income. While doing this there will still most certainly be players drawn to steroids as a means to get ahead of the competition for personal glory or other reasons, the fact is eliminating bonuses has the potential to significantly reduce the amount of users in the league. It is then, and only then that we can be prepared to fully eliminate the steroid problem as we know it today, remove the cloud of doubt over everyone’s heads, and return the game of baseball to the past glorification that it once knew, as the true American pastime.
The MLB arguably has conveyed a series of mixed messages with regard to its players and their use of steroids. On the one hand, the League apparently cooperates with lawmakers on the issue of regulating drug use among its players; on the other, some of the best athletes in the MLB are suspected of drug use and yet continue to be marketed and revered. Examples of drugs used by MLB stars have included: Anavar, Andriol, Clomid, Depo-Testosterone, Insulin, Stanozolol, and Testosterone1. These drugs are steroids, typically prescribed by medical professionals to patients fighting specific disorders (such as low testosterone or infertility) or provide relief for immense pain or other severe symptoms; they are used “off-label” by athletes for increa...
Anabolic steroids are a group of muscle building chemicals, which are synthetic versions of the male hormone, testosterone. Developed in the 1930’s, they were prescribed to aid in muscle tissue repair by those who had undergone surgery or had degenerative diseases. Now the patients do not only use them but also athletes. Starting in the 1940’s steroids were introduced into sports. Steroids were one of the main reasons that Russia’s 1952 Olympic weightlifting team came out with pile of medals. With these results other nations thought their competitors should have the same advantage, and the use of steroids spread like wildfire.(NIDA pg 2) But now steroids are illegal to use if not prescribed by a physician, and have been banned by nearly all-athletic organizations, both professional and amateur.