The Steroid Era

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Through the late 1980’s until late 2000’s, Major League Baseball went through what is known as “the steroid era”. The steroid era was a time in which many players in baseball used performance-enhancing drugs (PED’s) to make them better and to boost their stats. While steroids were banned from baseball in 1991, people weren't getting caught until 2003 and continued using PED’s until MLB’s testing got better in 2007. The steroid era produced some of the best players the game has ever seen. Steroids led athletes to have unrealistic body figure as some players had their muscles stretching out of their jerseys. Monstrous athletes such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens dominated the MLB for over 15 years. Records were broken and legacies were created, …show more content…

This era destroyed records, but also made the game more interesting and exciting for most fans. Bonds for one “said he believes ‘without a doubt’ he belongs in the Hall of Fame” (Berg). During the steroid era, “Barry Bonds ended his career with seven MVP awards, 14 all-star teams, eight gold glove awards and ranks as the second best position player of all time” (Berg). Bonds was a “five tool player” as some would say. He had great knowledge of the game, he could hit for contact and power, while also being able to make amazing plays in the outfield along with stealing over 500 bases in his career. Mark McGwire “ended his career with 583 home runs, which was the fifth most in baseball history” (Kalbrosky). McGwire was able to change the game with his power. Almost every pitcher he faced was in fear of what he was able to do with the bat. Another great player of the steroid era Roger Clemens won the most Cy Young awards of all time. To be a Cy Young award winner, it means you are the best pitcher in the entire game for an entire season and Clemens did it seven times. Yes, these players did use steroids, but not all history is good, and people argue that baseball cannot hide from its history because at that time in baseball, steroids were a part of the game. It is impossible to say that these players do not have Hall of Fame credentials by looking at their stats, but factoring in that they used steroids has kept most voters

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