Drugs are a big issue in the sports industry. Many athletes will take performance-enhancing drugs, such as steroids, to help them play better. These types of drugs should not be allowed because it gives the player a greater advantage over other players who are playing with their natural ability. This issue could be solved if there was monthly drug testing and if the drug was not so easy to get ahold of. Many major league baseball players are getting caught using performance-enhancing drugs. Mostly power hitters and pitchers will use these steroids.
Performance-enhancing drugs have been around for quite awhile. The first use of performance-enhancing drugs can be traced back to the eighth century BC Greek Olympics where they would eat sheep
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testicles. These greeks would do this for a boost of energy, but later realized it worked as a testosterone booster. Therefore creating what we know now as a performance-enhancing drug, most commonly known as steroids. “For more than a decade there has been a widespread of illegal use of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances by players in Major League Baseball, in violation of federal law and baseball policy. Club officials routinely have discussed the possibility of such substance use when evaluating players. Those who have illegally used these substances range from players whose major league careers were brief to potential members of the Baseball Hall of Fame. They include both pitchers and position players, and their backgrounds are as diverse as those of all major league players. The response by baseball was slow to develop and was initially ineffective, but it gained momentum after the adoption of a mandatory random drug testing program in 2002. That program has been effective in that detectable steroid use appears to have declined. But the use of human growth hormone has risen because, unlike steroids, it is not detectable through urine testing” (Mitchell. 2007). Although, players today are abusing the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Why do baseball players take these drugs?
There are many different reasons such as taking them to stay physically ready and healthy, and mentally prepared. However, many take steroids to become bigger and stronger. This way they can move from the minor leagues to the major leagues faster. Since many abuse the use of steroids, it does not stop in the minor leagues; the players will carry the habit with them into the majors. “The use of steroids in Major League Baseball (MLB) has become a big problem. Most of the players have decided to use steroids because it helps them to increase their muscles faster. This drug makes the players anxious and the desire for exercise is more often. Most of the fans think that the increase of home runs of the 2006 season is mostly caused by players using performance-enhanced drugs; this fact is based by earlier results of 47% of the fans agreeing on this issue conducted by USA Today/Gallup Poll” (Newman, 2006). “Also, the players see this like an opportunity to move faster in the system and be seen as a top player to be considering a big value on the market (Herrera 2007).” For example, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did so well in the home run derby in 1998 that people started questioning if they was taking steroids. “The success of Mark McGwire in baseball's home run derby fueled an ethical debate surrounding ergogenics and sports performance. Androstenedione, [a type of steroid,] has been banned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, …show more content…
the International Olympic Committee and the National Football League, but not by Major League Baseball (Stephens. 2001).” Although Sosa tested negative, McGwire did not. McGwire is the perfect example to show how major league players abuse the use of steroids to become powerful hitter and also become top players. There are many disadvantages for taking steroids that the athlete should be aware of. Steroids can cause many health issues, “including “steroid rage,” the development of male characteristics in female athletes, heart attacks, and greatly reduced life expectancy (The Debatabase Book. 2009).” Steroids could also ban you from playing ever again. The first time a player is tested positive they are put on an eighty game suspension, second positive test will put the player on a 162 game suspension, which is the whole season including postseason, and a third positive test will ban the player from Major League Baseball for life. Steroids also give the player an unfair advantage over other players who are playing with their natural ability. “The sport badly needs to restore the public’s confidence in the purity of competition. A step in this direction is the new drug testing program that was negotiated and approved by the owners and players for the 2005 season. It is far more comprehensive, intrusive, and punitive than the 2002 program that it replaced. Time will tell whether the new program will rid the sport of the blight which allows juiced-up players to achieve phony records that overshadow authentic accomplishments (Staudohar. 2005).” All players work hard everyday, but the ones who are taking steroids to get ahead faster are just cheating themselves. Although, there could be a brighter side to steroid use. If a player is taking steroids to become a power hitter, they could be put into the hall of fame. Power hitters who take steroids are usually at the top for home runs. Steroids could also give a player energy. Therefore helping them through long games and allowing them to play longer without being drained of energy. For an athlete to save their career, they should find help to stop the drug abuse.
For one, steroids should not so easy to get ahold of. Secondly, there needs to be more drug testing. Maybe they should try weekly or monthly drug test. That could possibly scare the players into staying clean. However, “the effectiveness of testing has been questioned as well. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, there were only two confirmed positive drug tests. For some observers, these low numbers confirmed that athletes had become very successful in circumventing drug tests. Some athletes hide and submit false urine samples. Many use drugs as a training aid between competitions, then stop taking them long enough to test “clean” at the Olympics themselves. Some athletes are turning to substances that occur naturally in the human body, making detection of cheating even more difficult if not impossible (Dudley. 2001).” If the player has already stopped the use but feels depressed or is in pain, they could try other medications for the depression and muscle pain and/or joint pain. There has to be at least one effective way to help end the use of steroids. However, getting ahold of steroids is easier than it should be. Monthly/weekly drug testing could be a good idea, but there are still steroids out there that do not show up in a urine sample. Teams should find new trainers who know the effects steroids have and will not put the players career in danger. Regardless, someone or something needs to
stop the use of steroids. Steroids, as well as many other performance-enhancing drugs, need to be harder to get. Steroids should only be used for medical reasons and not for better performance. I cannot seem to understand why athletes would take any kind of drug without medical advice or take any drug with so many hazardous side effects. There are reasons why people do what they do, but after researching performance enhancing drugs, I would not think of any reason to use such a drug with so many ill side effects. In my opinion, if you do not have the natural ability and have to rely on a performance-enhancing type of drug, you should not be playing. Drug testing would be the best idea, but it is still not 100% on results quite yet. Hopefully soon they will get drug test that will be able to pick up all types of performance-enhancing drugs. Steroids will continue to be a big issue in the sports industry. These types of drugs should not be allowed because it gives the player a greater advantage over other players who are playing with their natural ability. Many players will take steroids to help them play better. This issue could be solved if steroids were not so easy to get ahold of. As a final point, steroids will continue to be an issue in baseball until someone decides to step up and stop it.
In American high schools across the country, many people buy, sell, and use drugs. In addition, these people influence everyone around them. On these campuses, some of the people influenced by this illegal activity are sports players. One of the sports most affected is baseball. Doping in baseball is wrong because it ruins baseball's reputation, it negatively influences the athlete's health, and the drugs are bad for young people who hold up athletes as role models.
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.
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 have become prevalent in baseball, with more players getting involved with them. Although they entered the game through trainer Curtis Wenzlaff in 1992, they have become a big part of the Major League today in 2014. However, players and the game's image suffer when they become caught up in steroids. Some of the best players to ever play the game, including Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire, have been caught up in steroids. These players are supposed to be role models for younger kids, yet when they see their idols using steroids, they are tempted to use them as well.
Professional athletes, throughout history, have been exalted for their outstanding abilities and achievements in sports. Unfortunately, many athletes have turned to anabolic steroids in order to give them an edge, a boost their athletic performance. Starting with the 1954 World Weightlifting Championships, where the Soviets unexpectedly dominated their lifting classes with the use of steroids, it has become increasingly popular among athletes to cheat with the help of this drug. Although the appeal to steroid use is evident when observing how it increases someone’s athletic abilities, many users fail to consider the detrimental side effects of the drug. Also, in my opinion, athletes should be expected to perform based upon their natural abilities, opposed to abilities enhanced by anabolic steroids. Ultimately, anabolic steroids should continue to be illegal in professional sports due to their major health risks and the unfair advantage they serve players.
We face the issue that players are not motivated to try hard, have an alternative option that puts a reoccurring substance in their body. Young adolescents should focus more on getting bodies into shape and ready for the sport they are pursuing. While upcoming stars should be making a name for them showing that without drugs can play my best and be the best too. But performance enhancing drugs have played a major role in sports, especially baseball. The usage of the drug has players performing over the top of others who work equally and mentally as hard. Enacting the new system will catch the players who are cheating in game of baseball with a blood test that checks if a player is enhancing their performance in the...
Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, and Baseball are American icons of summer. Baseball is also known as America’s favorite pastime. Many kids start playing baseball in the streets, school-yard, or on formed T-Ball and Little Leagues as young as 3 or 4 years old and will play well into adulthood. Satchel Paige was the oldest Major League Baseball (MLB) player. He retired at the age of 59 (Satchel, n.d.).
Steroids are ruining sports in the United States, and they are also going to ruin future athletes if the United States does not put a stop to it. Many young athletes in the United States are taking performance enhancing drugs because they see that professional athletes are doing it and getting results. These teenagers are using steroids because they want to look muscular and fit, but they are not aware of the negative effects steroids have on their bodies. Young athletes do not know that they are not only risking their careers but also their bodies. Steroids may make a person look muscular and fit, but at the same time, it is ruining their heart. Steroids also cause people to act differently and do foolish things like using other drugs. Parents can prevent steroid use by teaching their children about it at a young age and staying involved in their children’s sport lives. Steroids have ruined professional careers. They ruined Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds’ careers and almost ruined Alex Rodriguez’s career. Professional athletes use steroids to improve their performance which is cheating. The game is not fair if someone is performing better by using drugs, and everybody should be performing with what they got. There are many different ways to achieve what they want in fair and healthier way. Many high school athletes are using steroids in the United States. They are not doing it under a doctor’s supervision; therefore, they are ruining their bodies without them knowing. Many of these athletes are looking at the outcome only and not what there are doing to their bodies in addition to getting stronger, muscular, and fit. All governing sport bodies in the United States need to take steroid testing seriously and give at...
Since at least the 1980’s performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) have been a major challenge in the world of Major League Baseball, and past trends indicate they will continue to pose an ongoing problem. A number of the most prominent and accomplished professional baseball players, such as Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi, Roger Clemens, are also the most famous examples of baseball players who have broken longstanding records, attracted countless numbers of fans, and allegedly have taken performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes who have been caught using steroids in order to increase and better their performance rates have been suspended, fined and traded from the teams on which they once played. Despite the punitive actions taken against them by the League and lawmakers, players continue to use performance-enhancing drugs and likely will continue to do so, because the associated athletic effects will draw more fans and bring more money to the individual player and franchise.
Steroids are unhealthy for baseball players and they are giving the game of baseball a bad reputation. Since steroids have become such a hot topic in Major League Baseball (MLB) fans have had nothing but bad things to say about the sport and its players. When sports illustrated asked some of its readers to give reaction to the steroid controversy in the MLB here is what baseball fan Howard Langsner from New York had to say 'Horrible, just horrible. We take Olympic medals away from athletes on steroids, but we're supposed to look the other way in MLB because a guy can make the ball go further? Drug testing is commonplace everywhere, and used in other sports, as the article mentioned. Baseball should be no different'. Matt Bookman of San Jose, California writes 'That's it. I'm done as a baseball fan until MLB has a comprehensive drug testing policy. I feel so naive. I really thought that the players had gotten bigger and stronger because they had learned the value of hitting the weight room and staying in shape during the off season. It breaks my heart that I won't be able to give my children the same experience I had growing up -- to go to the ballpark and feel good about your guys and cheer on your team.' The fans reaction speaks for itself but MLB should not sit back and let steroids take over a game that was at one time America?s pastime. In this paper research will be given on what exactly are anabolic steroids and how they can affect your body, testing policies, the effectiveness of steroids on players and major league baseball.
Testosterone use goes back as far as 1889. Pud Galvin, a pitcher for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys used a testosterone hormone derived from animals. The first hormones came from mostly pigs and dogs. “Even Babe Ruth, a legendary New York Yankee, tried to inject himself with extract from sheep testicles in 1925.” (Joshua Z.) The use of steroids was not common until the 1970’s. It was estimated that every team had at least six to seven players using. It was the 80’s when Anabolic steroids blew up the market. Anyone from future Hall of Famers to new up and comers were using amphetamines. The use of amphetamines as stimulants became very common and was a problem for the game which began raising suspicion. “By the 1990’s, steroids had become an epidemic.”(Joshua Z.) In a spend of three years, three players including San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds, St. Louis Cardinals Mark McGwire and Chicago Cubs Sammy Sosa hit sixty homeruns a joined seven times. Before that from 1927-1998, only Babe Ruth and Roger Maris had hit more than sixty homeruns in a season. It’s only a coincidence those three players have steroids in common.
The use of performance enhancing supplements has long played a role in athletics, especially after the utilization of drug testing was introduced during the 1972 Olympics.
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.
Many Athletes are willing to do whatever it takes to become a professional. One of the easiest ways to enhance natural ability is through performance-enhancing drugs or, PEDs. PEDs are substances used by athletes to increase their performance. The use of PEDs in athletic competition can date back to ancient Greece. Athletes use PEDs to run faster, jump higher and recover at an increased pace. Many athletes are pressured into using PEDs by coaches or managers and are not thoroughly educated the harmful health issues that can come along with taking performance-enhancing drugs. A rising issue is if performance-enhancing drugs should be allowed in professional sports. I believe that in any professional sport, the use of performance-enhancing drugs by athletes should continue to be banned because this rule will help to keep athletes from abusing these harmful drugs.