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Steroids in Baseball

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Submitted By affie64
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Jason Alvey

Major League Baseball: The Steroids Era The use of performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball is an issue that caused quite the uproar throughout the nation in the past decade. Superstars and public icons have fallen from grace after being so instrumental in the reemergence of America’s past time. Careers have been made and lost in single seasons under suspicious gains and losses in “abilities.” The United States Government has even begun to come down hard on baseball from many different angles. The main office of Major League Baseball, along with many active players, has taken steps to help prevent the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Many Americans claim to want a clean game and true records, but I am a true believer that steroids are here to stay and the public only pretends to care. Some of the biggest names and even some of the record holders in professional baseball have been accused of using various steroids to gain the competitive edge. Barry Bonds has been one of the most popular professional sports figures in this country for more than 15 years, but he is now waiting for a March court date when opening statements will be heard in his Federal perjury trial. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa, the two most instrumental players that helped the bring fans back to the stadiums after the 1994 players’ strike, will never be voted into the Hall of Fame because there is a suspicion that they used some type of performance enhancers. Roger Clemens is arguably the best pitcher to ever play the game, yet he too faces federal charges because he is accused of lying to Congress about his use of steroids. These four athletes were once considered role models, but now the public sees them as nothing more than cheaters. Many players that haven’t been called out specifically have had questionable incline and declines in both stature and performance. Ivan Rodriguez has always had the nickname “Pudge” because of his short and stout body, but suddenly lost 50 lbs between the 2003 and 2004 seasons when testing for steroids became mandatory. Bret Boone was only an average 2nd baseman until he signed with the Seattle Mariners in 2001 where he suddenly gained weight and power, hitting over 35 home runs and becoming a perennial All-Star. Then you have Jason Giambi, a former Most Valuable Player of the league, all but admit that he had taken illegal drugs to assist in his performance. Even if these players never took a single performance enhancing drug, their legacies will forever be tainted by the stigma that surrounds this era of baseball. The United States Government has even started taking an active role in the fight to clean up baseball. After Jose Conseco wrote the book Juiced, outlining his role and calling out other players for their involvement involving steroids, Congress held a hearing to attempt to get to the bottom of the situation. Senator Mitchell was asked by the commissioner of baseball to conduct an independent investigation to uncover the extent of steroid use among players. The results of this investigation showed that this form of cheating was a much more common problem than anyone expected. There was even talk of Congress regulating the steroid testing policy if Major League Baseball could not get the problem under control. Many American are in agreement with me when I say that baseball should be a clean, fair sport, but there are far better ways for our legislature to be spending time and money. Steroids have been illegal in professional baseball since the early nineties, but until 2004, there was no policy that required testing to prove none were being taken. In 2003, the Players’ Union agreed to conduct an anonymous test that would decide if mandatory testing would take place. Since more than 5% of the players, 104 to be exact, tested positive, a disciplinary program was instituted the following year. In a letter to the Government Oversight & Reform Committee on June 27, 2008, Commissioner Bud Selig said that baseball saw “a dramatic reduction in positive steroid tests in 2004. One thousand one hundred thirty three (1,133) tests were conducted in 2004. Of those, twelve were positive for steroids.”(1) The number of players testing positive have continued to drop, but some believe that because baseball still has not figured a way to test for Human Growth Hormone (HGH), we will never know if the sport is truly cleaned up. Steroids continue to be an extremely controversial topic with the media and the fans. Some want the record books to contain an asterisk next to anyone’s name that is presumed to be guilty of cheating the game, but what about those that aren’t believed to be cheaters? Until last week, Alex Rodriguez was supposed to be the golden boy that saved baseball from the black eye of steroids, but he admitted to using illegal performance enhancers from 2001-2003. I am definitely not one to condone the use of steroids, but I also believe that as long as there is a way to cheat the system, players will find it. I guess that question that we have to ask ourselves is, do we really even care? 2008 was the highest revenue producing season in the history of Major League Baseball. If you ask me, fans may talk like they want this era of baseball behind us, but they really don’t care.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Selig, Allen H. (Bud). “Letter from Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.” Letter to Government Oversight & Reform Committee, Congress, 27 June 2008. SIRS Researcher.Leading Issues, Doping in Sports. Gillette Coll. Lib., Gillette, WY. 10 February 2009 <http://sks.sirs.com>.

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