...Major League Baseball & Steroids (From 1988 Until ????) By: Joseph Fripp Being an advocate fan of Pro Football and watching Pro Baseball only during their playoffs. Mainly because their season is so long and drawn out. I found it to be rather interesting that one of the four Pro Sport Leagues in America had a very real and serious problem with some of the players in the League using steroids or performance enhancements. I also find it hard to believe that the League commissioner and team owners didn’t know that the league had a drug problem. Now say what you want but the commissioner of Pro Baseball had to have had an idea that something bad was going on within the league by the early 1990’s. Rumors had begun to leak out of many pro players using some form of steroids. Jose Consaco was the first player (to my knowledge) to come out and admit to his use of the drug by way of writing a book. He even went so far as to name, names of certain players he knew was using the drug. Once the story broke many was quick to discredit the book and what Mr. Consaco stated about the using of steroids in Pro Baseball. The non-believers quickly stated that he didn’t have any real facts, no evidence to show or support anyone using the drug and just his statements to say otherwise. So far nearly over a decade numerous pro players continued using the drug. Gaining an unfair advantage over other pro players and making the playing field unleveled. Players like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire...
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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. ...
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...Baseball Players and Using Performance Enhancing Drugs In the recent years the use of steroids in professional sports has become widespread, and major league baseball is more than any other. This paper will discuss using performance enhancing drugs will not get players into the Hall of Fame. Players use performance enhancing drugs to gain a competitive advantage over other teams and players. The definition of cheating is violating rules or restrictions to gain an advantage. It’s plain and simple and is a form of cheating. Major league players who got in the hall of fame in the past used their pure natural talent. The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to recognize outstanding natural talent in the sport of Baseball. Look at our beloved long time baseball legends, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and many more. How would they feel to see professional baseball players cheat their way in and make it easy on themselves? Baseball meant so much to them and to see future players disrespect our baseball legends and allow them to go to Cooperstown, would be awful to past and present players. Baseball fans know players want to give it all and ultimately make it to the World Series and achieve other outstanding goals, but taking illegal drugs is taking it too far. This leads into the major league baseball punishments for using performance enhancing drugs. The major league baseball has punishments for players who use steroids and performance enhancing drugs. First...
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...Steroids in Baseball The first example of unethical information that the author uses in this article is the absence of a good numerical estimate of the prevalence of steroid use. There was never any quantitative evidence derived from the interviews and qualitative information that was collected. The New York Times editorial just ran with this article without doing some research of their own and essentially threw gasoline on the fire. Still to this day, Sports Illustrated will not reveal its methods for the gathering of their information. The second example of unethical information that the author uses in this article is SI mentions two types of health risks associated with steroid use: injury and impaired body functions. The evidence of these risks comes primarily from either personal stories of specific players, interviews with doctors who specialize in sports medicine, informal references to research findings, and league statistics showing an increase in time and money spent on disability. With SI specifically choosing the players to interview, this could be considered as bias sampling. They chose the players that were already suspected of steroid use. SI cites about how damaging steroid use is, but most of the article is devoted to the informal information and doesn’t convey a good indication of how widespread these problems likely will be, given the usual dosages taken by ballplayers. The league statistics given is not very convincing since the information does...
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...Baseball has long been known as America’s pastime. It is a game that is full of history, from being the first sport to break the color barrier to helping a city recover after the tragedy of September 11th, 2001. However, part of baseball’s history would rather be forgotten by some. For example, the steroid era which was a time when many players used steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs to gain a competitive advantage over other players. Steroids affected players greatly because it helped them become bigger, faster, and stronger which allowed them to hit more home runs and stay healthier throughout the long, grueling season. Erickson, an orthopedic surgeon, claims that there is significant evidence to prove that steroids had an effect...
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...Alan Bone ENGL 1020 2B The Steroid Era in Baseball Major league baseball was founded in 1869 and has gone through several different eras in its history. There was the Dead Ball Era, which started in 1869 and ended when Babe Ruth became a ball player in 1919 and now the Steroid Era, which ran from 1992 thru 2006 (Vassalo). The Steroid Era has forever scarred the game and something needs to be done to restore it to its glory days. The MLBPA should agree to impose stricter sanctions on steroid users because the current penalties are too lenient, steroids have altered the game and stiffer penalties would deter players from using. The MLBPA should agree to impose stricter sanctions on steroids users because the current penalties are too lenient. From 2002-2004 baseball did not suspend players for a first-time steroid offense. They instead would offer the player counseling. Only after a player was caught again, was he suspended. When Senator Joseph Biden was told “the current testing policy does not suspend first time offenders-instead they get counseling,” he said, “it’s a joke, it’s a real joke” (Purchia). How could anyone expect anything to get done with a policy that lenient? The following year the MLBPA decided to try and make the steroid policy a little bit stricter. The MLBPA should agree to impose stricter sanctions on steroids users because the current penalties are too lenient. At the beginning of the 2005 season, baseball changed its penalties for positive...
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...Steroids have been part of baseball history for a long time and it’s benefited athletes who resort to using it without getting caught. It’s helped the game develop into the game we see today, with players breaking home run records and pitchers pitching Cy Young worthy numbers. Steroids have caused a rift between who should or shouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame because it helped them get a competitive boost with the use of an injection or cream, while others played naturally and legally. While I believe that steroids have its advantages in athletes, it is just another way athletes can gain a competitive boost. If steroids were to be legalized, all athletes would have the chance to compete at the same level, but in a much higher and competitive environment. The stadiums would be more electric and games would be more exciting for the fans to enjoy....
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...“A cloud hangs over baseball. It's a cloud called drugs and it's permeated our game” (Ueberroth). This idea of a cloud hanging over baseball and how drugs are permeated the game is how PEDs have spread through the MLB and ruined the league. The prospects see these great major leaguers using these drugs and look up to them, therefore start to take drugs. Teenagers these days are looking up to their favorite major league players, yet most of them are using performance enhancing drugs. If we find out that one of our favorite players are using these, we should really focus on the negative outcome of their actions. Lord of the Flies is a great example of what MLB players will do to conceal their drug usage. For example, Jack tried so hard to stay...
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...Steroids Have Changed Baseball Suzanne Dennis South University Steroids Have Changed Baseball Today in the United States kids, teens, and adults watch and play in the sport of baseball. It is probably the number one sport looked upon and what is happening to it is a bit discouraging. Players have started "cheating" by using steroids to help them play stronger and better because they are in league where you have to be the best at what you do to play. The use, distribution and testing policy of steroids in baseball has long been a worry for those involved in our national pastime, and the fans and those involved in baseball at any level deserve a resolution. How exactly do the ethics just drift away? The conversion into the major league is a conversion from game to business and once the players enter into the pros everything changes. Major League Baseball has become a giant business. How can you see it otherwise? Steroids in baseball have changed dramatically over the past ten years and a major factor impacting the changes may be players' use of performance enhancing drugs. Players need to realize that they are cheating and should be held accountable. In less than four years Babe Ruth's single season record of 60 home runs has been broken by Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds (Hacohen, 2012). Steroids are drugs commonly classified as anabolic, androgenic and corticosteroids. Anabolic steroids are used by athletes to bulk up and improve their performance....
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...The steroid era created a great deal of change in baseball. Jayson Stark’s article “Bud Selig: 'Maybe I should have said more' about steroids” discusses Bud Selig’s feelings currently about the steroid era. Former Commissioner Selig said the result of the steroid era was that Major League Baseball ended up with the best drug testing in sports (Stark 1). The drug policy that is in place in Major League Baseball now didn’t get put in place overnight. There was no reason for steroid era players to be afraid of getting caught with steroids because the consequences would be minor at worst. Now there is a great deal of consequence if you are caught using performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. The game is believed to be as “clean” as...
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...The players with the most home runs, most Cy-Young awards won, and the most career grand slams are all not in the Baseball Hall of Fame because they used steroids. Steroids are a type of drug that can make a person bigger, stronger, and shorten the time it takes to recover from injuries (“A Brief History of"). Professional athletes find these properties beneficial which has lead to controversy in most major sports with no sport being affected more than baseball. Steroid users in Major League Baseball attracted more fans than ever, so they turned a blind eye to them, but when fans figured out that players were cheating the MLB treated the players that saved the sport as disgraces. The MLB says steroids have hurt the integrity of the sport but...
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...How much are “The Salem Witch Trail” and “The Baseball Steroid Scandal” are alike? The author of “The Crucible” is Author Miller. The similarities of these stories are people die, lives are ruined, people are accused, and causes disrespect to families. The Crucible was the first huge huisache. People in Salem got accused and some confessed even though it wasn’t true (Miller). In the story, Hale states, “you have confessed yourself to witchcraft, and that speaks with to come to Heaven side. And we will bless you, Tituba” (1058) Tituba was pressured to confess by Hale and Parris (Miller). Over half of the town was accused by the end of the story. The steroid scandal in base ball started way before it became a huge problem. It started...
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...Does Steroids Provide An Unfair Advantage In Baseball or Does It Even The Playing Field? Baseball has been an American pastime for centuries and will be for centuries to come. Adults have been taking their children to baseball games since the Major Leagues first came about in the late 1800s. From the Philadelphia Phillies' great Astrodome to their current Citizens Bank Park or the Atlanta Braves' Fulton County Stadium to their more modern Turner Field baseball has been loved in America. Although the game is as old as it is, baseball has not changed even though the players continue to get better and better. Many fans first take is the use of steroids in baseball. But did steroids really help Barry Bonds become home run king? Because Hank Aaron had the record generations before and he reportedly never injected steroids. Every year it seems like a new player gets brought into the league that is going to be faster, stronger, and an overall better player; except the ones that have the records broken that is. Although steroids are supposed to make athletes bigger, faster, and stronger,; are steroids really making athlete's statistics better or simply bridging the gap between decent athletes and great ones? There are many aspects in hitting a baseball that coaches teach athletes at a young age. Seeing the ball well, swinging with your hips and not just your arms, being disciplined and not swinging at a ball out of the strike zone, these are all examples of what it takes to be a good...
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...According to ESPN statistics, in the 2001 Major League Baseball Season, Barry Bonds sets a MLB single season record with 73 home runs. ESPN stated it was a time period when steroids were common and a part of the game of baseball. A time where players such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds recorded hitting statistics that were previously unachievable in professional baseball. If you do not know who they were, these players were known for their power, they were known for their home runs. These kind of players do just randomly appear out of nowhere, they trained their entire lives to get to this point, they deserve it, or do they? These kind of players showed everyone who loved the game of baseball that even though their numbers were...
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...Steroid Use in Major League Baseball Student Name Course Name Instructor Date Steroid Use in Major League Baseball Thesis: Steroid use is prevalent in major league baseball. Players choose to use steroids despite steroids being banned, the effects steroids have on their bodies, and the impact steroids have on their careers and reputation. I. Steroid use is banned in major league baseball. A. Banned substances enhance players’ performance. 1. Batted-ball speed increases when a player takes steroids. 2. Home-run production increases with steroid usage. B. Major league baseball policies ban the use of several substances by players. 1. The league and the players’ union have strict policies against the use of steroids. 2. The league conducts regular testing to ensure players are drug free. 3. Penalties result from steroid use. II. The body is seriously affected by steroid use. A. Several negative physical effects exist to the body. 1. Steroid use affects natural hormone production. 2. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other cardiovascular problems are physical side effects. 3. Steroids cause liver problems. B. Psychological problems exist due to steroid use. 1. Aggressive or enraged behavior has been reported as a side effect. 2. Addiction has been reported also as a side effect. III. The steroid scandal has negatively impacted players’ careers and reputation. A. Players’...
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