...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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...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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...hits in his career. A several minute long celebration followed Rose’s historic accomplishment. Once Rose hung up his cleats for the final time, he was the holder of several Major League Baseball records, many of which still stand today. Rose, also known as Charlie Hustle, was adored by the American population. He personified what the American dream was, starting “from a humble beginning he raised his stature in life by virtue of hard work and brute determination to succeed.” There was not a doubt in anyone’s mind that he had earned himself a place in Cooperstown,...
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...Why steroid users should be allowed into the baseball Hall of Fame? The argument is simple and it’s about time for Cooperstown to open the doors to those who have admitted to or have been accused of using performance enhancing drugs or steroids. Ending the witch hunt: Baseball voters are trying to determine whether or not to vote on players these days based on crimes that players may have or not have committed years ago. Some baseball voters have stated that they would vote for players in the steroid era but they would not however vote for anyone found guilty. It’s hard to know who did cheat and who didn’t cheat in the so called steroid era but if one were to gain entry into the sacred hall then the door will open up for others based on their merits. Saving the Hall of Fame: Baseball has always been called America’s game and the Hall of Fame for baseball enthusiast has always been a destination. In 2013 the Hall of Fame only inducted 1 person in and he had not played in over 130 years. The induction ceremony takes place in the summers and it was always a place to go and honor your favorite players and learn about ones prior to them. As a new generation of fans grow up and the players form the late 90’s and early 2000’s are not in the hall fans will likely not make the trip to the place where legends are remembered. The Hall of Fame is a place to honor the greatest that have ever played the game. It is based on what a player does on the field. People agree that the...
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...PEDS standing for Performance Enhancing drugs, most commonly referred to as steroids. The question is though how do these PED’s effect baseball? Why do people feel the need to take steroids in baseball? I’ll tell you why it helps you in everything you do on the diamond, from running to throwing and to hitting it helps you achieve things you never saw possible as a normal person. It help you out to a point that it is just unfair and not fit for baseball. Steroids have changed baseball as we know it and not in a good way. They have made the Major League of Baseball or also known as the MLB look a question such as, Are PED users able to make it into the Hall of Fame? What is the appropriate consequence for these players getting caught? And is...
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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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...OUTLINE RESEARCH PAPER Can Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED) actually be positive and beneficial for Major League Baseball? “As the likes of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez saw their usage exposed, the sport fought back with tougher drug testing and after the 2005 season produced a program punitive enough to minimize the game's doping culture.” (Braun's test result gives MLB major jolt; With MVP under cloud, steroid era is revisited Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY), "Probably the biggest sentence to which he was subjected is the impact on whether he'll be a lock for the Hall of Fame and the stigma that is now attached to his name and his records."(Barry Bonds is sentenced in enduring BALCO saga; No end in sight to BALCO's reach by: Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY). Quotes like these could have been seen all over newspapers and magazines all throughout the past decade. Yes, these athletes did use Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED), but a debate has raged on about just how right are we to scrutinize them for those actions and just how inappropriate their actions were? With baseball professionals on both sides arguing how much of an impact they really had on the game. More so, I'd like to ask the question of whether what they had done was actually in a way good for baseball, and whether Performance Enhancing Drugs should even be banned from baseball? Which, I believe they shouldn’t be for numerous reasons. In order to understand just how “not as...
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...hard contact with a baseball, can throw a ball extremely hard, and some of them can even steal up to 40 bases along with those home runs. Oh, they also all served penalties for using performance enhancing drugs, or P.E.D.s for short. Five of those players mentioned either broke a record or have achieved an accomplishment in baseball that only a select few have accomplished. They would all for sure be first ballot Hall of Famers if it wasn’t for one little scratch mark on their resume that negates...
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...It has been a constant debate recently whether steroids and performance enhances should be allowed in sports today. This topic usually occurs in baseball but in recent discoveries, many football players are condemned for doping. Vast names in sports such as: Ray Lewis, Alex Rodriguez, and Christian Laettner were all suspended by their respected leagues for doping. Steroids should be banned in professional sports today because they give athletes unfair advantages, they’re horrible to the athletes’ body, and there can be severe side effects. There are copious types of steroids that athletes use. “The most common type of steroids that athletes use are anabolic steroids, or synthetic versions of the male hormone, testosterone” (Quinn). This particular...
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...Cheaters and the Hall of Fame Geoffrey Barndt COM/170 April 7, 2014 Dr. Hancock Cheaters and the Hall of Fame Should there be a difference in punishment between the use of performance enhancing drugs and gambling in the sport of baseball. In baseballs long and great history there has been two scandals that have given baseball a black eye. One being the story of Pete Rose, and the other being the story of Barry Bonds.” After a Hall of Fame worthy career, rumors began to circulate that Pete Rose manger of the Cincinnati Reds was gambling on baseball”. (Allen 2012) After an investigation Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life. Even though he never admitted to betting on baseball games. In the late 1990s two men Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa captured the nation’s attention when they both surpassed Rodger Maris record for the most home runs in a single season. Not even three years later Barry Bonds surpassed both men when he hit 73 home runs in a season. “The high-octane offense that Major League clubs were delivering, beginning in the late 1990s, made for great sports theater. But as allegations and revelations of performance-enhancing drug use began to surface, the public began to realize it was just that -- theater, fiction, cheating. The record books had been rewritten, but also tainted”. (Allen 2012) The league began a crackdown on drug use. In 2004 the story broke that during the investigation of a nutritional supplement company called BALCO one player admitted...
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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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...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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...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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...Due to Major League Baseball’s so called “Steroid Era,” it was necessary for congress to step in and take control of the situation. Before congress did their investigation, Major League Baseball did not have strict enough rules to punish players who tested positive with any kind of steroid. Also before congress took control of the situation, there was a variety of drugs that players could use during that time that Major League Baseball had not banned or were not considered a “performance enhancing drug”. Even though the so called “Steroid Era” brought fans back to the game of baseball after the lockout in 1994, it not only damaged the reputation of baseball but it also damaged the purity of the sport. Not only did it affect baseball’s reputation and purity of the game, it also affected the fans who dreamt of playing in Major League Baseball. Now we will focus the main reasons why congress took control of the steroid issue that surrounded Major League Baseball. First, Major League Baseball along with Congress noticed the issue of steroids due to Jose Canseco, an ex-major leaguer, who came clean about the steroid issue in his book titled Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ’Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big. In this book, Canseco explained how he taught a variety of players how to inject steroids and how it would benefit them in the future. Throughout his book, Canseco provided details as to the players, who later broke many records; that he taught how to use steroids. For example...
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...Have you ever wondered what happens to athletes who are caught using steroids? It makes the news, the athlete is criticized by the world, but what punishments do they actually receive? Rafael Palmeiro, a baseball great, was given a ten-day suspension after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. What kind of example are we setting for our young athletes? Pete Rose made a mistake by gambling on baseball and he was given a lifetime suspension and a ban from the baseball Hall of Fame (Jordan, 2006). This gives the impression that steroid use is not necessarily a big deal. Who cares about a ten-day suspension? You still get to continue playing with your team and still have an opportunity to “earn” your way into the Hall of Fame. We need to have stronger punishments for athletes caught using performance-enhancing drugs. These drugs are bad for the body, for the team, and for the family. Performance-enhancing drug use has extreme negative effects on the body. Many common side effects and psychological symptoms occur from their use. Just a few of the side effects include: liver tumors, kidney tumors, jaundice, fluid retention, hypertension, increases in LDL (bad cholesterol), decreases in HDL (good cholesterol), severe acne, trembling, enlarged facial bones, nausea, vomiting, bone pain, and muscle cramps. Psychological effects include, but are not limited to, depression, irritability, inability to concentrate, forgetfulness, lack of interest or energy for everyday life, aggressiveness...
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