Anabolic Steroids are Ruining Major League Baseball Essay

In November of 2005, the Major League Baseball commissioner at the time, Bud Selig, finally got the tougher drug policy that he had been asking for. The process was expedited when Congress demanded the policy be strengthened. A failed steroid test would result in much more than merely missing a week of baseball.

Baseball is known as America’s pastime and is one of the most popular, respected sports on earth. Since the beginning of the sport, it seemingly advances with technology every year making faster and stronger players. The use of steroids became rampant and spread among players and has carried them away from the true history of the game they play. Controversy still today runs around the sport today about fines, punishments and record breaking. The past two decades of Major League Baseball have been tainted because of the use of performance enhancing drugs, also known as steroids, causing the loss of many fans and the true meaning of America’s favorite sport.

Do you see any rationalizations for the steroid use or the lack of an effective policy on its use in MLB?

Players are now tested randomly for performance-enhancing drugs. On January 10, 2013 MLB and the players union reached an agreement to add random in-season human growth hormone testing (Weber, 2014). A first failed test results in a 50 game suspension, a second is 100 games, and a third is a lifetime ban. This is real proof that the MLB truly realizes that this is a problem, because just 10 years ago they started to test the players. Ten years ago the penalty for testing positive was far less severe. For instance a player’s first offense of testing positive for performance enhancers was just a 10 day suspension that’s not even games its days, basically a slap on the wrist. The second offense of testing positive was a 30 day suspension. The third offense was a 60 day suspension, and finally the fourth failed drug test is a one year suspension (Weber, 2014). Many people criticize the testing program. They say that it is not accurate enough and very easy to dodge. Especially now with the emergence of (HGH) human growth hormone you can only get caught if you take your injection within two

If baseball’s administration thinks that steroids are honestly hurting the game so much, why the delay in finding a suitable means of testing? Players have suggested to Sports Illustrated that:

The policies and procedures for drug testing within the four major sport leagues are changing rapidly, due to the rise of players using illegal substances. Major League Baseball currently has the best drug-testing program of the major sport leagues. Many of the substances athletes are taking can only be detected through blood testing. Major League Baseball is the only league that has fully executed blood testing to detect and deter those whom are using, or wish to use, HGH and other banned substances. Not only has Major League Baseball applied blood testing at the elite level, it has also implemented it in Minor League Baseball, as well (http://sports.espn.go.com). The league has taken a dominant stance on “stamping” out all banned substances and the penalties for an athlete testing positive are the most severe of any

The abuse of steroids among players in Major League Baseball is corrupting the image of America's Pastime as well as endangering the health of those who use the illegal substances. The lack of testing and punishment for the use of illegal substances like steroids in the Major Leagues portrays a negative image to aspiring young athletes. They see their role models using steroids and becoming better athletes rather than seeing suspensions for the illegal behavior or the negative health effects.

“Going, Going, Gone, Home Run!” everyone knows what this means when an announcer says it. The game of baseball is a different sport, unlike basketball and football; you do not necessarily need strength to be dominant. So, why are steroids a big issue in baseball? Steroids, in particular, anabolic steroids, build up cellular tissue or muscle. However, they do not give you the necessary skills to play the game. I am almost certain the world’s strongest man could not hit a home run on a major league field, so why punish those who have used steroids? Steroids are not like magic and transform and average man

Baseball is America’s national pastime, but it has still faced controversy. Major League Baseball and its players have faced one huge problem, steroids. Performance enhancing drugs such as testosterone, human growth hormone, and androstenedione are all factors of the horrible period in baseball known as the “Steroid Era”. Almost all of the home run leaders, prime pitchers, and many all-stars at the time had one thing in common; they all used steroids. This still is a problem and Major League Baseball and its officials need to be stricter and tighten drug tests, and ban steroids for good.

The Olympics now have various organizations and committees delegated to testing for and eliminating the use of performance enhancing drugs. The most recent Olympic committee for the Games in Vancouver was partnered with the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, L’Institut national de la recherche scientifique — Institut Armand-Frappier, the United States Anti-Doping Agency, and LifeLabs to collect and test approximately 2450 blood and urine samples (“Anti-Doping Initiatives”). Their meticulousness and commitment was most definitely justified. Olympic athletes implicitly agree to a social contract of fair competition. Those athletes who take steroids have an unfair advantage over those who do not, and therefore these athletes are breaking this social contract.

The goal was to deter and end the use of banned substances, including anabolic steroids and other illegal drugs, and to provide for, in keeping with the overall purposes of the Program, an orderly, systematic, and cooperative resolution of any disputes that may arise concerning the existence, interpretation, or application of the policy itself. Under the policy, all players are prohibited from using, possessing, selling, facilitating the sale of, distributing, or facilitating the distribution of any Drug of Abuse and/or Steroid. Any and all drugs or substances listed under Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act are considered drugs of abuse covered by the Program. Schedule II substances are those that: 1) The drug or other substances have a high potential for abuse, 2) The drug or other substances have currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, or currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions, and 3) Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence. Players who require prescription medication can still use it with a "Therapeutic Use Exemption" granted by the

The new policy stated that players would get tested twice, an initial test, and a second follow-up test around a week later ("The Steroids Era"). The league tweaked it's policy again in 2005, with the league now calling for year round testing ("The Steroids Era"). The new reforms from 2011, added more substances to the banned list, added 600 more yearly tests, and upped the amount of offseason tests that could be performed to 375 ("The Steroids Era"). The top 200 players in the amateur draft were also eligible for testing, if a player tested positive they could remain in the draft but teams would be notified of the results ("The Steroids Era"). The MLB announced that it was enhancing their steroid testing program to scan more thoroughly in 2014. The MLB started using better drug tests on players, in 2014, in hopes that it would scare players enough to get them to stop using steroids. Once they served their suspensions would get unannounced blood and urine tests at least one time per year for the remaining time that they played in the MLB ("Steroids in

However the spotlight that steroids find themselves in are in professional sports, mainly Major League Baseball. Steroids have been an on-going issue with Major League Baseball. The MLB has been tainted in one way or another since the game began. However, now the game has been tainted with drugs that are giving some players an advantage over others. These players are also taking risks with drugs because they are constantly trying to attain a drug that does not get detected when they get drug tests. The MLB should outsource their drug testing policies to an independent organization like the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between players and the MLB. In 1994-95, the MLB suffered a strike that resulted in the cancellation of the post season. Afterwards, fans were deterred from the sport. So in 1998,

Famed writer Grantland Rice once wrote, “When the great scorer comes to mark against your name. He'll mark not won or lost but how you played the game” (World of quotes, 1). That buoyant attitude of selflessness and heart has slowly diminished throughout the course of time. Now, George Allen’s booming voice, former coach of the Washington Redskins, runs throughout head of America, “Only winners are truly alive. Winning is living. Every time you win, you’re reborn. When you lose, you die a little” (Harris, 67). It is with this frame of mind that athletes are pushed beyond the edge of reason. Although peer pressure and pressure from coaches are central reasons why one may use steroids, most users begin using in order to improve their self image or excel in sports. Ethics, integrity, and legality aside, some athletes will stop at nothing to attain “that extra edge”.

Steroids are a hot topic of debate and controversy in the world of athletes and sports. Steroids fall under the umbrella of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) and are a dark cloud that have been hovering over the sports world for a long time. In the world today, steroids are the most relevant in major league baseball. Many baseball players, such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Mark McGwire, just to name a few, have ruined their reputations because of steroids. There are repercussions for PED use in major league baseball, which have cut down on the substance abuse by players but have nowhere near eliminated the problem.