Baseball and Steroids

Baseball and Steroids:

The Impact on the Sport

Todd Graham

Composition 101, Section 1

Professor Jamkhandi

November 8, 2005

Baseball and Steroids:

The Impact on the Sport

Nowadays, several baseball players have been using steroids to enhance their muscles and their performance. Greats like Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gherig didn’t need enhancement drugs to break records. They were great without the needles whereas today, steroids seem to be almost a necessity for some players. Because of steroids, records have been broken multiple times in the past 15 years. College athletes are feeling pressured into breaking NCAA rules and using the drugs in order to make it to the show. The use of steroids makes Major League Baseball have a bad reputation.

Broken Records in the Past 15 Years

Can Be Blamed on Steroids

As a result of steroid use, the sport’s pace has changed greatly. More homeruns have been hit and more records have been broken. Barry Bonds, Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa are three of the players involved in one of the most celebrated record chases: the single season homerun champ. But it’s no coincidence that these same three are among the many that are under review for steroid abuse (Jenkins, 2005).

To fans, statistics are a source of endless barstool arguments and time-consuming fantasy league games. Stats also are important to players because they play a major role in determining salaries. So perhaps it's not surprising that 35% of players surveyed said if a player is found to be using steroids, his records should be stripped (Jenkins, 2005).

Former Padres third baseman Ken Caminiti admitted using them during his 1996 MVP season and put the number of fellow juicers at 50 percent. Yankees slugger Jason Giambi reportedly testified to a federal grand jury that he injected steroids along with human growth hormone (Zeigler, 2005).

Mark McGuire was on steroids when he broke the single season homerun record of Roger Maris in 1998. However, the drug that he was taking was not banned from the league at the time, but it is now. Obviously, the Major League Baseball realized that he had an unfair advantage. Fans are bitter about McGuire’s record even though the substance was not illegal at the time. Therefore, Commissioner Bud Selig must realize fans are not going to be pleased if records of Hall of Fame greats continue to be broken by cheaters.

Young Athletes Pressured

To Take Steroids

The way the Commissioner has been handling the situation is affecting more than just baseball at the professional level. College athletes are being left with no other choice than to feel that they must begin using steroids. They feel that this is their only chance to make it to the pros.

Richard Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, states:

I think if you go back, the year after Mark McGwire set the home run record and said that he was using [androstenedione], the sales went up like, I don't know, a huge number -- 20 times -- the next year. And a lot of these were high school kids. That's a very alarming statistic (Jacobs, 2005).

With college athletes using the muscle enhancers, it only begins a chain reaction to the high school level athletes. Tom Davis, committee chairman in the attorney general’s office said, “More than just the game's reputation is at risk. I am concerned about the message being sent to 500,000 steroid users in high schools” (Porteus, 2005).

Those athletes looking to play baseball at the college level will have to start using steroids in high school in order to stay caught up with everyone. The use of steroids in Major League Baseball is hurting our society.

Major League Baseball Gaining

A Bad Reputation

Major League Baseball is already being looked down upon by many of the fans. With all of the media coverage on illegal substance use in Major League Baseball, society at large is beginning to develop a negative feeling toward the league.

Donald Hooton,