Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Baseball: Does Anyone Care?

Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Baseball: Does anyone care?

Patrick Page

Axia College of University of Phoenix

COM 120 Effective Persuasive Writing

Instructor: Timothy Thompson

April 19, 2007

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“It’s no secret what’s going on in baseball, at least half the guys are using steroids. They talk about it. They joke about it with each other. The guys who want to protect themselves or their image by lying have that right. Me? I’m at the point in my career where I’ve done just about every bad thing you can do. I try to walk with my head up. I don’t have to hold my tongue…” (Sports Illustrated, June 2002, as told by Ken Caminiti. p.36).

This statement by former Major League Baseball player, Ken Caminiti, was what in effect started the media frenzy into performance-enhancing drug abuse in professional sports. The whispers started a few years earlier in baseball when a bottle of nutritional supplement was seen in slugger Mark McGwire’s locker. The supplement contained Androstendione, a prohormone, or a compound which converts into another substance once ingested. In this case, the compound converts to Testosterone. At the time, baseball did not have a ban on any performance enhancers including amphetamines, which had been in use in both professional baseball and football since the 1940’s. McGwire went on to break a long standing record for most homeruns in a season (since broken by Barry Bonds whom we will discuss in a moment). Did the supplement have anything to do with breaking the record? Possibly, but do we really care?

Major League Baseball’s revenue and attendance were definitely in a slump prior to McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s chase for the record. Baseball had dug a huge hole with its fan base by going on strike and even cancelling the World Series.

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This was the final straw for many fans who had given up on baseball due to the excessive displays of greed by both the players and the owners for several years. The homerun chase created an excitement not seen in years and the fans returned in drives to watch the two sluggers’ pursuit of decades-old record.

McGwire retired shortly after and Sports Illustrated then broke the interview with Caminiti which reignited the media storm on performance-enhancers. Again, baseball did nothing to institute a comprehensive testing policy for drug abuse. Enter the famous BALCO scandal in 2003: Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds were among the list of several high profile athletes implicated by a United States grand jury of using anabolic steroids. Giambi testified that he used two undetectable steroids known respectively as “the cream” and “the clear” both of which he received from personal trainer Greg Anderson during the 2003 season. Bonds, claimed he had no knowledge that the same substances provided to him by the same trainer, were anything but a nutritional supplement and a pain reliever for arthritis. Keep in mind that despite the cries of cheating and foul play, none of these substances were banned by Major League Baseball at the time.

Congress has since forced baseball into adopting a policy which bans all of the aforementioned substances but has very little bite to go along with its bark. There have been a few players caught since the policy has been in effect but not as many as you would think based on Mr. Caminiti’s claim of “half” of all players being offenders.

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Did all this media attention hurt baseball? Not in the least. In fact, the game is more popular than ever. This is mainly due to increased run production and an increase in the number of home runs being hit. Are steroids to blame for the increases? Most would say not. Training methods and nutrition are a big part of athletes conditioning which factors into the increase. Ballpark size reduction and expansion of the strike zone are other factors which surely contribute.

So why do athletes use performance-enhancing drugs? Athletes have been trying to gain an edge as far back as the original Olympic Games in ancient Greece. They ingested various herbs and foods with the hopes of improving performance. In fact, early attempts to increase Testosterone were documented in 776 BC by Olympic athletes (Tyrrell, 2004). The use