Steroids In Baseball

Steroids
Baseball, Americas past time for many decades has been tainted with the use of Anabolic Steroids. There are those who say that baseball athletes should be held responsible for the use of steroids in baseball, but in my opinion, Major League officials should be held most accountable for the reasons I will discuss.
First, we need to understand what “steroids” are and why playerschoose to use them. Anabolic steroids are a synthetic version of the male hormone testosterone (Steroids). Testosterone in its normal state promotes and boosts muscle development and growth. When it is supplemented with steroids, you have an increase of muscle mass, reduction of body fat, and enhanced endurance. It is used by athletes in an attempt to provide them with an edge on the competition.It is believed that by using a steroid in baseball it will increase a player’s chances of hitting the ball harder and farther. But more importantly, it is strongly believed that steroids gives a player the ability to attain the stamina and endurance needed to succeed over another athlete. Although the side effects can include a plethora of problems such as liver damage, cancer, acne, excessivehair growth or loss, testicular atrophy (shrinking), etc., for most players hoping to achieve the ultimate goal of fame and fortune, the benefits far outweigh the risks.
When major league officials stepped in to crack down on baseball and the steroid era, many felt that the players that were found to have taken steroids were tainted and looked at differently by officials, teammates and fans.However, players should not be held solely
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responsible as the leniency that was held by Major League Baseball should be heavily considered and MLB equally accountable.
Prior to the steroid scandal, when a player first tested positive, this resulted in only treatment. A second positive test was subject to a 15-day suspension. Only with a fifth positive test was a player subject to aone-year ban under the old plan (Steroid Rules). Once MLB began to change the rules, the penalties were dismal at best. A first positive test would result in a suspension of up to 10 days, a second positive test a 30-day ban and a third positive a 60-day penalty and a fourth positive test a one-year ban. CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowan reports, “the new standards aren't as touch as Olympicanti-doping standards. Even Minor League baseball has tougher rules.” (Steroid Rules). In my opinion when you give athletes the opportunity to gain fame and fortune as easily as baseball officials allowed them to, it is difficult to think how an athlete may not have taken advantage of such a situation. The competition level in baseball grew with more use of steroids and those that did not deterred from itwere sometimes left out of the “lime light.”
The process needed to become a professional baseball athlete is tough enough to begin with. There are numerous levels in the minor league system within an organization that an athlete, even the most talented, must continuously strive and compete for. You then couple this with a player that has taken steroids and has excelled in the game because ofthis use and the resulting outcome is other athletes jumping on the steroid band wagon as they find this is the only way to keep in competition.


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While there are those individuals that may say that an athlete has to have the will power to look beyond the use of steroids, when you throw in the lucrative possibility of the multi-million dollar contract, we can see how athlete can beeasily be influenced in the wrong
direction. And once these athletes achieve the ultimate goal of fame and fortune, they continue to strive to maintain and improve their performance and extend their careers and thus continued steroid use.
It is not arguable that those athletes that started using steroids are clearly in the wrong but we can’t dismiss the fact that Major League Baseball...