Steriods in baseball

Essay by mustangmanUniversity, Bachelor's May 2008

download word file, 7 pages 5.0

The sport once known as “America’s Past Time” is now known for its “steroid era”. Over the past year, the MLB has come under intense scrutiny over the recent allocations of its players admitting to or being accused of taking and using steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. It has been said that some 70% of players in the MLB have used steroids “Jenkins USA Today”. As a fan of the game I can see first hand what the use of performance enhancing drugs is doing to the game. I think we need to stop celebrating these players’ accomplishments.

Over the past couple of years, a dark cloud has been looming over the reputation of Major League Baseball. The image of steroid use among players seemed to be increasing daily this winter. First, the revelation by MLB came that 5-7 percent of the players tested had a positive result AFTER the new policy was announced (Starr).

What were the percentages before? As if this wasn't bad enough, the nutrition company BALCO is now under investigation for distribution of steroids. One witness called to testify was baseball's biggest star, Barry Bonds, a client of BALCO since the winter of 2000. Since becoming a BALCO client, much has changed for Bonds. He gained 20 pounds of muscle, and his performance began to soar. He jumped from 46 home runs to 73 home runs at age 36 from 2000 to 2001. He has been in contention for the MVP every since 2000, and won in 2000, 2001, and 2002 at the ages of 36, 37, and 38. According to Stats Inc., he had never hit a home run over 450 feet before 2000, whereas he has now accomplished it 21 times. His involvement with BALCO and his vast improvement has cast a shadow...