Steroids in Baseball

With all of the steroid scandal talk that has been going on in major league baseball, pressure has been put on the commissioner, owners, and players to agree on a tougher steroid testing policy.  Recently the United States Congress has become involved in the MLB steroid issue.  They along with the fans of the game have been applying pressure to rid the game of steroids and anyone who is using it.  With recent confessions in a congressional hearing by certain athletes such as Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Giambi, and Commissioner Bud Selig, the owners and players have aggreed a new tougher drug testing  policy.

Steroid Testing Policy over the past 5 years

2002

• Before 2002, Major League Baseball had no official policy on steroid use among players. As part of a collective bargaining agreement, players and owners agree to hold survey testing in 2003. If more than 5% of results from the anonymous tests are positive, formal testing and penalties will be put into place the next year.

2003

• Baseball announces after the season that 5% to 7% of test results were positive, triggering the new policy in 2004.

2004

• Each player is tested once a year in season. A first positive test results in treatment, followed by a 15-day suspension for a second positive and up to a year suspension for a fifth positive. The result is no player is suspended for steroid use.

2005

•  Baseball agrees to a new policy. Banned substances include steroids, steroid precursors, designer steroids, masking agents and diuretics. There will be one unannounced mandatory test of each player during the season. In addition, there will be testing of randomly selected players, with no maximum number. And there will be random testing during the offseason. The penalties for a positive result are, first positive, 10 days; second, 30 days; third, 60 days; fourth, one year, and all without pay.

• After Congressional hearings, players and owners agree to stiffen the penalty for steroidal usage:
• 1st positive test:  50 Games
• 2nd positive test: 100 Games
• 3rd Positive test:  Lifetime Ban, with player having the right to reinstatement after two years.
• A player will be tested during spring training physicals and at least once during the regular season, with additional random testing. Under the previous agreement, each player was tested once from the start of spring training through the end of the regular season, with additional random testing. Both the new agreement and the previous deal provided for offseason testing.

With Barry Bonds being the center of attention today in the recent steroids scandal, he is currently in pursiut of breaking one of the most historic records in all of sports (Most Career Home Runs:  755 held presently by Hank Aaron).  For those not familiar with Bonds, he started off his career not being known as a homerun hitter.  His first 10 years of his career, his season high homerun total was 42.  Five years after that season, he went on his way to hitting 73 home runs, breaking the single season homerun record, previously set by Mark McGwire at 70 homeruns in 1998. Both him and Mark McGwire are both to believed to have used steroids during their career’s, yet nothing has been proven to support these beliefs.  Barry Bonds was in the center of a scandal which involved a company named BALCO, which supplied many athletes with different forms of steroids.  There were many allegations which implicated Barry Bond’s trainer, Greg Anderson, who implied that Bond’s used steroids.

Barry Bond’s is just one athlete among many who are being accused and some even proven of steroid usage.  Yet, Barry is the only person being treated with such ferocity by the media.  This is mainly because of two reasons.  One being his personality.  Barry has always been a private individual, and not opening up to the media his entire career.  The media, has taken advantage of his exclusiveness by personal attacks on his character.  The other main reason for the attention that he is receiving is because of his success in the past few years.  His success of hitting homeruns is believed by many to be the result of steroids.  His homerun success has now placed him amongst legends such as Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.  He recently passed The Babe in career homeruns by hitting his 715th homerun.  There are many people out there who feel that Bonds homeruns shouldn’t count, even though he has never been proven for taking steroids.

http://cfratrik.edublogs.org/files/2006/06/steroids.ppt

With steroids being such a hot topic in the world of sports, certain athletes come to mind right away:

• Barry Bonds  
• Mark McGwire
• Sammy Sosa
• Jose Canseco
• Jason Giambi
• Gary Sheffield

It has never been proven that steroids help someone hit a baseball.  Although it is believed that steroids give the batter extra strength which help them hit home runs.  It definitely strengthens one’s body, and allows for quicker recovery from injury.  Steroids are illegal and are considered a form of cheating in baseball.

 With recent players being accused of steroids, former 1996 MVP winner Ken Caminiti discusses his usage of steroids during his MVP season.  In the following website, http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/0528/1387969.html, he discusses how he doesn’t regret using the illegal substances.  This is a huge blow to MLB, as it sets the wrong example for young athletes, and puts a scar on the MVP award for that season.

I am 26 years old, and teach Physical Education at an elementary school on Long Island.  I chose this proffession mainly for my passion for working with children, and also my interest in sports.  Besides teaching, I also spend the school year coaching baseball, soccer, and basketball at the high school in my district.  I am currently taking my masters class in which I was assigned to create a blog on a topic that was of interest to me.  Naturally, the controversy going on in baseball was my first choice.

Personally, I feel that taking steroids, besides being illegal, is definitely a form of cheating.  It gives the player an unfair advantage over the competition.  These athletes are setting a bad example for young individuals across our country.  Parents should take responsibility in educating their children on the dangers of these drugs.  They are ultimiately responsible for the safety of their children.  With that being said though, these athletes should take some responsibility in becoming role models, and setting good examples in their own lifes, which does effects the lives of many young fans.

In the past 10 years, the talk about steroid use among professional baseball players has increased tremendously.  With the recent homerun success of many players, such as Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, and many others, the topic of steroids has become a popular topic amongst baseball writers, players, fans, and government officials.

Baseball is known as America’s pastime.  It’s history is compared to by no other sport in our country.  Baseball players are admired by all, especially young little leaguers.  Recent accusation of steroid use have brought about major concern amongst society.  The use of steroids is extremely harmful to one’s body, and baseball players are setting a bad example for children all over.  Children see these ball players breaking records, hitting the ball further than ever, and they want to be like them.  They see how successful these players have become and may decide to use steroids themselves, which are extremely dangerous to the human body.