It's Time for Mandatory Drug Testing in Major League Baseball
Imagine a drug that would turn anyone from a slim, slender, frail being to a masculine, bodybuilding physique, increasing strength and endurance to help boost performance level in any sport. Without knowing the side effects would you take this drug? This drug known as an anabolic androgenic steroid has been used by many professional athletes to help improve their performance level. Anabolic androgenic steroids are a synthetic derivative of the male hormone testosterone used to build muscle mass. The anabolic meaning muscle-building, effects help the body retain protein and the androgenic or masculinizing effects cause an increase in muscle mass and aggressiveness ("Steroids"). In the past couple of years steroid use in professional baseball has seen a dramatic increase. Anabolic steroids has forever changed the game of professional baseball, influencing players to take them to increase their playing potential but also destroying the bodies of the athletes; therefore, a mandatory drug test before every game should be enforced to keep this problem from rising.
In the 1990's steroids had become a prominent issue. Professional baseball players were abusing steroids without knowing the harmful side effects. Steroids could cause serious health problem such as liver damage, cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, and blood clots. Other minor side effects include increased risk of ligament and tendon injuries, aching joints, muscle cramps, sleep problems, and severe acne ("Anabolic Steroids and Sports"). Recent studies from 1989 to 1998 have shown the number of players on the disabled list in the MLB to have increased by thirty-one percent, and a thirteen percent increase in the average stay on the disabled list. The...
...themselves. Baseball use to be a game full of talent and skill, now it is all changing due to steroid use.
"Anabolic Steroids and Sports: Winning at any Cost." Department of Health. New York State Health Department, Oct. 2008. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Carise, Denise. "Baseball and Steroids: What's the Big Deal." Huff Post. 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.
Lavine, Joshua. "Juicin' In the Majors; A History of Steroids in Baseball." NYULocal. 18 Feb. 2013. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
"Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports Fast Facts." CNN. 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
"Steroids: Just the Facts." Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014
"Steroid Suspension." Baseball Almanac. n.d. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
Torre, Joe and Verducci, Tom."The Man Who Warned Baseball About Steroids." Time Entertainment. Time incorporated, 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 7 Feb. 2014
Performance Enhancing Drug Usage: The NFL and MLB
27 May 2014. <http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/anabolic-steroids>. "Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 6 Mar.
Keeping Major League Baseball Steroid Free
Since the mid 1990's, the popular opinion of Major League Baseball has been that the league is in a time period known as the "Steroids Era." With now retired players recently confessing steroid usage, they have also revealed key details and new information that has given insight as to how common steroids actually are within the MLB. It is true that recently the MLB has become more strict with procedures for testing and regulations against the drugs, but steroids are still being used widespread throughout the league as players have found ways around these drug tests. Former MLB player, and admitted PED (Performance Enhancing Drugs) user, Jose Canseco stated in his book that, "up to 85% of MLB players currently playing today are using performance enhancing drugs" (Oconnor). Steroid use is not only cheating according to the rules created by the MLB, they also create many other problems.
Steroids Effects on People's lives
All about Anabolic Steroids - Sustanon, Dianabol, Winstrol, Deca Durabolin. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. "Historical Timeline - Sports and Drugs - ProCon.org."
The Effect of Steriods in Major League Baseball
The past two decades of Major League Baseball have been tainted because of the use of performance enhancing drugs, also known as steroids, causing the loss of many fans and the true meaning of America's favorite sport. In the early 80's many professional players began to discover steroids, but Major League Baseball had not. As more and more cases of these drugs came about the most serious was that of Mark McGwire who was racing Sammy Sosa to try and break Roger Maris's single season homerun record ("The Steroids Era "). McGwire admitted to using steroids just before he broke the record hitting 70 homeruns in one season. Later, Sosa was also found to have been using steroids during this period.
Steroids in Baseball
players feel like they need to use them to stay competitive. Steroids help increase muscle mass and help athletes train harder and faster. This results in better play on the field. Most steroid users in the MLB (Major League Baseball) are pitchers and homerun hitters. Steroids need to be legalized in Major League Baseball to bring more excitement into the game so that more people will watch, it will level the playing field for all the players, it will keep athletes healthy during the long season, and it will be more efficient since the consequences for using the substance does not keep players from using them.
A Proposal for Major League Baseball
Home Run Rates in 1998 and 2012 | FanGraphs Baseball. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. "Performance Enhancing Drugs in Sports Fast Facts."
Steroids in Professional Sports
Testosterone naturally triggers the maturing of the male reproductive system in puberty, which includes growth of body hair and the deepening of the voice. The hormone helps the body retain proteins, which aids in the development of muscles ("Anabolic"). "Although there are many types of steroids with varying degrees of anabolic and androgenic properties, it's the anabolic property of steroids that lures athletes," says Dr. Wadler. "They take them to primarily increase muscle mass and strength"("Anabolic"). Basically, a steroid just makes the muscles grow bigger faster than conventional training does.
Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sports
When people think of sports, people might wonder if the greatest people in sports used performance-enhancing drugs. Steroids build mass and strength and increase tissue to boost endurance (Szumski 11). Athletes use drugs in sports to build mass and strengthen a person's bones, increase oxygen intake, work tissues, help pain, stimulate a persons body, reduce a person weight, and to hide the fact that a person is using other drugs (Szumski 12). Things that are considered steroids or an illegal body building drugs are, Anabolic Steroids, Beta-2 agonists, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) , luteinizing hormone (LH), Human Growth Hormone (HGH), Insulin-like growth factors, and insulin (Szumski 13). There are also many types of Anabolic steroids, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, androstenedione, dehydroean drosterone, clostebol, and nandrolone (Szumski 13).
Steroids Effects on baseball and the Players
N.p.. Web. 7 Mar 2014. . Olson, George. "STEROIDS IN BASEBALL."
PED Use In Baseball
Webb, Topher. "Should Steroids be Allowed in the MLB?." dailyutahchronical. The Daily Utah Chronical, July 15, 2013. Web. 9 May.
More about It's Time for Mandatory Drug Testing in Major League Baseball