Why the Use of Steroids is Bad for Baseball

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Why the Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs is Bad for Major League Baseball

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The steroids scandal is alive and well in Major League Baseball today. And there seems to be no resolution in sight. After the MLB labor dispute in the mid-1990’s, major league baseball has been in the “Steroids Era”, a term coined by Bob Costas. Several well-known and respected MLB players have been accused of steroid use and a few, like Jose Canseco, even admitted it openly, crediting the use of steroids for his entire career. In fact, Conseco wrote a book called “Juiced” which documented the use and impact of steroids in baseball.

According to Canseco, up to 85% of MLB players currently playing today are using performance-enhancing drugs. Jose’s book titled “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big” names players who have used steroids.

Another player, Ken Caminiti, admitted his steroid use and detailed the damage done to his body. Ken admitted that his body had mostly stopped producing testosterone and that his testicles have gotten much smaller. As a matter of fact, his body only had 20% of the normal level of testosterone . And although Ken Caminiti clearly knew the damage it did to his body, he still confessed that he would have done it all over again if he had another chance. Ken died as a result of his steroid use.(Wikipedia)

Although baseball commissioner Bud Selig has banned its use, the MLB has certainly been stained by the use of steroids anyway. MLB stars such as Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro have been accused of using steroids and now their baseball achievements have been called into question because of it. During the MLB steroids Congressional hearing, baseball players Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi admitted during grand jury testimony to using the clear, according to reports in the San Francisco Chronicle. The Chronicle also reported that Barry Bonds also admitted using a substance that he said he had been told was flaxseed oil by his personal trainer. Five months after the Congressional hearing, Palmeiro tested positive for steroids.

A company known as BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative has been cited as a central source of steroids to athletes in all sports. BALCO was an American based nutritional supplements company run by Victor Conte.

BALCO made and marketed a steroid dubbed “The Clear”, also known as THG, or tetrahydrogestrinone, which was created by a BALCO chemist named Patrick Arnold (Washington Post)

In 2003, the company's role in a drug sports scandal was investigated by two journalists; Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada. The scandal was referred to as the BALCO Affair and focused on the distribution of the Clear to several high profile athletes in the USA as well as Europe over a period of several years by Conte, Greg Anderson (weight trainer) and Remi Korchemni (coach).

The investigation was aided by a tip from US Olympic sprint coach Trevor Graham in 2003. Graham supplied a syringe containing traces of a substance known as “the Clear”. A test to detect the Clear was developed and some 20 Olympic class athletes tested positive for the drug. Very recently, Olympic track star Marion Jones admitted using steroids as she prepared for the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney and she has now been stripped of her medals.

Later, a search of the BALCO facilities uncovered a client list with names including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Gary Sheffield and a few other MLB players.

Arizona D-Backs pitcher Jason Grimsley's home was searched in 2006 by U.S. federal agents and Grimsley admitted that he had used amphetamines, steroids and human growth hormones. He was asked to wear a wire in order to incriminate Barry Bonds while talking with him in “private”. In the end, Grimsley was released from his contract with the Diamondbacks and suspended for games by the MLB.

Major League Baseball is still plagued by rumors and allegations of rampant steroid use. And since Barry Bonds just got the all-time Major League Baseball home run record with 762 this year and his name has been associated with steroids, the story never dies. Perhaps the MLB should institute stiffer penalties for steroid use. For instance, give out suspensions when catching any player during regulated unannounced testing. If the player tests dirty again, his contract is void and he is banned from Major League Baseball for life.

The punishment for steroid use in the MLB has to be tough enough to seriously discourage players from cheating. Indeed, baseball has been criticized for being so lackadaisical about steroid use and appropriate sanctions. But it is not just the players and their families who get hurt. It’s the fans and children who look up to these players as role models. If our kids see their heroes using drugs and basically getting away with it, what message are we sending to them?

All the players in the farm leagues and minors are negatively affected as well. In their drive to achieve that dream of a multi-million dollar major league contract, they have to perform above and beyond the athletes presently playing. That creates major pressure to use performance enhancing drugs that can be hard to resist. Some say that amphetamine use is widespread among player in the minor leagues and that steroids is also used a lot.

One thing that makes sense is that if only some players are using performance-enhancing drugs while the rest are not, the former have an unfair advantage, making fair competition unattainable. And sports are defined by fair competition, that’s one of the main reasons people love sports, life is full of grays, but sports are black and white (Read Why We Watch Sports to learn more about this). Either none of them should be doing it or all of them should be to make it fair.

Although many people say that new records that are made while using steroids, such as Barry Bonds allegedly using steroids while achieving the new all-time home run record, shouldn’t count, others argue that Bonds was batting against many MLB pitchers who are also on steroids. Therefore, it all evens out, they say. But we don’t know which pitchers are using steroids and which ones aren’t, making it next to impossible to determine what’s fair.

There are likely numerous reasons why baseball players choose to use steroids. It may be that they have huge pressure to be the best and win, either from society, the fans or their families and friends, or internal pressure. It could be that they are driven into steroid use because of their greed, or it could even be that they perceive all the players around them using steroids and they feel they have no choice but to partake as well. Like many other sports, the MLB has been tainted by the use of steroids, leaving many fans disenchanted and many lawmakers and people of influence scratching their heads in confusion about how to stop it.