Steroids

Major League Baseball and Steroids

If steroid use is ignored, we are not far away from Major League Baseball (MLB) letting players take whatever they want to enhance the excitement of the games. Today's baseball fans expect the games they are watching to be real, and not rigged, but if the MLB players are taking performance-enhancing drugs, it takes some of the "realism" away. Baseball should still be able to be enjoyed by fans as when greats like Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio played, without steroids.

Mandatory drug testing should be a part of Major League Baseball, and all other professional sports of today. President George W. Bush has called on professional athletes, owners, and coaches to stop all players from taking steroids because it makes them bad role models. Commissioner of MLB, Bud Selig, agrees with Bush on ridding baseball of all performance-enhancing drugs. Selig soon hopes to reach the goal of "zero-tolerance". Last year random and anonymous tests were done to only some of the MLB's players. Between 5% and 7% of the tests came back positive for steroid use (Antonen, "Selig"). However, that is not enough. All players should be tested with harsh punishments if tested positive.

In a poll done by USA Today, 79% of Major League Baseball players said that they want drug testing to be done. Surprisingly, only 17% of players stood behind their union by saying they didn't want drug testing done. Until mandatory drug testing is put into play in MLB, fans will keep speculating over which players are and which aren't using steroids (Antonen, "USA Today Poll").

Major League Baseball also needs to think about the health of their players. Players on steroids are a lot more likely to be put on the disabled list than players not taking steroids. A USA Today database study showed that trips to the disabled list among major leaguers increased by 32% from 1992 to 2001. Steroids are known to change facial features, and making the user's head grow larger, which just working out won't do (Yeager). Doctors believe the risks of steroids include heart disease, stoke, live tumors, depression, and testicular atrophy (Reilly). Former MLB star and National League Most Valuable Player, Ken Caminiti, has recently admitted to using steroids when he played baseball. Caminiti told Sports Illustrated in an interview that he used steroids so heavily during the 1996 season, that by the end of the season, doctors found out that his body had almost totally stopped producing its own testosterone, and that the level of the hormone in his body had dropped to 20% below normal. Today, he has many injuries and is tested regularly for drugs, and is now a recovering alcoholic (Yeager). This, however, was not explained to be a coincidence, or an effect of his use of the steroids.

MLB players are role models and heroes to kids all over the world. If today's high school and college athletes know that their favorite superstars are using steroids, or other performance-enhancing drugs, they are likely to think that it is okay for them to use them also. MLB players and other professional athletes need to take their status in the eyes of the fans into serious consideration when they decide if they want to take steroids or not. Kids start out playing little league baseball because it's fun, but as they get older, and they are pressured to take steroids to be better players in order to make their team, it is no longer fun for them. Major League Baseball players would have a lot more fun if they could remember a time when they didn't have to worry about pressures like injecting themselves with steroid substances. Even though professional baseball players carry heavy schedules, a lot of traveling away from home, and tough practices, most of them do really enjoy their job. They are getting paid big bucks to do the thing they love, play baseball. This is just yet another reason why mandatory testing should be done.

One reason that steroids in Major League Baseball have become so prominent is because minor league baseball players face absolutely no punishments if they test positive (Yeager). Testing is done in minor league baseball, but punishments are not enforced. This shows that owners and managers think that its okay to take performance enhancing drugs and that they really don't care about their players. They just try and ignore it and keep playing baseball with their steroid-using athletes. If minor league players are pretty much allowed to take steroids, why wouldn't they continue using them if they make it to the majors.

Competition is one of the main reasons that many baseball players choose to use steroids, or performance-enhancing drugs. Athletes want to make the big league team, in order to make the fame and money that comes with it. If two players are both free agents, and one clean player has 20 natural home runs against a user of steroids who has 40 home runs, guess who gets the spot on the team? Many players think that if they do whatever it takes to make the team, they can then have the high paying salary for them and their families to be set for life. Kevin Towers, general manager of the San Diego Padres says, "A big, big year means a big, big contract" (qtd. In ).

Another aspect of competition being a motivator is in winning the big games. Today, many athletes have stated in their contract that if they win the championship game, they get a pay raise, plus bonuses for each post-season game that they get to. For Major League Baseball players this means getting to and winning the World Series. The reason that many coaches don't make a big deal out of their players using steroids is that some of them have the same thing stated in their contract. If a coach can lead his men to the World Series, many teams believe this to be worth a raise. So, of course, coaches want the biggest, best, and strongest players on their team to help them achieve this. Along with the pay, is that many times, coaches get fired by the managers if the team isn't winning! Many players think that taking steroids is all worth it if they can make enough money in order to relieve their families of the worry of always having enough money. It all always comes down to the money.

Today one of the main companies in the steroid controversy is the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO. The founder of BALCO, Victor Conte, along with three other people, have been indicted and charged with handing out performance-enhancing drugs to some of