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Cheaters and the Hall of Fame

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Cheaters and the Hall of Fame
Geoffrey Barndt
COM/170
April 7, 2014
Dr. Hancock

Cheaters and the Hall of Fame

Should there be a difference in punishment between the use of performance enhancing drugs and gambling in the sport of baseball. In baseballs long and great history there has been two scandals that have given baseball a black eye. One being the story of Pete Rose, and the other being the story of Barry Bonds.” After a Hall of Fame worthy career, rumors began to circulate that Pete Rose manger of the Cincinnati Reds was gambling on baseball”. (Allen 2012) After an investigation Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life. Even though he never admitted to betting on baseball games. In the late 1990s two men Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa captured the nation’s attention when they both surpassed Rodger Maris record for the most home runs in a single season. Not even three years later Barry Bonds surpassed both men when he hit 73 home runs in a season. “The high-octane offense that Major League clubs were delivering, beginning in the late 1990s, made for great sports theater. But as allegations and revelations of performance-enhancing drug use began to surface, the public began to realize it was just that -- theater, fiction, cheating. The record books had been rewritten, but also tainted”. (Allen 2012) The league began a crackdown on drug use. In 2004 the story broke that during the investigation of a nutritional supplement company called BALCO one player admitted to taking performance enhancing drugs. Then Barry Bonds was implicated. Turning the sports world upside down and led to a Congressional hearings into baseball’s drug problem. Barry Bonds Has never admitted to knowingly using performance enhancing drugs, even though the evidence is there. Both these players had two of the best careers ever and some would say that they should have a chance at

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