...Steroid Use in Major League Baseball Student Name Course Name Instructor Date Steroid Use in Major League Baseball Thesis: Steroid use is prevalent in major league baseball. Players choose to use steroids despite steroids being banned, the effects steroids have on their bodies, and the impact steroids have on their careers and reputation. I. Steroid use is banned in major league baseball. A. Banned substances enhance players’ performance. 1. Batted-ball speed increases when a player takes steroids. 2. Home-run production increases with steroid usage. B. Major league baseball policies ban the use of several substances by players. 1. The league and the players’ union have strict policies against the use of steroids. 2. The league conducts regular testing to ensure players are drug free. 3. Penalties result from steroid use. II. The body is seriously affected by steroid use. A. Several negative physical effects exist to the body. 1. Steroid use affects natural hormone production. 2. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other cardiovascular problems are physical side effects. 3. Steroids cause liver problems. B. Psychological problems exist due to steroid use. 1. Aggressive or enraged behavior has been reported as a side effect. 2. Addiction has been reported also as a side effect. III. The steroid scandal has negatively impacted players’ careers and reputation. A. Players’...
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...Steroids Have Changed Baseball Suzanne Dennis South University Steroids Have Changed Baseball Today in the United States kids, teens, and adults watch and play in the sport of baseball. It is probably the number one sport looked upon and what is happening to it is a bit discouraging. Players have started "cheating" by using steroids to help them play stronger and better because they are in league where you have to be the best at what you do to play. The use, distribution and testing policy of steroids in baseball has long been a worry for those involved in our national pastime, and the fans and those involved in baseball at any level deserve a resolution. How exactly do the ethics just drift away? The conversion into the major league is a conversion from game to business and once the players enter into the pros everything changes. Major League Baseball has become a giant business. How can you see it otherwise? Steroids in baseball have changed dramatically over the past ten years and a major factor impacting the changes may be players' use of performance enhancing drugs. Players need to realize that they are cheating and should be held accountable. In less than four years Babe Ruth's single season record of 60 home runs has been broken by Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds (Hacohen, 2012). Steroids are drugs commonly classified as anabolic, androgenic and corticosteroids. Anabolic steroids are used by athletes to bulk up and improve their performance....
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...Does Steroids Provide An Unfair Advantage In Baseball or Does It Even The Playing Field? Baseball has been an American pastime for centuries and will be for centuries to come. Adults have been taking their children to baseball games since the Major Leagues first came about in the late 1800s. From the Philadelphia Phillies' great Astrodome to their current Citizens Bank Park or the Atlanta Braves' Fulton County Stadium to their more modern Turner Field baseball has been loved in America. Although the game is as old as it is, baseball has not changed even though the players continue to get better and better. Many fans first take is the use of steroids in baseball. But did steroids really help Barry Bonds become home run king? Because Hank Aaron had the record generations before and he reportedly never injected steroids. Every year it seems like a new player gets brought into the league that is going to be faster, stronger, and an overall better player; except the ones that have the records broken that is. Although steroids are supposed to make athletes bigger, faster, and stronger,; are steroids really making athlete's statistics better or simply bridging the gap between decent athletes and great ones? There are many aspects in hitting a baseball that coaches teach athletes at a young age. Seeing the ball well, swinging with your hips and not just your arms, being disciplined and not swinging at a ball out of the strike zone, these are all examples of what it takes to be a good...
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...Steroids : Not so Good After All In recent years there have been many stories of athletes, especially in baseball, that have gotten caught using steroids. People single out the idea that the competitor did not abide by the rules. Because of this narrow-minded act, they tend to not look at the harmful effects these drugs have on the body. Steroids are extremely damaging physically and psychologically. There are multiple ways in which a human can experience long and short-term effects from the use of these horrible drugs. The most common effects include diseases and severe brain problems. While HGH and Anabolic steroids are a serious concern for sports, it is a more prominent problem in baseball, but the frightening part people fail to recognize, is that the drugs cause life-threatening problems. Steroids were invented by “A doctor by the name of Dr. Ruzicka, who in the early 1930’s created it for medical purposes, essentially to fight conditions like cancer and AIDS” (Steroids in Sports).The drugs are mainly byproducts of the male hormone called testosterone. When a person takes steroids, they are putting extra testosterone into their body. Excessive testosterone eventually leads to rapid muscle growth. As humans use steroids, they can be faced with horrible health problems such as “high blood pressure, HIV/AIDS (when taken with shared needles), fluid retention, depression, anxiety, mania, low sperm production, and over-exertion” (Steroids in Sports). Additional effects...
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...According to ESPN statistics, in the 2001 Major League Baseball Season, Barry Bonds sets a MLB single season record with 73 home runs. ESPN stated it was a time period when steroids were common and a part of the game of baseball. A time where players such as Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds recorded hitting statistics that were previously unachievable in professional baseball. If you do not know who they were, these players were known for their power, they were known for their home runs. These kind of players do just randomly appear out of nowhere, they trained their entire lives to get to this point, they deserve it, or do they? These kind of players showed everyone who loved the game of baseball that even though their numbers were...
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...Alan Bone ENGL 1020 2B The Steroid Era in Baseball Major league baseball was founded in 1869 and has gone through several different eras in its history. There was the Dead Ball Era, which started in 1869 and ended when Babe Ruth became a ball player in 1919 and now the Steroid Era, which ran from 1992 thru 2006 (Vassalo). The Steroid Era has forever scarred the game and something needs to be done to restore it to its glory days. The MLBPA should agree to impose stricter sanctions on steroid users because the current penalties are too lenient, steroids have altered the game and stiffer penalties would deter players from using. The MLBPA should agree to impose stricter sanctions on steroids users because the current penalties are too lenient. From 2002-2004 baseball did not suspend players for a first-time steroid offense. They instead would offer the player counseling. Only after a player was caught again, was he suspended. When Senator Joseph Biden was told “the current testing policy does not suspend first time offenders-instead they get counseling,” he said, “it’s a joke, it’s a real joke” (Purchia). How could anyone expect anything to get done with a policy that lenient? The following year the MLBPA decided to try and make the steroid policy a little bit stricter. The MLBPA should agree to impose stricter sanctions on steroids users because the current penalties are too lenient. At the beginning of the 2005 season, baseball changed its penalties for positive...
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...Baseball Players and Using Performance Enhancing Drugs In the recent years the use of steroids in professional sports has become widespread, and major league baseball is more than any other. This paper will discuss using performance enhancing drugs will not get players into the Hall of Fame. Players use performance enhancing drugs to gain a competitive advantage over other teams and players. The definition of cheating is violating rules or restrictions to gain an advantage. It’s plain and simple and is a form of cheating. Major league players who got in the hall of fame in the past used their pure natural talent. The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to recognize outstanding natural talent in the sport of Baseball. Look at our beloved long time baseball legends, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and many more. How would they feel to see professional baseball players cheat their way in and make it easy on themselves? Baseball meant so much to them and to see future players disrespect our baseball legends and allow them to go to Cooperstown, would be awful to past and present players. Baseball fans know players want to give it all and ultimately make it to the World Series and achieve other outstanding goals, but taking illegal drugs is taking it too far. This leads into the major league baseball punishments for using performance enhancing drugs. The major league baseball has punishments for players who use steroids and performance enhancing drugs. First...
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...Baseball is a sport that is viewed all across America and embedded in classic American culture. Professional baseball athletes entertain large audiences with their outstanding skills and achievements in the sport along with leaving an impacting influence on young athletes. However, sometimes their influence can be negative. Some baseball players use other means to achieve their goals, performance enhancers that are known as steroids. Steroids give players competitive advantage over those who do not use them. Steroids are synthetic versions of male testosterone, a male hormone taking this hormone produces rapid muscle growth and recovery from workouts. (Filomena and Ascione 2009) Steroids can aid athletes tremendously by increasing their strength...
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...League Baseball’s so called “Steroid Era,” it was necessary for congress to step in and take control of the situation. Before congress did their investigation, Major League Baseball did not have strict enough rules to punish players who tested positive with any kind of steroid. Also before congress took control of the situation, there was a variety of drugs that players could use during that time that Major League Baseball had not banned or were not considered a “performance enhancing drug”. Even though the so called “Steroid Era” brought fans back to the game of baseball after the lockout in 1994, it not only damaged the reputation of baseball but it also damaged the purity of the sport. Not only did it affect baseball’s reputation and purity of the game, it also affected the fans who dreamt of playing in Major League Baseball. Now we will focus the main reasons why congress took control of the steroid issue that surrounded Major League Baseball. First, Major League Baseball along with Congress noticed the issue of steroids due to Jose Canseco, an ex-major leaguer, who came clean about the steroid issue in his book titled Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ’Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big. In this book, Canseco explained how he taught a variety of players how to inject steroids and how it would benefit them in the future. Throughout his book, Canseco provided details as to the players, who later broke many records; that he taught how to use steroids. For example, Canseco stated...
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...“Mitchell’s Report Rips Mask off Baseball’s Steroid Era”, explain how the results of the Mitchell Report brought up an underlying issue that kept being avoided. George J Mitchell is a former democratic United States Senator from 1980-1995. Also, he was born in Maine and went to Georgetown University and the Georgetown University Law Center. USA Today with their article about steroids believe that the introduction of steroids into baseball has left a dark mark on baseball and should be stopped. While USA Today discusses the issue of steroids in the current Major League Baseball, they also do a great job at bringing in football to relate the two sports. USA Today brings out the point of how football players “weigh 318 pounds, up from 281 pounds two decades ago” (USA today). This quote is important because it highlights how that baseball isn’t the only sport that is suffering from the usage of steroids throughout the game. It also raises questions about how prevalent steroids are in other sports...
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...Steroids in the game of Baseball | The Physical and Statistical Effects | Anonymous | Many players have been accused of the use of steroids. Some have denied it, but has been proven guilty. Some have admitted by will that they have used Performance-Enhancement Drugs/Steroids at some point during their career. EXTERNAL PHYSICAL EFFECTS There are several signs known of to identify steroid use. For example, in men he might notice baldness and growth in the chest (around the breast) area. In women she might notice increase facial hair, reduction around the breast area, and their voice may deepen. In both men and women they may notice Jaundice, aching joints, mood swings, and nervousness. There also can be major effects for men and women from steroid usage; for example, high blood pressure, liver damage, increases of bad cholesterol, males risk shrinking of the testicles and infertility. Females’ menstrual changes these are some of the noticeable signs of steroids use. There has not been any conclusive proof that the use of steroids alone would make a drastic change in the body size or weight. Although steroids are said to enhance the muscle mass, which could give a false belief of increased body strength. To acquire the muscle mass and body strength desired one would need to have a workout plan in place. If the ligaments and tendons are not strong enough to support the muscle mass one could end up with torn ligaments and tendons. Steroids alone...
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...Steroids and Baseball Many people have been questioning Major League Baseball (MLB) about its players using performance enhancing drugs such as steroids. This issue has become controversial because players are cheating to enhance their physical abilities of playing the sport. Many people believe it is immoral and isn’t fair to those who work hard every day through countless hours of practice, sweat, and extreme physical conditioning to get to where they are at; and others are cheating by taking steroids. A great example of performance enhancing drug abuse is the Barry Bonds era. We all believed that he was a man of unique strength and miraculous physical capabilities with his numerous homeruns, but then found out he was cheating by using steroids and made his accomplishments a disgrace to the sport and an embarrassment to its MLB fans. The MLB needs to enforce sterner random drug testing on its players, harsher fines, and repeated offenders should be banned from the sport so it may become a more moral sport. Steroids and other similar muscle building drugs are drugs that can actually increase your abilities instead of hindering them. Most organized sports associations setup a strict drug testing policy which allows very little room for mistakes. Despite the strict trends set by other associations, Major League Baseball still has an extremely lax drug testing policy and has been under heavy media scrutiny. The MLB should strengthen their drug abuse policy to eliminate...
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...Jason Alvey Major League Baseball: The Steroids Era The use of performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball is an issue that caused quite the uproar throughout the nation in the past decade. Superstars and public icons have fallen from grace after being so instrumental in the reemergence of America’s past time. Careers have been made and lost in single seasons under suspicious gains and losses in “abilities.” The United States Government has even begun to come down hard on baseball from many different angles. The main office of Major League Baseball, along with many active players, has taken steps to help prevent the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. Many Americans claim to want a clean game and true records, but I am a true believer that steroids are here to stay and the public only pretends to care. Some of the biggest names and even some of the record holders in professional baseball have been accused of using various steroids to gain the competitive edge. Barry Bonds has been one of the most popular professional sports figures in this country for more than 15 years, but he is now waiting for a March court date when opening statements will be heard in his Federal perjury trial. Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa, the two most instrumental players that helped the bring fans back to the stadiums after the 1994 players’ strike, will never be voted into the Hall of Fame because there is a suspicion that they used some type of performance enhancers. ...
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...Editor Dear Editor: On August 8 in 2007 Barry Bonds broke the Major League Baseball (MLB) home run records by 31years. However, most major newspapers and magazines columns were indifferent and negative to his home run record. The expressions from them are very different from wild enthusiasms and cheers when he broke Mark McGwire’s single season home run record because Bonds is under suspicion for steroid use. Beside in these cases, major leaguers’ performance enhancing drugs stories rise out many different way such as Jose Canseco autobiography, Mark McGwire admits he uses the steroids and goes on to hit a then record 70 homers. According to the MLB official site, the investigation of MLB organization found that 5 percent to 7 percent of 1438 tests were positive about performance enhancing drugs during the 2003 season. The Major League player were used performance enhancing drug and even existence of the drug policy keep under suspicion about it nowadays . So, I think MLB need to improve current performance enhancing drugs policy. According to the MLB official site, Major League Baseball’s drug policy joint drug prevention and treatment program is established by agreement after the 2004 season between the MLB Players Association and the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball in order to ban baseball players’ performance enhancing drugs including anabolic steroids and other illegal drugs. There was one unannounced mandatory test for each player...
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...Baseball, Steroids and Business Ethics: How Breaches of Trust Can Change the Game: Knowledge@Wharton (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1902) Baseball, Steroids and Business Ethics: How Breaches of Trust Can Change the Game Published : February 20, 2008 in Knowledge@Wharton The day after former Senator George Mitchell released his damning report on performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball last December, President George Bush, a former baseball-team owner himself, seemed to speak for many disgusted fans when he pronounced, "Steroids have sullied the game." The Mitchell Report fingered 89 professional ball players, but many of these allegations were nothing new for baseball watchers. Game of Shadows, a 2006 exposé by a pair of investigative journalists, and Juiced, a 2005 tell-all memoir by player José Canseco, described a world of professional baseball rife with performance-enhancing drug abuse. The ongoing scandal, which first surfaced in the late 1990s, has bubbled on for a decade, leading commentators to label it the "steroids era." With fans aware of such egregious bad behavior, why has attendance at Major League Baseball games reached record-breaking highs during that same time period? Are baseball's "consumers" impervious to the ethical lapses of their teams? No, say Wharton professors, but the case demonstrates how bias, competition and a lack of oversight worked together to create an ethically toxic atmosphere. This is a single/personal...
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