Steroids and Baseball

Science and Technology of Steroids and Destruction on America’s Pastime

Steven Lyons
Ms Grover
HSB4M
Dec 21st 2012

Juiced On December 13th, 2007, a file called The Mitchell Report was released to Major League Baseball(MLB) claiming that eighty nine players within the system had been using illegal performance enhancing drugs. This twenty one month, four hundred and nine page report was made by former Democratic United States Senator, George Mitchell. This report created major shockwaves not only within the playerst, but the fans of baseball and sports everywhere. Childhood heroes like Roger Clemens or Andy Pettitte to Hall of Fame record holders like Barry Bonds's careers were shattered. Performance enhancing drugs have been a problem in sports since they were created and proven to help a normal, average joe to become a worldwide athlete. The element of steroids is especially present in the world of baseball when it made headlines everywhere due to the Mitchell Report. The science and technology behind the introduction of steroids ruined the game of baseball by stereotyping future players, stealing away past legacies before steroids, and by taking away the element of fair play.
Natural or synthetic, baseball players of the present and future will be stereotyped to be users based on their success. The word “steroid” in the world of professional baseball is more commonly talked about then the word bat or glove. Steroids are becoming a household name to baseball fans. Any young player is now being questioned for the use of steroids for every success he has had in becoming a young star. Steroids are always in the back of our fans and scouts’ minds when looking at a young kid. With future players being scouted at such young ages like 16-18 years of old, they become stereotyped for the usage of steroids with no chance to really prove themselves. Androgenic-anabolic steroids are the type of steroids most commonly used by athletes. The word androgenic refers to anything that gives rise to masculine characteristics and the word anabolic means a substance that creates protein and stimulates tissue growth. When an athlete works out, they create micro tears within their body’s muscle tissue. The brain notices these tears and sends protein cells to repair them, but also send extra cells to compensate for future tears. This creates a muscle that is larger and stronger than the previous muscle. This process can usually take up to 24-48 hours. But with the use on androgenic-anabolic steroids, the brain sends much more protein cells to the muscle, and also speeds up to the recovery time of working out. Therefore, by using steroids, you not only add more muscle with every workout, but they also allow you to work out harder more frequently. With all of these promising benefits, many people will speculate the use of them in the younger generation. Steroids ruined the game for future players because of being stereotyped for using their steroids, even if they are not. The “Steroid Era” stole away the legacies of the past players by breaking their records and titles.

Steroids are made by giving our bodies more than the natural amount of testosterone. Testosterone is a steroid hormone in the androgen group that is most commonly found in mammals. It is the natural male sex hormone in our bodies. It plays a very key role in promoting characteristics like muscle growth, bone mass and body hair. For the most part, our body naturally produces enough testosterone for us to function normally. Steroids are the natural derivates of this testosterone. In 1931, a German chemist Adolf Butenandt was able to extract a sample of androstenone from a simple cup of urine. A few years later, chemist Leopold Ruzicka found a way to synthesize the hormone. What this meant was steroidal hormones could be synthesized and in 1935, that is exactly what happened with anabolic steroids and testosterone being the first ones. Ruzicka and Butenandt were awarded the Nobel Prize for their findings, and technically the destruction of a baseball era. While that be a little harsh considering their samples are very weak compared to the steroids athletes are using today. With enhancing the natural output in our bodies, steroids give you many benefits in the world of sports. According National Geographic's documentary on steroids, Science of Anabolic Steroids, they have found guys taken the equivalent of one hundred times more than the natural output of testosterone from injections or pills. It goes on to say that a man that has a poor diet, smokes, drinks alcohol and has bad sleeping patterns can blow out a the most dedicated athletes in pure muscle gain. With this muscle gain, you are able to swing a heavier bat or swing it faster, you can runner and throw harder. Steroids within the game of baseball take away the element of fair play and honesty within the game. Proven by science, steroids obviously help in the development of muscle growth and bone mass, thus making us bigger and stronger. This allows the players to swing a heavier bat, or be able to swing it harder. Steroids also allow athletes a quicker recovery time to work out and train. With all of these benefits, a man training naturally doesn’t stand a chance against his steroid using competitors. The sport then becomes a mini science fair, with the athletes being the projects. Instead of a display of human ability and achievement, it becomes who is taking the more or better steroids. To add even more pressure on our athletes, the fans want to see more home runs and the big plays. Baseball is a spectators sport. Major League games are played in front of up to 40,000 screaming fans, not including the fans watching from their homes. The pressure to perform is immense.