The Steroid Effect In Professional Baseball

Jon-Truman James
Professor Julia Reineman
English 1001
19 November 2010
The Steroid Effect in Professional Baseball In past twenty years, steroids have become a huge problem in major league baseball. Many players were using them because they assumed there was no chance in being caught. In the last five years the league has decided to crack down on testing and really try to clean up baseball. A large number of players have tested positive, and the punishment is much worse than in past years. Steroids are harmful to the human body, they have changed baseball, and ruined player’s careers and reputations. Also, baseball has the strictest punishment for players who test positive for using steroids. Anabolic steroids are defined as the
Why is football, basketball, or any other sport for that matter being investigated? If a baseball player is caught using steroids, he is ridiculed, looked down upon, and could be stripped of his records. In football, first offense of using steroids is a four game suspension without pay, second offense is an eight game suspension, and third offense is a one year suspension. (Hosenball, “Now”). In basketball, first offense is a five game suspension ans entrance into the NBPA Anti-Drug program, second offense is a ten game suspension with reentry into the program, and third offense is a twenty-five game suspension with reentry into the program(Hosenball, “Now”). In baseball, first offense of using steroids is a fifty game suspension, second offense is a one hundred game suspension, and third offense is the player receives a lifetime ban from baseball (Hosenball, “Now”). The punishment for baseball is much more severe than the punishment for football or basketball. There has been nothing like the Mitchell Report for football, basketball, or any other sport for that matter. Sports like hockey or professional bodybuilding have a large number of steroid users and their testing is a joke. Before the Mitchell Report and baseball’s new punishment for steroid use, there was zero testing in the NHL, and there is still zero testing in professional bodybuilding (Associated Press,“ Steroid”). Now, the NHL has a twenty game suspension for first offense but there is still no greater punishment for multiple offenses. Even in collegiate sports steroids has become a problem. At least the punishment now is very strict and it results in disqualification from playing sports and loss of scholarships (Pope, “Anabolic”). Steroid use has been mainly focused on baseball, and to the public, steroid use in other sports does not concern