Steroids in Baseball

This is an essay I wrote for my English class and thought it would fit nicely here...

Ever since athletic competition was invented, athletes have tried to find an extra advantage over their opponents. As Norman Frost, a writer for USA Today, puts it “[it started] two millennia ago when a naked Greek put on shoes to enhance his performance.” However, in today’s world, a line has been drawn on what is acceptable to improve performance. Gatorade, 5-hour energy, hypobaric chambers, protein shakes, and weight lifting are all fair game, but steroids, human growth hormone (HGH), and testosterone are off-limits. No sport capsulizes the performance-enhancing drug (PED) debate more than baseball. The American Pastime has been under scrutiny for PED’s since the late 90’s and still struggles to regulate them effectively. Under the current system, a positive drug test gets a player a 50 game suspension. A second positive test results in a 100 game suspension, and a third test earns a lifetime ban from the sport; kind of a three strikes, you’re out policy. Whether or not steroids should or should not be illegal is irrelevant. The fact is that they are illegal and there should not only be stiffer penalties, but players at all levels need to be educated about the risks of PED’s.

Melky Cabrera is an outfielder for my favorite team, the San Francisco Giants. He started off this season on fire, culminating in an All-Star selection where he won the game’s MVP award. A few weeks later it was announced that Cabrera tested positive for a banned substance and was subsequently suspended for 50 games (Kepner, 2012). His suspension ended at a time where he could have been added to San Francisco’s postseason roster and also be eligible to win the league batting title. Wait a minute, you can break the rules and still participate in the playoffs? You can still win a coveted award? I have a problem with this, as all fans of baseball should. To the Giants’ credit, they left Cabrera off their postseason roster anyways, and to Cabrera’s credit, he removed himself from consideration of any awards he may have earned. But, what if the Giants and Cabrera had not been so considerate? He would have been penalized for the last two months of the season, yet won an award and made it to the World Series. Major League Baseball needs to increase the penalties to a first positive test resulting in a season-long ban with all eligibility for awards stripped away. This does not mean that if a player gets caught with two weeks to go in the season, he loses those two weeks and the playoffs. It means a full season: 162 games, with playoff games not contributing to the count. A second positive test results in a lifetime ban from the sport. It may be a nice idea that MLB has a three strikes policy, but do you think players would risk their careers with these stiffer penalties? Some undoubtedly think the reward is worth the risk, but the harsher penalties would discourage the general population. In addition to the stiffer penalties, Major League Baseball needs to take responsibility to educate the young player entering their league.

            We often hear players say “I have never knowingly taken a banned substance.” This is where baseball and the player’s union need to step in to protect and educate their players. Since 2005, when MLB started their drug testing program, almost 70 percent of players suspended for steroid use have come from foreign countries (baseball-almanac.com). The chart below illustrates the distribution of countries that players busted for steroids have come from.

 

Country of birth	Number of players suspended for steroids since 2005
Dominican Republic	11
United States	10
Venezuela	4
Cuba	2
Puerto Rico	1
Japan	1

These young ballplayers, often not even out of their teens yet, come to the United States to pursue their dream and are immediately bombarded by sleazy businessmen offering them a chance to be bigger, stronger, and faster. The naïve teenager sees this as an opportunity to fast track their dream and jumps at the chance, not entirely knowing what goes into their bodies or the possible consequences. In the NBA, rookies are required to go through an orientation week before training camp where they are educated on everything including drugs, how to handle money, dress code, and they are informed of the league’s expectations. Major League Baseball needs to adopt a similar strategy. As baseball scouts bring in players from other countries, they need to immediately enroll them in an orientation put on by officials from the Player’s Association. Similarly, U.S. born players need to be enrolled at the time they are drafted, whether that’s after high school or college. Education in the United States also needs to begin at the lower levels of baseball including college, high school, and even little league. Major League Baseball should make the materials that they use in their orientation classes available to coaches nationwide to further young ballplayers being well informed on both the legal and physical ramifications of steroid use. This would also engrain young players with the importance of the issue.

            Players also need educated on legal ramifications of their choice to take steroids. Not only could a player face punishment from baseball regarding steroids, but they could also face criminal charges as steroids are illegal without a prescription. According to Daniel DeNoon, the senior medical writer for WebMD, “first-time simple possession of anabolic steroids carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $1,000 fine. For first-offense trafficking in steroids, the maximum penalty is five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.” Those are some serious legal consequences a ballplayer should be aware of.

            One of the most prominent issues that must be addressed in MLB’s educational process is the negative impact steroids can have on your health. Side effects of steroid use can include acne, jaundice, tendon rupture, heart attack, enlarged heart, increased risk of liver disease, high cholesterol, and mood swings (DeNoon). As with any drug, not everybody who takes steroids will experience all these effects, but they run the risk of these serious health problems. Some argue that, with proper use, one can avoid the side effects and that so-called experts cannot name a single person who has died from steroid use. Apparently, those experts have never heard of Ken Caminiti. He was the 1996 National League MVP and admitted to taking steroids during his career. He was found dead at 41 from an apparent heart attack. After an autopsy, doctors determined that he had died as a result of a combination of drug overdosing and an enlarged heart. What caused that enlarged heart? You guessed it: steroids. So while steroids may not kill you directly, they can contribute to poorer health and serious risks. Another caveat to the assertion that steroids are not that bad for you is that steroids have only really been around for 25 years and those who reportedly or allegedly took them are still relatively young. Therefore, it’s hard to say for certain that steroids will not have a negative health impact later in life.

            People are quick to point out the benefits of steroid use as well. They can be used to treat injuries, burns, anemia, osteoporosis, muscle-wasting disorders, and AIDS (fitnessforworld.com). They can also help with hormone imbalances, late puberty, and breast cancer. However, these treatments are always under the direction of doctors and are usually administered in very small doses. The steroids used in these treatments are also very different than the ones pumped into professional athletes.

            Another argument that has been brought up in the steroid debate in baseball has been to legalize steroids for all players. Then, theoretically, it would be an even playing field. However, this argument is usually a desperate effort by those that just want to see the conversation end and enjoy baseball again by assuming there are no cheaters. The dangerous and slippery slope becomes how badly do you want to play professional baseball? Bad enough to destroy your body? We see the negative aspects of this thinking today with the NFL and concussions. Bad enough to spend thousands of dollars on a lab that designs the best new steroid? We saw how that worked out with the BALCO scandal. Bad enough to never be seen as a better player than those in the annals of baseball history? We see that sad debate with Barry Bonds (who never tested positive by the way) being compared to Ruth, Mays, and Aaron. The idea to just let players do whatever they want to gain an edge is ludicrous. You might as well legalize pitchers doctoring the baseball. Or maybe we should allow runners to tackle fielders to prevent a double play. Or how about letting catchers put their glove in the way of a batters swing? You cannot allow legalization of actions or behaviors that compromise the integrity of the game.

            Baseball is America’s pastime. It deserves to be first in a young boy’s mind of what sport he wants to play. It deserves to be a uniting bond between generations. It deserves to be celebrated as the oldest professional sport in the United States. Unfortunately, more and more people are becoming disillusioned with the game because of the issue of steroid use among players. If Major League Baseball would increase the punishments of positive tests and take preventative steps in the form of educating young ballplayers, then maybe my son will grow up loving the same sport that I do. A cleaner, more educated sport.