Baseball and Steroids, Americas Pastime?

Baseball is a classic game that has been unchanged throughout the years. It is full of history and is a sport that a majority of boys have played in at least once in their lifetime. But this American pastime is now being threatened with the use of performance enhancing drugs. Steroids and HGH are being used on multiple levels and are creating unfair advantages to players that decide to follow the rules. It is disrupting the playing field and causing the game to lose its classical finesse which is one of the main draws of the game. Another problem with steroids is that it is harming the image of players that were once role models. Growing up playing baseball, I always looked to up Roger Clemens who won multiple awards and was thought as one of the greatest pitchers of our time.

But with the recent allegations and suspicion of him taking steroids, supporters now are rethinking whether it was Roger's hard work, or the substances that got him where he is today. With all of the negative news appearing lately, baseball is now making a positive move by creating tougher tests for players in the major leagues, which will hopefully help eliminate the use of steroids in the game. Even so, with all the accusations occurring today there is one thing that's for sure, steroids have already made a strong negative impact on the game of baseball.

Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball, recently said in a Chicago Tribune article, "The game is going through a dark age right now and needs to clean up its act immediately. It's not fair to the game for players to be using sports enhancing drugs." The use of steroids is creating an unfair advantage for players in the game, and they are bringing down the performance of legal players that use hard work to get to where they are today. The use of steroids is affecting the image of baseball as Americas past time and making people question the integrity of the game anymore. This is also making people worry that the use of the drugs could transfer down into the collegiate and high school levels. College baseball has already started random testing of players at random times to try and eliminate the urge to use the enhancements.

Being a college athlete, I see players all the time wanting to get bigger and faster as soon as possible, and steroids offer a much quicker way to reach these goals but also than being illegal, they pose a huge health risk. John Jeansonne says in his Newsweek article "Some risks of steroids include enlargement of the heart, liver and jawbones, diabetes, hypertension, and increased risk of colon cancer." With all of the risks that using steroids cause, players that use the product create negative images of themselves.

Many Players have had their image ruined and are no longer looked at as role models because of the performance enhancing drugs. Lynn Zinser discussed the image of Barry Bonds in a New York Times article by saying, "Image and perception became a toxic mix once accusations of steroid use called into question his accelerating home run totals, completing Bonds's public image as an arrogant jerk who probably cheated." This reporter went as far to call Bonds a jerk and a cheater, just because his name is associated with steroids. This is the kind of image that steroids create when used in baseball because it is seen as Americas pastime and no one wants to see any form of corruption in it.

Barry Bonds is a good example of this because although being the player with the most homeruns ever, he is one of the most disliked players in the game. His imaged has changed throughout his career as a young fast base stealer to a power homerun hitter in his later years. This transition is what has fans questioning whether his new physique is the result of hard work or from the use of steroids. Bonds is just one example, but there are many more recent players that have just came out on the Mitchell report which is a start to stopping steroid use. The Mitchell report has brought to light some of the most recent players under suspicion of using steroids and is one of the ways that Major League Baseball has started to crack down on the abuse.

The risk of ruining the game of baseball through steroids is already visible. The game is now getting attention for the wrong reasons and losing its classical appearance. Steroids are making an unfair advantage for the players that still train and play the way the game was meant to be. It is also tarnishing the players reputation that use the substances and creating a negative image for the game. Hopefully with drug testing and new laws, the game will be saved and go back to being played the way it should be.