Steroids Era Essay

For as long as there have been competitive sports there have been competitors that would rather die than fall in defeat. Baseball is said to be America’s pastime, and what could possibly be more American than absolutely knocking the cover off of a baseball, pimping your bat flip, and trotting around the bases while everyone cheers and hoots and hollers for you like you are the man of the hour? The only thing that comes to mind is being the person that hits it the farthest and looks the best doing so. There are not many things you can do to overcome the superior natural ability of your opposition. One of the most recent and most widely used forms of getting around natural ability is the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs, or steroids. It sounds
This time period saw a significant increase in player size and and offensive production during games. Opposite of other MLB “eras,” there is no definitive start time to the steroids era, although it is widely believed to have started in the late 80’s and has continued up into the game today (the steroids era, espn.com). Steroids have been banned in the Majors since 1991, however there was never any sort of league sponsored testing until 2003. This meant that the majority of players who were using PEDs would never be caught (the steroids era, espn.com). Professional baseball saw an incredible increase in offense during the 1990’s. For example, between 1961 and 1994 only three players reached 50 home runs in a single season but in 1996 Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. would both surpass 50 home runs (the steroids era, espn.com). During the 1997 season, 13 total players managed to hit at least 40 home runs, while Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire battled to see who would lead the National League in home runs. Mark McGwire would inevitably beat Sosa for the home run title, however they both broke the original record of 61 home runs set back in 1961. McGwire would hit 70 home runs to set the new Major League record for home runs in a single season and Sosa came in second with 66 homers, 26 more than his previous season high (the
It’s no question that the game is much more exciting with the help of performance enhancers. Seeing players hit monster home run after monster home run and unhittable pitchers that deal 105mph fastballs time and time again is great for the sport, the overall increase in excitement of the game is likely responsible for the overwhelming popularity that the game still has. If every player in professional baseball was on some sort of performance enhancer the excitement would increase tenfold, sure you may have some games that resemble home run derbies, but that would make it that much more exciting. Performance enhancing drugs should be legal and available for professional baseball players to use regardless of the health risk, they are grown men playing a grown mans game and they should be able to decide what they put in their bodies. How good would a guy like Pete Rose have been if he could have hit the ball a little bit farther or run a little bit faster? He’s already the hit king with 4256 hits, but where would that number be if he had a slight