Steroids in Highschool Baseball

Is High School Talent Really Talent?

50 hits, 20 runs, no errors, and massive absence of integrity: that describes now-a-day baseball. Today’s version of baseball and other sports are tainted by the use of steroids and other muscle gaining agents. In 2001 Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs: a single season record. A mere 5 years later Barry Bonds tested positive for the use of performance enhancing drugs also known as steroids. That is what Americans kids are looking up to and taking after. When a High School athlete sees a professional athlete having success due to steroids, their mind is manipulated into using steroids. The use of steroids is detrimental to everyone.

Steroids come in a variety of way to be consumed: injected, swallowed, and snorted. These steroids build muscle to help one perform. Main steroids are HGH (Human Growth Hormone), anabolic steroids. All makes will make one stronger, all can end ones career. “Anabolic- androgenic steroids are synthetic derivatives of the male hormone testosterone” (Wadler). That’s just a nice way of saying anabolic-androgenic steroids make one stronger using fake hormones. Anabolic steroids are the most effective and have the worst long term affects. Anabolic steroids are so effective that they are prescribed by doctors to treat “malnutrition, growth disorders, and testosterone deficiency”(Wadler) Although most of these short term affects sound good, the long term seem to throw a juicy curve-ball back at you. Anne Marie Brooks, a writer for a weekly health magazine, states: “Muscles grow so rapidly that tendon or ligament damage results during physical activity. Instead of better performance, the user may face weeks or months on crutches, in a brace, in pain. “Ouch! That sounds like the negatives over rule the positives (of steroids) and anabolic steroids don’t sound so good after all. HGH which is a safer alternative of steroids is also used by a lot of athletes. “Human Growth Hormone is produced by the anterior pituitary gland and is secreted into the blood.”(BlachFlower) so instead of using fake hormones and testosterone, an athlete is now using another man’s hormones! That quote shows how dangerous and gross steroids really are, especially in teenage athletes.

Although steroids negatively affect one’s body, many athletes use steroids for better athletic performance. A 2003 national institute on Drug Abuse Study found that 3.5% of 12th graders have used anabolic steroids at least once in their lives, as had 2.5% of 8th graders (Wadler) which brings up even more conflict. This shows that steroids aren’t only starting in high school but also in middle school. Also a 2001 study concluded that more than 50% of NCAA athletes who used these drugs began while in high school (Price). Both statements prove that steroids in high school, and now middle school, are a huge problem in society.

Even though steroids bring medical consequences, they bring athletic consequences. If a high school athlete uses steroids and is caught using them, he or she is banned from competing in high school and collegiate athletics. That doesn’t seem to have any effect on high school athletes. According to Good Sports, magazine about drugs in sports: Adolescents, who always find it difficult to look beyond this season, this moment of their lives, are the most vulnerable to a ‘succeed- at – any- cost mentality’. They (steroids) shape how young athletes look and act, and eventually what their Coaches tolerate or expect.
This only goes to show that high schools need to, in a way ‘scare’ the high school population into not using these banned substances. In April 2005, 7 Daniel High school students- including 2 football players were caught with steroids in school and subsequently arrested (Duffy). Even though these athletes were caught most schools don’t even test for steroids. The State of Connecticut doesn’t even have a set form of testing (for steroids) in the state (Duffy). That just shows that the prevention of steroids all starts with the testing for steroids and then punishment comes after.

Professional athletes have tremendous amounts of success. Lately a lot of this success has been due to steroids. In major league baseball, very conservatively, 5-7% of players tested positive for anabolic- androgenic steroids (Wadler). Notable players include: Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, and last but not least Barry Bonds (Balco). Three players to focus on are Clemens, Bonds, and Rodriguez. According to Major League Baseball’s stat bureau, Roger Clemens who has 354 wins under his belt, is a rare member in the “300” club. He was also an athlete who used steroids. Barry Bonds is the home run king. He hit 762 home runs in his 22 year career, the most all time. He was also a steroid user. Lastly, Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez, he is the youngest player to hit 600 home runs, member of the 40 Stolen Bases, 40 Home-runs, and also a steroid user. When a student athlete sees the amounts of success these Professional athletes have dominating sports, they want to have the same achievements and fortune of these men. But unfortunately the only answer to them is steroids.

Steroids are used because high school student are not educated and are hoodwinked into using steroids. “It has been estimated that at least 700, 000 high school students use anabolic steroids and that at least 2/3 of them begin use by age 16.”(All You Need to Know about Teenage steroid Use). These statistics prove students need to be better educated and great athletes’ skills are emulated and so are their training regimens including the use of drugs. “Every coach in the area should really start to educate his or her players.” (Duffy). If players are not educated by their coaches, those players will most likely fall into the trap of steroids, fame and fortune which later leads to the desire of success more than anything. Taylor Hooton was a 16 year old boy from Plano, Texas. Taylor was named to Texas’ Top 15 most powerful people playing varsity baseball as a sophomore in high school. Taylor used steroids and Taylor had success due to steroids like many professionals, it’s hard to avoid them when “people think ‘well professional athletes are doing it and look how successful they are’” (Hooton). This proves the lack of education in high school. In July of 2003 Taylor Hooton took his own life. Taylor suffered from depression and was an admitted steroid user. “Nobody can prove that steroids triggered Taylor’s suicide. But tests showed no other drugs in his system, and one 1995 study found that steroid withdrawal can cause depression” (Middlemen). Steroids last in the human body for about 2-3 weeks after stoppage in use. Taylor was without steroids for about 2 weeks before his suicide. Taylor was just a normal teenage baseball player with a dream but success and drugs interfered, and turned what were his ‘dreams’, into a nightmare. Students are heavily influenced by the steroid use of professional athletes, because of their success. There is no evidence supporting otherwise. Steroids come in many styles and shapes, these drugs start in high school but some middle school students are catching on, consequences of steroids are severe but ignored, and it all start in the Major Leagues. After all the success that pros and now students are having because of steroid use it is safe to assume that steroids bring a loss of integrity and dejection to the meaning of sports, and why we play them.

Works Cited
"All You Need to Know About Teenage Steroid Use." Body Building Supplements. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.
Balco. "List of Players Linked to Steroids And/ or Human Growth Hormone." Baseball 's Steroid Era, 2007. Web. 14 Apr. 2011.
Blachflower, Jim. "Hormaonal Manipulation by Athletes." Biological Sciences Review (2002). Nov. 2002. Web. 8 Apr. 2011.
Brooks, Annie. Review. Health 2, A Weekly Reader Publication Sept. 1992: 19+. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
Duffy, Kevin. "High School Coaches Lament Alleged Steroid Ring, Defend Their Programs." Conneticut Post. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
"Good Sports." Review. The Christian Century 2005: 122+. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 4 Apr. 2011.
Middlemen, Amy B. "Pediatrics About Pediatrics." Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. (1994). Web. 4 Apr. 2011.
Mlb.com Stat Bureau. The Official Site of Major League Baseball | MLB.com: Homepage. Web. 1 May 2011.
Price, Sean. "Roid Rage: The Steroids Taylor Hooton Took to Make His Body Bigger." Review. Scholastic Choices Jan. 2006: 10+. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
Wadler, Gary I. "Doping in Sports." Rev. of Steroids And Supplements. World Almanac Education Group 2005: 12+. Web. 4 Apr. 2011.

Cited: "All You Need to Know About Teenage Steroid Use." Body Building Supplements. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. Balco. "List of Players Linked to Steroids And/ or Human Growth Hormone." Baseball 's Steroid Era, 2007. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. Blachflower, Jim. "Hormaonal Manipulation by Athletes." Biological Sciences Review (2002). Nov. 2002. Web. 8 Apr. 2011. Brooks, Annie. Review. Health 2, A Weekly Reader Publication Sept. 1992: 19+. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. Duffy, Kevin. "High School Coaches Lament Alleged Steroid Ring, Defend Their Programs." Conneticut Post. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. "Good Sports." Review. The Christian Century 2005: 122+. InfoTrac Student Edition. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. Middlemen, Amy B. "Pediatrics About Pediatrics." Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. (1994). Web. 4 Apr. 2011. Mlb.com Stat Bureau. The Official Site of Major League Baseball | MLB.com: Homepage. Web. 1 May 2011. Price, Sean. "Roid Rage: The Steroids Taylor Hooton Took to Make His Body Bigger." Review. Scholastic Choices Jan. 2006: 10+. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. Wadler, Gary I. "Doping in Sports." Rev. of Steroids And Supplements. World Almanac Education Group 2005: 12+. Web. 4 Apr. 2011.