Preview

Argumentative Essay: Banned Substances In Baseball

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1607 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Argumentative Essay: Banned Substances In Baseball
Banned substances in baseball has been an ongoing issue for Major League Baseball. Several players have come forward in recent years to suggest that drug use is rampant in baseball. David Wells stated that "25 to 40 percent of all Major Leaguers are juiced". Jose Canseco stated on 60 Minutes and in his tell-all book Juiced that as many as 80% of players used steroids, and that he credited steroid use for his entire career. Ken Caminiti revealed that he won the National League MVP award while on steroids. In February 2009, after reports emerged alleging that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in, a year in which he was American League MVP, he admitted to having used performance-enhancing drugs between and 2003. Mark McGwire, dogged …show more content…
In the book, Canseco named several other players, including Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, and Jason Giambi, as steroid users. The book caused great controversy, and most of these players have claimed Canseco's implications to be false, though McGwire and Giambi have since admitted to using PEDs, and Palmeiro has tested positive.
Canseco released another book, Vindicated, about his frustrations in the aftermath of the publishing of Juiced. In it, he discusses his belief that Alex Rodriguez also used steroids. The claim was eventually proven true with Rodriguez's admission in 2009, just after his name was leaked as being on the list of 103 players who tested positive for banned substances in Major League Baseball. As of July 2013, Alex Rodriguez was again under investigation for using banned substances provided by Biogenesis of America. He was ultimately suspended for the entirety of the 2014 season.
Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids throughout his professional baseball career. The admission of steroid use caused many cases of questioning of whether or not his long list of accomplishments should be rebutted. His most famous accomplishment undoubtedly took place in the 1998 season when he broke the single season home run record previously held by Roger

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Since the first PED suspension in April 2005, 39 players have been suspended while on major league rosters. More than 60 others have been suspended while in the minor leagues.” (Gehring 1) In Major League Baseball, performance enhancing drug testing began in 2005, but many athletes thirty-nine to be exact have violate these rules and continued to use steroids. Some of theses athletes such as Manny Ramirez and Rafael Palmeiro have been snubbed by the Major League Baseball ‘s Hall of Fame due to their use of anabolic steroids. These athletes careers have been negatively affected due to their use of steroids and in addition they have put their bodies in jeopardy because of the serious side effects known to anabolic steroid use.…

    • 191 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Chafets response is that even though steroids and anabolic are used by baseball players, the game have changed during the years. But these factors does not alter the game in general and steroids does alter the game. Many athletes recur to drugs to increase their chances to win and it exists more athletes that use this drugs than then society can ever imagine, so statistics change because the game is no longer “real” or honest. Regardless baseball is loved by US citizens.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Bosch agreed to cooperate with MLB's investigation and when that news leaked, we found out MLB was looking at suspending as many as 20 players connected to Biogenesis. Minor and major league players from the Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies were accused of visiting Bosch’s office to receive performance enhancing drug injections. “Major League Baseball has worked diligently with the Players Association for more than a decade to make our Joint Drug Program the best in all of professional sports” protested commissioner Bud Selig following the announcement of suspected PED use by 13 Major League players. “I am proud of the comprehensive nature of our efforts – not only with regard to random testing, groundbreaking blood testing for human Growth Hormone and one of the most significant longitudinal…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    "Juiced" Book Reiview

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Critics view this literary work as an attempt to cash in on a highly controversial and ethical issue. Jose Canseco is characterized as bitter, and angered for having been pushed to the side by the league, owners, and players. His unchanged opinion on the use of steroids and his “irrational” believe that the use of steroids is beneficial, makes critics become furious and they claim Jose Canseco made the allegations to not gain respect or credibility, but to drag down many others with him to include Major league Baseball. The former rookie of the year who was the first player in history to hit…

    • 524 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In February of 2008 Roger Clemens was accused of using performance enhancing drugs or steroids. The case ended in a mistrial due to an invalid video used as evidence. Although he went back to court in 2012. The lead witness…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steroids is a performance enhancing drug use by mostly baseball players. In the article “ Let’s steroids Into the Hall of Fame” by Zev Chafets, agreed that steroids should be let into the Hall of Fame. His reasons were: “ Helps them perform better, heal faster or relax during a long stressful season and calm players nerves. He also goes on and says “ allows fans to see what was really happening.”. Using steroids is cheating and users do not deserve credit for their accomplishments.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Moller also says, “Just as the vast majority of people try marijuana at some point in their lives, the vast majority of baseball players have used steroids” (Moller 549).I’m sure there are plenty of people who have tried marijuana, including baseball players; however, if it’s true that the vast majority of baseball players have used steroids, then we can assume that steroid use is just part of being a baseball player. I hope that that isn’t true, because then baseball isn’t really a sport about skill, rather than who can get their hands on the better…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Unless you are a Yankee's Fan, what you likely know about A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, is that he hits a lot of home runs, but that his records are under scrutiny since he was using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) while he was hitting them. As a result, he had to sit out an entire baseball season and forfeit millions of dollars in salary and millions more in record bonuses including a $6 million bonus for tying Willie Mays career 660 home run mark.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Barry Bonds Research Paper

    • 1590 Words
    • 7 Pages

    At the most basic, athletes use PEDs to improve their skills at a drastically superhuman rate. Jose Canseco, a former outfielder for the Oakland Athletics, credits his success in the major leagues to his abuse of anabolic steroids. He amplified his weightlifting regimen with PEDs before the 1985 season, gaining 25 pounds of muscle in a matter of months. This lead to his promotion from the A’s minor league affiliate to the Major Leagues. Within three years of his major league debut, Canseco became the first player to enter the exclusive 40-40 club, meaning he stole 40 bases and hit 40 home runs in a single season. (Solberg & Ringer 2011, p. 92) Presently, only four players have achieved that feat. Out of Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Alfonso Soriano, only Soriano’s achievement has not been attributed to use of…

    • 1590 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Barry Bond Steroids

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages

    However, although they are marked as great players, they are not the greatest players. The best players are the ones who are hard working and never, ever take a shortcut. The steroids users are the exact opposite of the hard working individuals that should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The steroid users are cheaters that decided to take a shortcut instead of grinding down the long, hard working road that athletes should be recognized for.…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Baseball player Alex Rodriguez went from having a salary of twenty nine million to ending his career shortly, all because of the embarrassment of using Performance Enhancement Drugs (P.E.D.). He was caught using a banned substance and it cost him a season of baseball. Performance Enhancement Drugs are any type of drug that an athlete can take to increase the abilities or performance of themselves. The punishments for violating the Drug policy in sports should be intensified because of the damage done to the person, damage done to the game, and so the athlete can learn their lesson.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    wgu entrance paper

    • 601 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Nearly twenty years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Alex Rodriguez. He was only 19 years old at the time and still very young in his Major League Baseball career. Back then, he was an honest ball player who's goal had finally been accomplished from hard work and dedication to his craft. Over the years Rodriguez would face a number of tough life decisions that would shape his future forever. His decision to cheat destroyed his name and credibility. A vibrant young ball player who had his entire life ahead of him would later become the laughing stock of the Major Leagues.…

    • 601 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Mariano mentions players that have used performance enhancing substances and describes his feelings about how the use of these substances disgraces the game and the players who take them. This is a very controversial topic in sports today and has grown to be a more prominent topic of discussion over the course of history. Although Mariano does criticize cheating in professional sports I think he did not do a great job of discussing some of his teammates involvement with performance enhancing drugs such as Alex Rodriguez. He even defends his teammates at points throughout the story after previously stating his opinion on the use of performance enhancing substances. However, he does explain that he is very loyal to his teammates, and he will never turn his back on them even though he may not agree with some decisions they…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Athletes Taking PEDs

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the past year, there have been many stories about professional athletes getting caught or coming clean with using performance enhancers. Lance Armstrong was stripped of all medals after beingaccused of PEDs. He later came clean to the public, apologizing. He obviously realized he was wrong. Another more recent story is Alex Rodriguez, top paid athlete, is a part of the 20 MLB players listed to receive at least 100 game suspension if proven guilty. In the article, “MLB seeks to Suspend A-Rod, Braun” by T.J. Quinn, Pedro Gomez, and Mike Fish, it explains how at least 20 MLB players are under investigation for using PEDs from Tony Busch (founder of Biogenesis of America). In hopes of making a deal with attorneys Bosch, “…pledged to provide anything in his possession that could help MLB build cases against the players.” (, T.J. Quinn, Pedro Gomez and Mike Fish. "MLB Seeks to Suspend A-Rod, Braun." ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures, 05 June 2013. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.) The MLB suspended 13 players, including Alex Rodriguez for 211 games based off of Busch’s records. Fans everywhere can be arguing or agreeing on this issue. In the case of lance Armstrong, not only was he stripped of medals, his Livestrong foundation dropped him as a spokesman and founder title. Was he wrong for using PEDs? Did he deserve his punishment? These are common questions fans ask each other on this issue.…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Banning Anabolic Steroids

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It has been speculated for many years that some professional athletes were using performance enhancing drugs such as anabolic steroids. The reason so many people were talking about this issue is the fact that all of the sudden there were quite a few players that were hitting many more homeruns than they had previously in their careers. The Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004 was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 22, 2004. This new law closed the legal loophole that allowed the sale in dietary supplements of steroid chemicals used as hormone precursors. The Act was unanimously approved by the United States Senate on October 6, 2004. The Senate bill (S. 2195) was sponsored by Senator Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and had received significant interest in and support from many members of Congress due to concerns about the adverse health effects of steroids and steroid precursors. The House of Representatives passed similar legislation on June 6, 2004. The law was scheduled to go into force 90 days from signing. President Bush elevated the public 's awareness on the use of steroids in sports to national political prominence by mentioning it in the 2004 State of the Union address. "The use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous," he said. "And it sends the wrong message—that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character." Significant interest has arisen in this area in the past few years since the revelation that various high profile professional athletes had taken the controversial substance for increased muscle mass and performance. Mark McGwire, the first baseman for the St Louis Cardinals back in 1998 when he broke the homerun record was allegedly using the steroid androstenedione; a form of anabolic steroids. Anabolic steroids are compounds which exhibit similar pharmacological…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays