Americans have love sports for decades. The Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Basketball Association, and National Hockey League have strict drug policies and punishments. As these have been going on, the nationwide issue involves the use of performance-enhancing steroids. Dave Zirin explains in his book Bad Sports that steroid-users are viewed by fans as cheaters. The problem, steroid enforcement in baseball only punishes the individual that took the steroids. Teammates, coaches, and owners may be well aware of the use and distribution of steroids, but take no action. Should they be punished as well?
After the lockout of 1994 in the MLB, the media and fan base of baseball decline drastically. This called for players to come back with big muscles and powerful hits. Fans began taking interest in the long ball and higher scores then focusing on the skills of baseball itself. Found on Web MD, some side effects of steroids include reduce sperm count, shrinkage of testicles, high blood pressure, and increase chance of liver cancer. Players are sacrificing their bodies by abusing steroids just to get fan interest back in baseball. After the Mitchell Report and other investigations revealed the Steroid Era of baseball, many players came out announcing they used steroids, such as Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. It is easy to assume Barry Bonds was a user, but no "conviction" and proof of use has been brought up. Should he get to keep his shattering home-run record?
However, non-using players are gaining benefits from steroid-users. ESPN's Padilla brings up the advantage Frank Thomas has in his case for trying to be inducted in the hall of fame. While Frank Thomas high numbers of hits and home-runs while he played are little compared to Bonds and Sosa, the fact he played the game straight without steroids makes his chances of entering the Hall of Fame his first time on the ballot very high. Frank Thomas played sixteen years seasons with the Chicago White Sox, registering 521 home-runs and 1704 RBI's over his nineteen year career. Accomplishing this during the steroid era with out the use of steroids makes him a great candidate for the hall of fame.
picture: http://students.cis.uab.edu/af72/Steriods%20in%20Sports.html
http://men.webmd.com/guide/anabolic-steroid-abuse-topic-overview
http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/8884458/frank-thomas-former-chicago-white-sox-great-says-hall-fame-denials-fuel-pride
Dave Zirin, Bad Sports (2012)
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