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Jaime Garcia

Mrs. Litle

English 121-001

22 April 2019

Anabolic Steroids in Baseball

Performance Enhancing drugs or most commonly known as PEDs, are a group of

anabolic steroids that can be used to strengthen the body in a much faster way (Collier). These

steroids are mostly made of testosterone, a hormone that helps to build the muscles. PEDs, for a

very long time, have been used by athletes of all kinds of sports, but we can find this use more

commonly in baseball. The use of these substances, apart from being considered a way of

cheating, can bring more negative side effects that are not worth the trouble because of what

occurs when using them. PEDs are substances that have a huge impact in our body, and the main

advantage that this gives to the athletes is making them more durable, meaning that they can

resist harder exercises routines and still recover from them, and making them stronger, meaning

they can lift more weights or run faster (Collier). Even though that PEDs have incredible results

in our body strength, they are harmful to our kidneys and heart and they can grow addiction in

their users.

In baseball, athletes that use these substances are penalized and can miss some baseball

games, to an entire season, depending on how much quantities and for how much time they have

been using steroids (Tures). Hitters that use steroids look to improve their battings stats, making

them produce more home runs or hits, which are beneficial to the team they are playing with

because this means they can score more runs to help the team win easier. An average baseball
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player can make around from ten to twenty home runs in a season, and a strong baseball player

can double the amount making around thirty to forty home runs a season, but when we put

steroids in the formula, the average player can hit like the strongest player in the league and a

strong player with steroids can produce an outstanding number of home runs that will depend on

his ability to hit the ball. Pitchers in the other hand, look forward to get better pitching stats, they

want to throw the ball harder so hitters have less reaction time. Pitchers on average can throw

ninety mph fastballs and the distance from the home plate to the mound is only sixty feet and six

inches (18.44 meters). If you do the math, this leaves the hitter with a reaction time of 0.45

seconds. A pitcher that use steroids can throw a ball way harder than he can naturally can, for

example if a pitcher throws ninety-five mph and he takes steroids he can easily reach one

hundred mph leaving a hitter with a reaction time around 0.39 seconds. The difference of this

number may not look huge at first sight, but when the spectators see it in a game, they can

clearly see how a hitter struggles against these types of throws.

Steroids may give baseball athletes huge advantages, like I mentioned, but they can be

extremely harmful to their users. First of all, steroids are highly addictive, making users take

more and more in even bigger quantities than the previous times. Steroids also are bad for the

kidneys, making them work harder to keep our bloodstream clean, but this extra work brings

disease to the kidneys. Cardiac problems can be also presented if steroids are used, when steroids

are used by a normal person or athlete, the heart seems to pump blood with more difficulty and

it’s harder for the heart to relax, this means that heart attacks can be more likely to happen

(“Anabolic Steroids Increase Risk for Heart Disease in Young and Middle-Aged Men”).

In baseball history we can see how many players had used anabolic steroids, but

examples like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens can be highlighted. Barry Bonds is the all-time
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best hitter in baseball and he haves the record for most home runs in a season with seventy-three,

a number that is absurd compared to an average baseball player. Roger Clemens was a pitcher,

and with the help of steroids he was considered unbeatable. No hitter could hit against him,

making him an all-star pitcher that was feared among other teams. Barry Bonds and Roger

Clemens, even though they used steroids, were amazing and talented players but they received a

lot of help from these substances and some people want them to be a part of the Hall of Fame of

baseball (“Don’t let cheaters into the hall of fame”). If this happens, it wouldn’t be appropriate or

fair for other players because these men were cheaters. Accepting them in the Hall of Fame

would bring more negative points than positives. For example, this would influence younger

generations to use steroids thinking that this will be all right because their “heroes” used them

(Tures).

Even though steroids in baseball are illegal and penalized for their use, some people

claims that these substances do not make a big difference. They support the careers of

exceptional players like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, even supporting their use of steroids.

These people claims that steroids did not affect the previously named player’s career that much,

and they claim that they were born with a natural talent and that steroids just were a small help.

We cannot deny that they had amazing careers and achievements that we never thought someone

would achieve, but the use of steroids should be considered.

In conclusion, anabolic steroids can make normal athletes into superstars but with a high

price. Health risks should be considered when these products are used, as well that if you get

caught you will mostly be penalized in any sport, meaning you will have to stop playing for a

certain time or pay an amount of money to the organization you are playing with. Status as an

honest player will definitely change if you get caught using these banned substances, and you
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will be considered a cheater. With steroids (even though that they can make you the player you

want to be) you will never be rewarded of what you do, if you even break all world records in

baseball. Your reward will still be considered fake.

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Works Cited

“Don’t Let Cheaters into Baseball’s Hall of Fame” The Washington post, The Washington Post,

January 6 of 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/theres-no-cheating-in-

baseball/2017/01/06/3c70cbfc-d202-11e6-9cb0-

54ab630851e8_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.eca2e1478c43, April 22 of 2019

Collier, Robert “How Steroids Fundamentally Changed Baseball” SportTechie, SportTechie,

March 17 of 2015, https://www.sporttechie.com/how-steroids-fundamentally-changed-

baseball/, April 22 of 2019

Tures, John “Once Again, No Steroids in Baseball, For Now…” LiketheDew, LikeTheDew

January 27 of 2019, https://likethedew.com/2019/01/27/once-again-no-steroids-in-

baseball-for-now/#.XK7MF-hKiUk, April 22 2019

“Anabolic Steroids Increase Risk for Heart Disease in Young and Middle-Aged Men”

CardioSmart, CardioSmart, July 7 of 2017, https://www.cardiosmart.org/News-and-

Events/2017/07/Anabolic-Steroids-Increase-Risk-for-Heart-Disease-in-Young-and-

MiddleAged-Men, April 22 of 2019