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Will Creech

Ms. Sanchez
English IV
28 April 2015
Steroids and the Hall of Fame
Should steroid users be inducted into the Major League Baseball hall of fame? Anabolic
Steroids are synthetic substances related to naturally produced male sex hormones such as
testosterone. (Sterngass). These anabolic steroids cause athletes to gain an extreme amount of
muscle mass in a short amount of time. When a person works out and lifts heavy weights their
muscles tear, and when the muscle heals its comes back stronger than before.
Anabolic Steroids produce increases in strength and allow a person to train longer and harder
(Sterngass 7). MLB players that have used steroids should not be able to be inducted into the
Hall of Fame, because players who take Steroids are cheating our national pastime, steroid use
can be coercive and harm others, and they influence younger players that look up to them.
Professional players who use steroids cheat the US national pastime. In sports, the rule book
cannot possibly eliminate all ambiguity (Sterngass 79). However, steroid use can be restricted.
Steroid users believe it is a fair competitive environment if all athletes competing in a sport
decide to use anabolic steroids (Sterngass 83). Athletes should not have this mindset. Just
because some players are cheating the game does not mean they have to as well. Cheating by
definition is to act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, especially in a game or
examination, and this is exactly what steroid users are doing to the game of baseball. In 1939
Lou Gehrig was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Gehrig finished his

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career with 2721 hits, 493 Home Runs, and 1995 rbis. Gehrig is considered one of the best
players to ever play the game and he never took steroids or performance enhancing drugs. Mark
McWire, who in 1998 hit 70 Home Runs, finished his career with 1626 hits, 583 Home runs, and
1414 rbis. Gehrig played in the Major Leagues for 17 years and McWire played for 16. This
proves that honest hard work can beat that of a player who takes steroids.
Steroids use can be coercive. Athletes can peer pressure other players to take steroids.
However, a powerful argument can be made that steroid use hurts other people, specifically
athletes who are pressured to take it against their will in order to compete (Sterngass 84).
Anabolic Steroid use is proven to cause health problems, not initially, but over a period of time.
Hundreds of elite athletes have complained that they are forced to use steroids in order to
compete against other top athletes who are also using drugs (Sterngass 84). Professional sports
can be a tough enironvent, but athletes should not be pressured to take steroids. Another reason
that Major League Players give in when forced to take steroids are that they realize they if they
take the drug that means more success. Success can make an athlete rich and famous while
failure can leave the same person injured, broke, and unemployed (Sterngass 84). Elite athletes
take drugs because they are hyper-competitive, but also because their livelihood depends on their
success.(Sterngass 84). Some athletes feel compelled to use steroids and therefore run medical
risks they otherwise would not choose to run (Sterngass 84). This proves that coercive steroid
use can be harmful. This also shows bad leadership and bad sportsmanship as a teammate. Who
forces, or encourages another teammate to take a drug when they know the risks of taking
anabolic steroids? Steroid users say that elite sports is already a coercive environment (Sterngass
85). Even though this might be true, a certain amount of the coercive environment comes from

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taking steroids, because the use of steroids causes a more competitive environment in which the
only way that athletes can find success is by taking steroids. If not influenced by teammates they
are influenced, or forced to take steroids by the environment of Major League Baseball. In the
end, the final choice still rests with the individual (Sterngass 85). No one is forced to become a
competitive athlete (Sterngass 85).
Professional athletes who take Anabolic steroids influence younger players. Young people in
the United States look up to athletes as role models (Sterngass 85). If elite athletes take steroids,
they are no longer suitable as role models and the public has lost a significant benefit (Sterngass
85).I think its important to get the message out that we should not use drugs. I think we have a
certain obligation as athletes to inspire young people. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Sterngass 85).
Children see athletes take drugs and have no respect for the rules of game (Sterngass 86). In one
study, more than half of adolescents believed it is common for famous athletes to use steroids or
other banned substances in order to get an edge (Sterngass 86). If athletes send the message that
illegal steroid use is acceptable, more young people will use these substances to copy famous
figures (Sterngass 86). It has been shown that when an extremely successful athlete is caught
using steroids, steroid use increases among young adults. Mark McGwire admitted to using
andro in 1998. The next year, sales of that (then-legal) steroid precursor increased more than
1,000 percent. By 2001, 8 percent of male high school seniors had used andro during the prior
year. If youth are mimicking a basketball- shot style, a touchdown dance or a clothing style,
whats to say that they wont use the same performance-enhancing drugs that their idols use.
"How Do Role Models Affect Our Youth?". Its only when youth have positive role models that
the use of performance-enhancing drugs will decrease "How Do Role Models Affect Our

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Youth?". Youth have watched the progression of steroids through the years and the perceived
benefits are outweighing the negative effects in their minds. "How Do Role Models Affect Our
Youth?". Professional athletes in the Major Leagues need to consider how the effect other people.
If they knew that these adolescents were risking there lives to be more like them, would they still
want to be a role model, or would they feel guilty?
There is a debate of whether athletes should take steroids despite the health risks. Initially,
Anabolic Steroids do provide some health benefits. Besides making muscles bigger, anabolic
steroids may help athletes recover from a hard workout more quickly by reducing the muscle
damage that occurs during the session (Mayoclinic). This enables athletes to work out harder and
more frequently without overtraining. (Mayoclinic). Anabolic steroids have been shown to
increase lean body mass and create a dose related muscle hypertrophy response (Position
Statement). These effects have been found to enhance the appearance and performance of the
athlete (Position Statement). Steroids reduce fatigue and enhance physical performance, allowing
athletes to perform physically demanding activities without exhaustion (Ketchum). When taken
in cycled doses, steroids allow athletes to continually increase endurance levels, achieving results
that might not be possible otherwise, both in training and on the field (Ketchum). The euphoric
feelings created by steroids lead to enhanced aggressiveness and drive in competition (Ketchum).
Steroids also improve recovery rates, reduce pain, promote leanness and muscle definition and
can create positive euphoric feelings, which lead to increased confidence (Ketchum). The drugs
most notably serve as part of effective treatments for cancer and other muscle deteriorating
diseases, but also help treat Alzheimers disease, hormonal disorders, asthma, kidney problems,
Bells palsy and facial paralysis (Ketchum).Someone can gain 4 to 11 pounds of muscle after

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using steroids for 10 weeks, according to a 2007 study by Ohio State University (Bernhard).
Although steroids can build muscle and allow athletes to have an edge mentally, and physically it
is not fair to all the other athletes playing the sport. It is also not fair to the tradition of the game
of baseball.
One example of steroid use and how it effects an athletes career is Alex Rodriguezs journey
with Performance Enhancing Drugs. For 21 tumultuous months, New York Yankees superstar
Alex Rodriguez has defiantly maintained he never used banned substances from a Coral Gables
anti-aging clinic, that he was the victim of a witch hunt, that his suspension from baseball was
unjust and that he would fight to the end to clear his name. (Weaver). Yes, he bought
performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis of America, paying roughly $12,000 a month
over about two years to fake doctor Anthony Bosch (Weaver). Yes, the Biogenesis owner gave
him pre-filled syringes for hormone injections into his stomach, and even drew blood from him
in the mens room of a South Beach nightclub (Weaver). Less than three weeks before his date
with the prosecutors and the Drug Enforcement Administration, an arbitrator reduced his Major
League Baseball suspension from 211 to 162 games (Weaver). According to the DEAs report of
investigation, Rodriguez used substances prohibited by Major League Baseball from late 2010
to October 2012 (Weaver).
In conclusion, Steroid use should not exist in any sport whether it be Basketball, Football, or
Baseball. It impacts the value of the sport and also the value of themselves. Steroids can cause a
lot of problems, morally, socially, and legally. Steroid use should not be tolerated in way or
fashion. In the end, steroids will always exist and someone will always take them, but hopefully
in the near future we can crack down and cease the use of steroids in all sports.

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