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Nick DelBianco
Sarah Crist
English 4
11/7/14
Problems with PEDs
Steroids and baseball have been tied together over the past few decades. Steroids were
really big during the 90s because the policies werent as strict as they are now. Back then players
could get away with using them because the effects of steroids on the game didnt have the
weight it does today. In todays game it is the complete opposite. If players use steroids then they
are bound to be penalized by baseball officials and their reputation is tarnished forever. Three of
the most prominent players over the last 30 years defined by steroid usage were Mark McGuire,
Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. Although all three players were great athletes were great
baseball players their use of steroids cast a shadow over their careers.
Mark McGwire is arguably one of the best homerun hitters in baseball. He sits at No. 8
all-time with 583. During his rookie year McGwire broke the single-season homerun record for
rookies, which was 49 (Fitzpatrick). A lot of people had speculations about McGwire and if he
was taking steroids. At the time, since the Major League Baseball had no major rules on
preventing steroids, no action was taken in investigating performance enhancing drug (PEDs)
usage with McGwire. He did not admit to taking steroids until he broke the single-season
homerun record in 1998 shortly after he retired. McGwire said that the only reason why he used
steroids was to overcome health purposes, not to gain muscle growth or to hit more homeruns
(McGwire). After he admitted to using steroids he called so many former players, coaches,

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family member, friends and anyone who helped him with his baseball career to apologize to
them for what he had done. McGwire called the Commissioner of Major League Baseball and
the St. Louis Cardinals coaching staff, the team he played for when he broke the single-season
homerun record to voice his apology. A lot of reports said that McGwire was very emotional
with what he had to say to everyone and was very apologetic and disappointed in himself for
using steroids. When people found out about what McGwire had done, they disliked him because
he gained all of his success by cheating.
While McGwire is at No. 8 on the all-time homeruns list, Barry Bond is second to no one
with 762 homeruns. Bonds and McGwire were pretty much in the same situation when it came to
steroid usage. But unlike McGuire, Bonds admitted to using steroids towards the end of his
career not after, like McGuire did. There was a lot of speculation towards Bonds and steroid use
but, as in the same cases as McGwire no further action was taken by the MLB. During his
career, Bonds was under suspicion because of the balance scandal. The court has record that
Barry Bonds took anabolic steroids, but Bonds response to that was he took them on advice
from his personal trainer and had no idea they were steroids (Westerdal). A lot of fans say that
you would have been blind to see the drastic change in the amount of homeruns Bonds hit as his
career progressed, nearly doubling in averages (Westerdal). A lot of people still have doubts
on whether his accomplishments should stand knowing that he was on a chemical substance
because he did break one of the most memorable and cherished records in baseball.

The story with Alex Rodriguez is different because he tested positive for using steroids in
2003, the same year he won the American league homerun title and MVP award with the Texas

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Rangers. But during 2003 there were no penalties for positive results so A-rod was still able to
play (Reports). The steroid that A-Rod took is called Primobolan, It improves strength and
maintains lean muscle with minimal bulk development and few side effects. It is not an approved
prescription drug in the United States (Reports). There were suspicions that A-Rod used
steroids when was in high school too. A lot of his teammates in high school said he gained 25
pounds from his sophomore year to junior year (Connor). So he is actually been using steroids
for a long time. There was also a lot of suspicion he was using steroids while playing for the
New York Yankees, and those suspicions were true. He was the youngest player to ever hit 500
career homeruns. A-Rod is currently under a 162 game suspension for being affiliated in the
biogenesis scandal. But he received the short end of the stick because he got caught during a bad
time period because they are very serious about steroid use in the MLB now. Alex got in more
trouble than Bonds and McGwire because back then the rules werent the same as they are now.
When he first came to New York he was a huge deal and everyone liked him because they
thought he had stopped using steroids and he was doing everything on his own. But now that he
got caught again everyone would rather him not come back to play for New York and no one
wants anything to do with him. He went from being a big idol in New York to someone that is
hated by the New York fan base because they cant believe he is doing the same thing that he did
in Texas.
These 3 incredible hitters went from being loved by the baseball fan base to being hated
because they cheated during their careers. Players in the MLB need to stop with PEDs because
if it gets even more out of hand then they will start to lose a percentage of people the love great
game we call baseball. The commissions of baseball should seriously look into letting all of the

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records and achievements stand for players who used steroids because it is big problem and it is
not fair to the players who didnt cheat.

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Works Cited
Connor, Tracy. "A-Rod on 'roids for Years, New Book Claims." NY Daily News. N.p., 30 Apr. 2009.
Web. 09 Nov. 2014.
Fitzpatrick, Laura. "Steroids." Time. Time Inc., 13 Jan. 2010. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.
"McGwire Comes Clean, Admits Steroids Use." ESPN.com. N.p., 12 Jan. 2010. Web. 07 Nov. 2014.
"Report: A-Rod Tested Positive for Steroids in '03." ESPN.com. N.p., 8 Feb. 2009. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.
Westerdal, Mike. "Barry Bonds and Steroid Use." Barry Bonds and Steroid Use. N.p., n.d. Web. 11
Nov. 2014.