Baseball is known to many around the world as "America's Pastime." However, in the past year baseball has becoming known as an entirely different game. Baseball is rapidly becoming a game of politics and denial. In an article in Sports Illustrated columnist Tom Verducci inquired, "Is Baseball in an asterisk era?" The frightening thing is that the answer might be "yes." If it is proven that some of the baseball players that have set records in the past few years have been using illegal performance enhancing drugs, it could cause chaos. This madness would not only apply to the record books but for top executives of baseball as well. Baseball is currently the only professional sport that lacks a drug testing and punishment policy, but after many questions, speculations, and recent confessions, who knows if it will change its guidelines?.
In the history of major league there have been some great power hitters. Men like Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth hit loads of homeruns and helped their team win games with their hitting. But in comparison to hitters of today their numbers are being dwarfed. "In the 70 seasons between 1928 and 1997, Roger Marris was the only man to hit 60 or more home runs, but from 1998 to 2001 the record was eclipsed six times (Verducci). Hank Aaron, who is known as the all-time power king, never had a fifty-homer season; nonetheless he hit 755 home runs in his career. It is difficult to compare these sluggers to the power hitters of today because of the lack of technology in equipment in their playing days, but there is still an undeniable trend to be seen here. .
Though many deny that baseball players are using steroids the facts to support that the theory are building fast. Former All-Star baseball players Jose Canseco and one time MVP Ken Caminiti recently revealed that they both had used and seen others using steroids while they were playing. Ken Caminiti admitted that he was using steroids during the season when he won his MVP.
