Before we get into the discussion about whether or not the players should be tested, we should discuss what steroids are. “Steroids are a critical component in almost all living organisms, including animals, plants, and even bacteria. Right around the time of the Second World War, scientists began to experiment with artificially created sex hormones called anabolic steroids (Weber 1).” There are other types of steroids that people take for medical reasons. Mostly these s

The newest proposal suggested by the owners would call for more extensive drug testing where players have to submit to a steroid drug test three times a year, and one drug test per year for recreational drugs. This takes away the randomness of the testing which the players have been opposed to for decades. The players union recommends a steroid test for only those players with “reasonable cause,” and how the proposals will affect player salary, benefits and other financial concerns. But things are looking up in a direction that some sort of testing will come out of all of this. A recent poll by USA Today that polled 750 players, 79% would accept independent testing for steroids and other illegal performance enhancing drugs (USA Today 1).

You might be thinking, well what’s the big deal about using steroids, they can’t be that bad for you. “Typical problems you will find in people who abuse anabolic steroids include liver tumors and cancer, jaundice, retention of fluid, high blood pressure, hear attacks and strokes, increases in LDL, kidney cancer, acne and trembling. Men may find their testes shrink, sperm count falls with increase of infertility, their hair falls out, breasts start to develop, and prostate cancer becomes more likely. Women can start looking like men: growing beards, going bald, and voice breaking (Dixon 3).” Why would anyone want to use a drug that could do things like that to you? “Anabolic steroids are designed to mimic the bodybuilding traits of testosterone (Anabolic 2).” They don’t directly improve agility, skill or strength what they do is increase the bodies ability to increase proteins which are the building blocks of muscles.

Unlike the NBA or the NFL, baseball doesn’t randomly test its players for any chemical substances. So there has been a lot of speculation about how many players are actually on steroids. Nobody knows for sure if steroid use is an epidemic or simply isolated to a few bad eggs. Many people believe that one way to dispel any rumors about steroid use would be to have random testing. So what’s the problem? The clash of the issue ultimately comes down to the Players’ Association against the MLB owners. The Players’ are opposed to the testing and the owners are in favor of it. Another suspicion that arises from this is why the p

Some topics in this essay:
Brioso USA, League Baseball, Albert Belle, Chris Renaldo, World War, , NBA NFL, Association MLB, Ken Caminiti, Soon Caminiti, using steroids, anabolic steroids, baseball players, testing players, sort testing, favor testing, major league baseball, injuries increased, homeruns bonds, test players, league baseball, bonds using steroids,