Steroid Slugging Research Paper

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Slugging and Drugging One of the most unethical actions baseball players can commit is to substitute sweat for steroids. Steroid use in the game of baseball has transformed the sport from America’s National Pastime into, well, a nine-man bodybuilding competition. In the days of Joe DiMaggio and Stan Musial, baseball was composed of lean hitting machines that inflicted fear in opposing pitchers with perfect hand-eye coordination and incredible bat speed. Now guys with more power than an eighteen-wheeler dig into the box looking like a character straight out of a bad Arnold Swarzenegger movie. As in any professional sport the Major League Baseball Association (MLBA) has separated the “pros” from the “rookies,” however recently the MLBA seems…show more content…
These drugs include not only human growth hormones (HGH) but also an array of legal and illegal stimulants, ranging from amphetamines to Ritalin to ephedrine-laced dietary supplements (Verducci 1). The newest, hot selling steroid is tetrahydrogestrinone also known as “the clear.” Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) is a designer steroid. A “designer steroid” is a synthetic steroid created as a modification of another anabolic steroid by chemical engineers who have access to labs and raw chemical compounds required to produce these new molecules. THG is a slightly altered form of steroid related to gestrinone and grenbolone. Gestrinone is used legally in Europe to treat endometriosis, a painful condition caused by uterine tissue growing in the pelvic area of some women. Grenbolone is a steroid used by cattle producers to bulk up their herds (“THG” 1). Categorized as an anabolic steroid, THG increases muscle strength and encourages new muscle growth, duplicating the effects of the male sex hormone testosterone, thereby allowing the athlete to train harder for longer periods of time (“Dope”…show more content…
In fact, Fehr and the Players Union are also opposed to testing for illegal drugs as they feel that it violates the privacy of the athletes (Leshanski 2). If the union refuses to change its stance and become more receptive to drug testing it is possible that Congress will decide to institute drug testing legislation which undoubtedly would result in years of court battles. As it stands right now Major League Baseball is the only one of the major sports that does not have mandatory drug testing – they even do drug testing in the minor leagues! It is because the minor league players are not eligible for membership in the MLBPA at this point in their careers they cannot be “protected” or shielded by a union that doesn’t give a damn about its members’ health (Verducci 8). In addition to not having a mandatory drug testing policy, presently baseball is the only major sport that does not test for recreational drugs (Verducci 4). In fact the only testing that MLB actually does is a “survey” testing for steroids (a policy which is only valid through the 2004 season). Under this policy players are only allowed to be tested twice a year - once in

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