Steroid Use And Steroids Use - 1076 Words

I can say something that less and less people can say these days; I love baseball. I like football and basketball just as much, but I do love the game of baseball. It’s America’s pastime, what is there not to love. But for some reason the MLB has been clouded with steroid use, more so than a lot of other professional sports leagues. Once I found this section in the readings I wanted to investigate it and dig a little deeper into how big of an issue it really is, and what the league has or has not done about it. Fortunately, this trend has seemed to fade away and become less of a problem. However, I would still like to dive into this subject and see the progression from when steroid use began to peak and see how the league and everyone else†¦show more content†¦This new stricter policy is what would bring the MLB out of the â€Å"steroid-era†. When most people think about PED use in baseball the obvious names come to mind: Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Gary Sheffield. However, some names they are not aware of are Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), or the Biogenesis of America Clinic in Florida. What’s more, it is often unknown that a large majority of the players that have been suspended received their performance-enhancing drugs from those laboratories. According to a CNN article on the timeline of the BALCO scandal, in the early 2000’s BALCO came under investigation by federal agents in California, and by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency who received an anonymous tip that an undetectable, designer steroid was being distributed by the founder of BALCO (â€Å"BALCO Fast Facts,† 2016). MLB athletes named in this case included: Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Jason and Jeremy Giambi, Armando Rios, Benito Santiago, and Bobby Estalella. All of these players were given the steroids by a man named Greg Anderson, who was their trainer. During this investigation, many high profiled play ers were subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury. Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield both testified that they unknowingly took steroids that were given to them by Greg Anderson. Conversely, the rest of the MLB players testifying admitted to taking steroids given to them by Greg Anderson. Though players had been