Abstract

Brandon Condit
Professor Oberlin
May 14, 2009

Abstract
The topic I decided to research was the use of steroids by Major League players in the sport of baseball. Throughout this paper I found out what the policies were and what the penalties are for someone found taking the drugs. The articles that I researched varied from what the side effects are of steroids, to more detailed stories about such well-known steroid users like Mark Mcgwire, and Rafeal Palmerio. Each excerpt that I read had one thing in common each discussed what steroids were and why they are an illegal drug. I found this information to be interesting but my main concern was who should be the one to blame the players, or the organization?
While reading the articles I started to understand why these players did use these drugs. Major League Baseball was the only professional sport not to test for illegal substances until 2001. I personally do not agree that steroids are a good thing, but people must understand that these players saw this as a way to get an edge on the competition. Since there was not a testing policy in place it made it easy for players to get involved with these drugs. Ken Caminiti who is a known steroid user was quoted as saying “ When you look to your left and you see a guy the size of the incredible hulk getting paid double what you do makes your decisions a lot easier”. So as you can see I think the blame should be put mainly on the Major League Baseball organization. I will prove that the steroid era could have been prevented if there had been testing policies earlier than 2001.