Many of my fondest memories as a child have one common denominator -- baseball. I remember the satisfaction of throwing the ball exactly where I had intended to, or diving in the outfield and feeling the faint sting of the baseball against my palm as I made the catch, or the embrace of my teammates as they celebrate my game-winning hit.  The joy experienced in these moments is not unique to myself, nor is it unique to the mind of a child. The I would do anything to experience that moment again is an often reflected sentiment baseball players have. What if that phrase wasn't merely dramatic hyperbole, but rather something said literally? This is the crossroads that a player reaches when he decides to use performance enhancing drugs (hereafter PEDs) in an effort to become a better/more consistent baseball player. PEDs have permeated almost every level of baseball from high school to professional baseball and they have a detrimental effect on many aspects of baseball and American culture. The use of PEDs gives a player an advantage over a player not using PEDs. This unfair advantage warrants the exclusion of PED users from Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame.

Baseball has long been hailed as America's pastime and that is not a term thrown around lightly. Baseball extends its roots all the way back into the 19th century and because of this, it has been long steeped in tradition. No other American sport has entertained and captivated its fans for as long as baseball has. The beauty of a baseball ballpark tugs at our inner being, the inner being that longs to play outside, enjoying the warm summer sun. There is nothing natural about a basketball court or a tennis racket, but the fact that baseball is a game played outside on a beautifully groomed combination of grass and dirt brings feelings of happiness and adventure that many people can connect with. Beauty is subjective but none can argue with the value-building and team-oriented game that is baseball. It takes a collective effort from every one of the players in order to succeed. A spectacular diving play by an infielder is just that, a spectacular play, but it is not counted as an out until he throws the ball to the first baseman. For a team to succeed, mere individual performance is not enough. A collective effort of all its members and a team oriented mindset is needed. Baseball is more than just a game to many people, it's a part of family. For almost every Major League team there are generations of families who have been cheering and bonding around that team. Take the New York Yankees for example. Fathers have been bringing their sons to Yankees games for over a hundred years, discussing the importance of hard work, dedication, perseverance, intelligence, and working together as a team to succeed. Many kids grew up having a favorite player. That favorite player stood to personify a boy's dream of who he wants to be when he grows up. Baseball has, for generations, taught children that if they worked hard enough, they could have the success of the role models they grew up admiring. Not every kid can be a Major League Baseball (hereafter MLB) player, but this message of hard work, dedication, and working as a team is a message that transcends the game of baseball and assists in building strong character in our youth.

 What if this message of values and morals is slowly losing its potency? What if our youth is losing respectable role models who they can emulate and dream of becoming? The inclusion of PEDs in the game of baseball is a poison and it has spread like a cancer in all levels of baseball. The steroid era of baseball in the 90's and 2000's taught our youth that it wasn't how hard you worked, it was what kind of supplement you were taking and with how much guile were you taking it. PEDs have been used and abused by many players over the years which tells us one thing: they work. Yet still, they have their consequences. 

A landmark report was published in 2007 called the Mitchell Report. The report got its name after George J. Mitchell, a former Senator who collaborated with Major League Baseball and investigators in order to unveil the shady underworld of PED users who were or had been using while in the Major Leagues. The 409-page report names 89 players who violated MLB's drug policy (Mitchell). Many of these players were megastars and role models like Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Gary Sheffield. The substances abused included amphetamines, steroids, and growth hormones. Amphetamines have been abused for a long time and they are the original "performance enhancer." Amphetamines are a stimulant; a drug that increases competitiveness, increases reaction time, and increases awareness (MacAuley 211). These have taken many forms over the years but perhaps none as ubiquitous as "greenies," a little green pill that was widely circulated around Major League clubhouses from the 1960's-1980's (Chass). As the 80's went on, a noticeable change was beginning to take place with the average MLB player, they were getting bigger, a lot bigger. Thanks to the Mitchell Report and confessions from former players, we now know the reason for this and it wasn't all natural -- it was steroids. 

Steroids stimulate the receptor molecules in muscle cells, which activate specific protein synthesis processes and the anabolic process of tissue growth is underway. Another effect of steroids on the body is its ability to inhibit catabolic metabolism (Fahey). Anabolic metabolism builds tissue, and catabolic metabolism breaks down tissue in order to release energy. By inhibiting the breakdown of tissue (catabolism), an athlete can work harder and longer. Consequently, he can make even more progress with his weight training program. Additionally, anabolic steroids have been shown through scientific research to increase lean body mass. As steroids have gained notoriety in the public eye, they have also become a target for MLB's drug enforcement department. Because of the scrutiny on steroids, players have developed an affinity for a new PED, human growth hormone and its derivatives.

Authors Mary Pilon and Gina Kolata in their New York Times article, "New to Most Fans, IGF-1 Has Long Been Banned as a Performance Enhancer," aim to shed light on a very popular PED, IGF-1. IGF-1 or, Insulin Growth Factor 1, has been around for quite some time, but only recently has MLB added it to their banned list of substances. Animals injected with IGF-1 showed an increase in lean muscle mass, and if injured, recovered much quicker than their non-injected counterparts (Menetrey et al. 133). Athletes use this supplement for similar purposes: increase lean muscle mass and quicker recovery from injury. Dr. Trevor Stitt and his colleagues began looking into the unknown relationship between anabolic and catabolic processes and the factors that catalyze or inhibit each one. IGF-1 is linked with certain molecular mediators in a pathway that is crucial to intracellular signaling, in particular, the signaling that prevents the onset of catabolic processes (Stitt et al. 400). The significance of these findings is the implication that athletes taking IGF-1 supplements have an enhanced ability to grow new tissue and prevent tissue breakdown. Research by Dr. Jacques Menetrey and Dr. Hau Liu has lead to similar findings. Young, fit men given doses of human growth hormone or IGF-1 containing supplements, when compared with the control group, were found to have significantly more lean muscle mass (Liu et al. 747). Additionally, Dr. Menetrey's work on mice involved lacerating mice with soft tissue wounds, and measuring recovery time via different methods of supplementation. Mice given IGF-1 and other growth hormone factors healed at a significantly quicker rate. Therefore, whether it be amphetamines, steroids, or growth hormone injections, PEDs of all kinds have a real performance enhancing result on an athlete. That much is clear. But why do baseball players take these supplements? Besides amplifying athletic performance, what if these guys are taking these drugs simply to keep up with the competition or, perhaps, to get back on the field quicker after an injury? Conceivably, the reason for use may not be as deceitful and immoral as one might think when reading the latest headline involving a drug scandal.

In HBO's "Real Sports with Byrant Gumble," a man gives a remarkably candid interview on the prevalence of steroid and PED use in professional baseball. This man speaks under the cover of darkness and utilizes vocal distortions to hide his identity. This man's opinion is that the percentage of players using PEDs is so high that if a player wants to have a chance at making a team and making an impact, he has to take these drugs in order to stay relevant (Danesters). The turnover rate in professional baseball is incredibly high and if a player is not producing or progressing, he becomes irrelevant. Having played professional baseball for many years, he informs us that the fans would be shocked to know how many of their favorite players are PED users, albeit players much better at not getting caught. This man also argues that PEDs do not make a poor athlete a great athlete, they simply enhance performance. There has to be innate athletic ability. He also argues that the drugs will not enhance a player's ability to make decisions regarding which pitches to swing at or what pitches to throw, nor will they enhance one's hand-eye coordination. Jay Hoffman, a professor of exercise physiology, reveals a similar sentiment while he is interviewed by Adam Hadhazy of the Scientific American. Dr. Hoffman believes that the value in steroids is simply the ability they give athletes to train longer, recover from injuries faster, and possibly to react quicker, but he firmly believes they do not give you the skill required to be great at a specific sport (Hoffman). With the kind of money these players have the chance to make (the average MLB salary is $4 million dollars (Berg)), Barry Petchesky of Deadspin asks the question, "why don't we let injured athletes use PEDs?" Barry points out that with science clearly showing the expedited recovery that some PEDs offer, athletes should have legal access to them because of the relatively short amount of time they have to capitalize on the large amounts of money able to be made (Petchesky). The simple response to this question would be, performance enhancing drugs are illegal and therefore using them is cheating. It really is as simple as that.

A counterargument made by a surprisingly large amount of athletes follows the logic common among adolescents -- everyone's doin' it. That is not to say that peer pressure is a culprit for widespread PED use in Major League baseball, but it does mean that a player feels indirect pressure to use when he sees his teammates and opposition performing with better results, knowing that they are taking drugs. He knows that he will soon become obsolete and pushed out of the game if he does not keep up with the competition. Whether using to keep up with the competition, to get back on the playing field quicker after injury, or simply to try to elevate personal abilities, players seem to be negating one very important factor, perhaps the only important factor, that PED use is not legal. It's cheating. It's wrong. The biggest issue with the complete negation of the rules and regulations that govern baseball is the message this deliberate break in the rules sends to our youth. Players who do not possess enough talent to become a bona fide Major League baseball player simply take some PEDs, start hitting more home runs or throwing the ball harder and then they find themselves relevant and in the middle of a lucrative contract. 

Take this other scenario for example: a player spends his off days partying hard, doesn't eat well or sleep well, nor does he take care of his body, and his body breaks down. Meanwhile, his teammate is in bed by 11 every night, works hard to keep his muscles strong and loose, and spends his spare time studying his opponents so that he can be a better player. The player who doesn't take care of his body gets injured, takes some PEDs, gets back on the field quick and takes the job of his hard working teammate who believes using PEDs is immoral and dishonest. Is it right to reward taking the easy way out? Do we want our youth understanding that it's not how hard you work but, rather, how much you're willing to cheat and cut corners that is the difference between making a dream a reality and moving on with life? The answer should be a clear and unanimous no. The generation of our father's and grandfather's had role models to look up to on MLB teams and we need the same role models for our youth's generation. They need players who invigorate a hard working, respectful, and earnest drive for success. They do not need to be reminded with every PED scandal that they can be millionaires and famous with as little as a willingness to put PEDs into their bodies. Furthermore, it is inexplicable to imagine rewarding the career of a player of low integrity, low moral character, and high greed with an induction to Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame. An induction into the Hall of Fame to a former PED user would be culmination of what-never-should-have-been and to think a cheater would be rewarded with such an honor is disconcerting, to say the least. 

It is in human nature to find the easiest way to do something, and that in and of itself is not wrong. But when the easiest way is also an illegal way, and the person taking the easy way is someone with thousands of fans around the world, a change needs to take place. Those is the public eye of our youth need to be held at a higher standard of moral conduct. The Mitchell Report unearthed a small sliver of the underbelly of MLB baseball, the underbelly containing those of low integrity and character. Science has illustrated why these players use PEDs: they have the remarkable ability to develop greater physical beings. Sure, these enhanced beings can produce incredible numbers, numbers worthy of Hall of Fame inclusion, but the Hall of Fame wasn't meant to welcome to cheaters and abusers. "The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a non-for-profit educational institution dedicated to preserving the history of the game, honoring its outstanding contributors and connecting generations of fans ... " This summarizing statement of the Hall of Fame's significance was taken directly from the Hall of Fame's website. It is a place of ideals, holding in it the names of seemingly super-humans who were truly remarkable in both their natural abilities and their drive for success. We do not include the heads of the cartels on Forbes list of most successful businessmen, and nor should we include the men who partake in illegal activity in the hallowed Hall of Fame. The baseball writers who vote to induct players in the Hall of Fame have a responsibility to uphold the sanctity of its membership, and a responsibility to send a message to our nation's youth: a strong work ethic, determination, perseverance, and respect for the rules will always be rewarded, possibly with a place in baseball's Hall of Fame. 

