Anabolic Steroids are medically defined as "any of a group of usually synthetic hormones that are derivatives of testosterone, are used medically, especially, to promote tissue growth, and are sometimes abused by athletes to increase the size and strength of their muscles and improve endurance" (n.p. Merriam-Webster). Many people don't know what an anabolic steroid is by its medical name but it is recognized by its more common names, performance enhancing drug or just steroids. However, anabolic steroids have many different street names as well, a few examples of these are; roids, juice, gym candy, pumpers and many others. While everyone may call them different names they are still used for the exact same purpose and have the same effects on everyone who takes them. The punishment for using steroids in baseball needs to be strengthened as well as enforced more heavily because the detrimental effects that steroids have on athletes' bodies in Major League Baseball should outweigh any slight positive there could be associated with using them. 

The use of performance enhancing substances is not a new concept, started thousands of years ago and it has become more apparent today due to the higher awareness and better testing. As Michael Grossman said, "Going back to the ancient Olympics athletes used performance enhancing herbs and mushrooms in order to improve their performance in competition by making them faster, stronger or braver" (Grossman 2). While these tactics may have been trivial, the idea to use substances to improve your performance over others was still there. Fast forward a few thousand years and while the technology has improved so no one is eating herbs and mushrooms they are still improving their performance with other substances.  

As technology improves and advances so does medical research. Because of this, the information on the detrimental effects of steroids has become more and more in depth and conclusive. After much testing of the effects, both positive and negative, have now become clear and are scientifically proven. When used in the correct doses as well as the correct circumstances anabolic steroids can be useful and help a patient on his or her way to recovery. The positive medical benefits of steroids are that they help increase the speed as well as the amount in which muscles can grow (Mitchell). This is essential to those who have muscle injuries and are trying to make a quick recovery, especially if they need to be in shape for their jobs. Continually, it reduces the protein breakdown in muscles as well as " ... steroids reduce the soreness that normally results from strenuous exercise ... " said Mitchell, (5-6), this allows someone to workout or do physical therapy everyday instead of having to wait for the lactic acid, what makes you sore, to leave your body. However, when athletes use steroids for personal gain and rather than therapeutic measures the effects become dangerous. This is because they use doses that are " ... 5 to 30 times greater than the level of testosterone naturally produced by the body" (Mitchell 6). While there isn't extensive medical research into the detrimental effects of heavy and continuous steroid use because ethical limitations in the health field the health effects are still very clear. Starting with the mental side effects; many psychiatric symptoms have become clear when taking steroids such as " ... mania, hypomania, and severe depression" (Mitchell 7). Just like any other drug or substance when going through withdrawal the risk of suicide skyrockets (Mitchell 7). This is due to the level of strength as well as feeling the person taking the drugs gets. After a certain period of time that person gains a new standard of what they can do due to the drug so when they come off the drug and return to normal they feel as if they are inferior. Second, the effects steroids have on the heart and cardiovascular system have been tied to many adverse effects such as cholesterol levels as well as being a possible connection to an enlarged heart and heart attacks, specifically in young and middle-aged bodybuilders (Mitchell 7). Thirdly, in oral steroid use there have been adverse effects tied to the liver. A few of the adverse effects are; the liver will start to function less effectively, jaundice, cholestasis, as well as a higher chance of developing tumors and cancer to just name a few of the possible effects (Mitchell 7). While some of these effects can be reversed " ... recurrent use of steroids at high doses can lead to serious liver disorders in the long term" (Mitchell 7). Thirdly, the reproductive system is the most impacted part of the body because of the unnatural increase in testosterone. The many effects include, hypogonadism, the inability of the body to produce testosterone on its own, the reduction in testicular size, and a higher chance in infertility due to the reduction of sperm (Mitchell 7-8). Fourth, if you're an adolescent and you take steroids you can develop musculoskeletal problems. These problems include; " ... Premature fusion of growth plates of the long bones in the legs and arms" and the higher chance of tendon tears (Mitchell 8). While these are not the last of the possible detrimental effects they are the most common other effects. These effects are; severe acne, increase in excess body hair, and a decrease in head hair, and enlargement of male breasts (Mitchell). While steroids are not completely addictive they do have addictive qualities such as "mood swings, fatigue, restlessness, loss of appetite, insomnia, reduced sex drive and the desire to take more steroids" (Mitchell 8-9). Still, after all of these detrimental effects to the human body athletes choose to use steroids to gain an unfair advantage over the majority of players. 

While anabolic steroids are very common there is another drug that is also used, sometimes simultaneously with anabolic steroids, and that drug is HGH or human growth hormone. The human growth hormone is a natural substance found within all humans, it is charge of muscle and organ growth. When taken as an adult it effects the speed in which protein is rebuilt in your muscles. However, unlike anabolic steroids human growth hormone does not increase muscle strength in adults that are in shape (Mitchell 9). The main draw to taking human growth hormone is when an athlete is injured they take it to " ... promote tissue repair and to recover from injury" (Mitchell 10). In many tests for steroids and other performance enhancing drugs human growth hormone goes undetected making it a perfect choice for professional athletes who are trying to stay out of suspension but still looking to gain an advantage. Even though the human growth hormone doesn't have any of the same positive effects it has just as many negative effects. The negative effects are related only to children or adolescents because adults have already maxed out their growth. However, the effects that have been seen are, overgrowth, cancer, arthritis and other injuries related overgrown bones. While human growth hormone is only helpful for those who need to regrow tissue it still has detrimental effects and because of its ability to hide from performance enhancing drug tests the number of baseball players who take it to try and get an advantage is high.  

Major League Baseball is the only sport out of the big four American sports (hockey, football, basketball, and baseball) that are fully guaranteed. This means that no matter what, even if you get hurt one day into your contract you are going to be paid the full amount you sign for. While this may seem obvious to be paid everything you sign for all the other sports are not this way. Football, for example, has the amount you signed for such as $70 million for 10 years, but then there is another number that you are guaranteed to get, such as $50 million over those 10 years. Baseball on the other hand is just one flat number, you sign for $70 million for 10 years, you get paid $70 million over 10 years. Continuously, as of 2014 baseball holds the top 19 out of 20 sport contracts ever signed (Polvinale). Each of the top ten contracts are worth at least $140 million, ranging from seven to ten years in length (Polvinale). The highest paid player in all of sports as of 2014 is Miguel Cabrera with a contract worth $292 million over 10 years (Polvinale). These numbers are staggering, but that only makes the reward so much better if you can get to being apart of those top tier players. Many players would give anything or do anything to even play in the big leagues let alone get paid hundreds of millions of dollars to do so. That only makes the thought of steroids much more enticing. For example, a baseball players OPS is the combination of the batting average and slugging percentage, both of which have formulas to calculate them. In the test that Grossman did they measured the pre steroid era OPS vs the steroid era OPS. This test concluded that from 1994-2004, the steroid era, the average OPS is .104 higher than it was from 1985-1993, the pre-steroid era (Grossman). Out of all of the applicable salaries the average increase between players with an " ... OPS .104 higher is $2,085,438 ... " (Grossman 5-6). That means that if you take steroids, on average, you'll be making over $2 million more than if you weren't. Continually, if the average Major League Baseball player's career is six years then, "This leads to a total increase in salary of $12,512,630" (Grossman 6). Now, this isn't including the monetary cost of the steroids themselves. In the study Grossman did he found that " ... the cost of injectable HGH at $30,000 per year" (Grossman 6). After assuming a 50% premium that brings the cost up to $45,000 a year for the highest quality steroids. Over a six year period that means a player would spend $270,000 on steroids. However, an average player would make $12,242,630 after all expenses paid over a six year period in the MLB. When someone is blinded by millions and millions of dollars they will do anything and everything to take advantage of that opportunity especially if it's as widespread as steroids were.

Why, one might ask, if the cheating has been going on for so long how come there hasn't been more ways to combat to use of them. It wasn't until 1928 that the IAAF, which is the international governing body of track and field, who were the first to put into place the laws we see today (Grossman). However, while those laws were enacted nothing really changed until a Tour De France cyclist died during a stage. Following the autopsy, it " ... revealed that he had been using amphetamines ... " said Osborne (Osborne 4). This terrible event is what got things moving and this is when there was actual progress made. However, with every step forward the anti-doping agencies made and precautions they took those who were taking steroids were taking one step right with them, making it impossible for the agencies to catch up. Even though everyone could see exactly what was happening because as Bob Costas who said "Half the guys on the field look like G. I. Joe. There was an unnatural change in body types taking place" (Costas n.p.). The reason is because of the massive amount of money that could be made by those if they improved their performance even by the slightest amount. 

 The use of steroids in baseball today is rampant and needs stricter rules and regulations to help stop the usage of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Currently, according to an anonymous poll put out by ESPN, found " ... the 143 players polled estimated that 9.4% of current players in the MLB are taking some type of performance enhancing drug" (n.p. Skillin). While the sample size is only about a fifth of the entire MLB, the numbers are still staggering. Nearly 10%, that means that on average 2.2 players on every starting roster is taking steroids or another drug like it. This has to be stopped before the game loses its credibility. Therefore, major league baseball has continuously increased the level of suspensions, most severe of which are in place today. As the law reads, "A player who tests positive for a Performance Enhancing Substance will receive ...  for the first violation an 80 game suspension, for the second violation a 162 game suspension and for a third violation there is permanent suspension from both major and minor league baseball" (help on citation 35). While yes, these suspensions are severe they clearly are not doing enough if 10% of baseball players are still choosing to risk not only losing their jobs but their own well being to get an edge. Part of the problem is that even though baseball knows some of these athletes cheated their records are still held and counted. This question is posed perfectly by John Dechant, a graduate student at Creighton University, John says "Are we to conclude that Barry Bonds was a better home run hitter than Hank Aaron because he hit more career home runs than Aaron? Or are we to disregard Bonds' accomplishments because he used steroids and human growth hormone while playing?" (Dechant 55). There shouldn't even be a question here, if Major League Baseball wants to send a clear message that they do not allow any type of steroid or HGH or any performance enhancing drug they should remove anyone from the record books who is known to have used them. Not only would this make players think twice about using them now, but It would bring back the integrity of America's national pastime. 

The rampant use of steroids in baseball is a problem that can only be fixed by increasing the punishment for violating the laws and strengthening the enforcement of said laws to ensure that the game remains Americas national pastime. The medical research that has been done clearly shows that even when the horrible effects can be undone it takes years if not decades to reverse the damage done to the human body. This can also be reinforced by the removal of anyone who is linked to steroids in the record books. Baseball is still America's national pastime and there is still time to save it, and the athletes who play the game, Major League Baseball needs to strengthen their fight and baseball will always remain America's game. 

