Baseball is one of the most coveted sports in the history of sports. From guys such as Derek Jeter and David Ortiz to Alex Rodriguez and Ryan Braun, there are always kids in America that look up to these athletes. In every sport, there are a certain set of guidelines that the people who play have to follow if they would like to continue to play the game, or they will face suspension or even lifetime bans (Pete Rose for example) from the game and the Hall of Fame. A lot of players do in fact follow them and play the game some say "how it's supposed to be played." However, others decide that they want to take their chances on using performance enhancing drugs to help them get an advantage physically. PED's are considered illegal in the Majors. It is against the rules to use PED's which then prohibits any player's chances of making it into the Hall of Fame after being found guilty of using them. Players like Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez are scrutinized when it comes to having enough support to be elected to the Hall of Fame. The implied unspoken rule of baseball is that when someone is caught using performance enhancing drugs or is speculated as much as Bonds was to have used them, then people believe that they should ultimately have no shot at being elected into the Hall of Fame. People who have been under speculation for the use of performance enhancing drugs or people that have been proven guilty for the use of performance enhancing drugs should have a clean slate as far as what they did in their past. If they hold what would be proposed as a major historical record for longer than twenty years in Major League Baseball, they should be put on an equal playing field as someone who did not use PED's.

Performance enhancing drugs all really came to the surface of professional sports around the time of the 1988 Olympic Games were played, and sprinters were being suspended and stripped of medals because they failed drug tests, which then made them ineligible for any other accolades after the Olympics (Commission). They have become very prevalent in one of society's most coveted games: baseball. Guys would take banned substances to get a physical advantage such as forcing their body past limits that it would not normally get to because of the PED's. The media plays a large role in making the best look like the best. They make the best team or athlete out to be someone completely different than they actually are. But because of this, athletes want to be on the big screen in front of everyone. And they will do just about anything to get to that point. Rules are thrown out the window because the "big strong man" is going to get them noticed on television. The media plays a large role in influencing performance enhancing drug use without even knowing.

Barry Bonds is one of the greatest hitters of all time and the greatest to be not considered equally for the baseball Hall of Fame. He holds the all time home run record with a total of 762. Second place is another baseball great in Hank Aaron and in third place is Babe Ruth. Second and third place are known as two of the greatest players of all time as well. But Bonds is not in that same conversation. Whenever Bonds' name is brought up people automatically assume that he cheated by using performance enhancing drugs. Barry Bonds was never proven guilty of using PED's. There has always been speculation that he did use but he was only convicted of obstruction of justice that was later overturned (Harms). Rob Harms of the New York Times wrote a scholarly article on how the United States ended the last straw of their case against Barry Bonds when they dropped the only charge they had remaining against him which was obstruction of justice (Harms). He testified to a grand jury that he was tied into a dietary supplement manufactured by Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (Harms). The entire investigation of Barry Bonds destroyed his career. And certainly did not help his odds of making it into the Hall of Fame. Tim Kurkjian explained in an interview with ESPN that the general public opinion of Bonds is going to associate him more with the use of performance enhancing drugs than they are with any of his home run records or his seven league MVP's (Kurkjian). Bonds has held the record for eight and a half years and not one person has come remotely close to overtaking his home run record. But if he continues to hold it for the next twelve years then he should gain an automatic bid into the Hall of Fame.

Many guys in the Majors are considered role models for the younger generation by the way they play, the numbers they produce, and the eventual induction of them into the Hall of Fame once their career is over. It is for this same reason that they are constantly under scrutiny for anything that they do. Derek Jeter is the perfect icon to represent Major League Baseball. He played the game the cleanest it could ever be played. He never was under question of "cheating" or using performance enhancing drugs. Jeter served as a superb public figure in the game of baseball. He showed people how the game is supposed to be played by laying off of the hard stuff and sticking to fundamentals. The fact that he made it his entire twenty-year career without touching performance enhancing drugs alone makes the Majors look great. He will forever be known as that guy who made it that long and shaped the game to be played "right." Both Jeter and Bonds hold many records. And when Jeter is on the ballot for the Hall of Fame, he will be a sure lock to make it in his first year. The records he put up and the things he did for the game of baseball plus the unblemished record as far as never touching a performance enhancing drug all certainly help his case to be a first ballot Hall of Famer when he is eligible.

Looking at history, performance enhancing drugs have been common for really only one reason and that little bit of extra strength has kept those players out of the Hall of Fame. According to Craig Freudenrich of the Green Haven Press, athletes choose to go down this path because it physically builds up their stature so they can be bigger and stronger (Freudenrich). Some other things that performance enhancing drugs can do for someone are increase the delivery of oxygen to muscular tissues in the body, help lose weight, and hide any fatigue or pain that may hinder them in exercising (Freudenrich). It can also help people who take them relax more and if they were doing other drugs, performance enhancing drugs also can hide those other drugs on regular drug tests (Freudenrich). One common type of steroid used by athletes are anabolic steroids because they allow the athlete to train harder and longer than they ever have before which then allows muscles to build more (Freudenrich). Another common performance enhancer that many athletes have taken is called Human Growth Hormone (HGH). HGH increases muscle mass by stimulating protein synthesis which then strengthens bones and also breaks down fat cells (Freudenrich). Athletes, when they sign their contracts to play major sports (especially in baseball) are subjective under contract to have drug tests done at random times. Almost all drug tests are taken through sampling the athletes urine but others may also require blood testing (Freudenrich). Both of these performance enhancing drugs are focused solely on building more muscle strength for a physical advantage over others. Often times when athletes are caught using performance enhancing drugs, there is a rather large punishment put into place such as a suspension or even sometimes a ban from the sport they are playing.

Performance enhancing drugs, when looking at the statistics, have an obvious impact on the game itself because of the amount of successful baseball players that have not been inducted into the Hall of Fame after their careers were over. Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Alex Rodriguez were all under speculation or proven guilty of using. It did not help Barry Bonds that he was speculated to be using performance enhancing drugs so early in his career. Because the numbers that followed him afterwards were so much more powerful than anyone else. He finished off his career with 762 home runs. The next active player that may come close is Alex Rodriguez, who has already admitted to using performance enhancing drugs and served a suspension for it. Because Rodriguez was admitted to using performance enhancing drugs (the type of drug was Human Growth Hormone), he should not be allowed into the Hall of Fame. In an interview done with Jorge Posada by CBS This Morning, Posada was asked if he, a former teammate of Alex Rodriguez's when they both played at the New York Yankees, believed that Rodriguez should be in the Hall of Fame when he is retired and eligible. Posada does not believe he should come close to the Hall of Fame (Posada). Posada then went on to describe the MVP race back in 2003 when Alex Rodriguez won and Posada was tight in the race as well and how the outcome may have been different had Rodriguez not been on performance enhancing drugs (Posada). He also gave insight on how he thought the game of baseball should be played. Posada believes that playing the game clean of PED's is an accomplishment on its own, and only guys that play the game clean should even be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Once someone is found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs, they no longer should have a chance at being inducted to be amongst baseball's best. McGwire was also proven guilty of using performance enhancing drugs. Both Rodriguez and McGwire admitted to using. That is where Bonds' case is a little different. By never being convicted of performance enhancing drug use, and only being charged with one count of obstruction of justice, that was later dropped, he should be eligible for a Hall of Fame induction.

Rodriguez will never be considered equally for Hall of Fame induction because of him admitting to using performance enhancing drugs. Also, in addition to admitting to using performance enhancing drugs, admitted behind closed doors to the DEA, that the supplier of the enhancer told Rodriguez how to beat the drug tests (Gregory). According to an article written by Sean Gregory, Anthony Bosch, who posed as a fake doctor and became the main line of steroid distribution from 2010 to 2012, told Rodriguez that the real way to beat drug tests was to use the middle of the stream of urine to fill up the cup (Gregory). Generally, a player that is being drug tested will urinate in a cup and hand it over to be tested. Gregory really harped on the idea that performance enhancing drugs are a bad way to go down in the books, but lying about them is a whole lot worse (Gregory).

A different perspective was shown in an article written by Stephen Mumford. Mumford examined that even though athletes are testing positive for performance enhancing drugs and other banned substances, it may not all be their fault. Mumford states that there are a set of rules that are supposed to be followed by all professtional athletes no matter what, however, if an athlete takes a substance that was not banned in the previous year but it changed at the beginning of the new year then the athlete should be their own judge as far as ethics is concerned (Mumford). Mumford claims that if the athletes follow the rules set by the MLB then this conversation would not even have to happen. He also points out that athletes that do not take performance enhancing drugs take just about everything that leads up to PED's but they stop at the legal line (Mumford). In this case, athletes who ingest substances they are used to but it gets placed on the do not take list for a new year, they should also have a considerable amount of time on the Hall of Fame ballot and should not be scrutinized for their actions because they did not know that the list had been updated and something that they were used to taking had been place on it.

The Hall of Fame ballot as of 2015, has Bonds and McGwire on it. But because they both have tarnished records in the past, they are more than likely not going to be elected. McGwire, having admitted to using performance enhancing drugs, completely did away with his chances when that happened. Bonds however has a better chance. To be elected to the Hall of Fame, a person on the ballot has to receive at least 75% of the vote. A former player is allowed to be considered for election to the Hall of Fame for fifteen different times. After that, they will no longer be eligible for election. In the 2015 election, Barry Bonds, on his third year on the ballot, received 36.8% of the vote.

The history of what is referred to as the steroid era for baseball was around the Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Alex Rodriguez era; all of which will never make it into the Hall of Fame whether they were inducted or not (ESPN). It is highlighted by these large names for because all three of these guys had monster home run seasons. Around the time that PEDs became popular, 13 guys hit more than 40 home runs in one season. That was absolutely unheard of as far as hitting home runs goes. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa both broke the all time home run record for one season with 70 and 66 in one year (ESPN). Bonds however, a few years later, came along trumping both records with a 73 home run season of his own (ESPN). Because of this sudden spike in numbers, Major League Baseball's interest in substance abuse was heightened, causing more testing to be done and catching more guys than ever. Of the top ten home run hitters of all time, six have been linked to PEDs at some point or another whether they were convicted or not (ESPN). This is an example of one of the circumstantial reasons why players that have even so much as been associated with performance enhancing drugs might be allowed to have equal consideration for a Hall of Fame induction, and their reputations not be completely tarnished. If Bonds record of 73 home runs in one season or his all time home run record stands for longer than twenty years, then he should be eligible to be placed on the Hall of Fame ballot again if he was not elected the first time and considered for a second chance for election. This is definitely something that would take time to make it to the Hall of Fame committee but if heavily considered and shaped to suit both parties then baseball would change forever.

The main point of this is to show the differences between athletes who were proven guilty of performance enhancing drug use and those who were not and how their chances should be impacted to make it into the Hall of Fame because of the way that their cases turned out in the end. Bonds was never in his entire case convicted of using PED's, yet when his name is mentioned in the same conversation as the Hall of Fame, he is completely thrown out the window. Guys like Rodriguez, McGwire, and Sosa should not be allowed in because they did in fact cheat. There should be certain circumstantial reasons why some should be allowed into the baseball Hall of Fame over others. Barry Bonds will hold the home run record for a long time. The next person to overcome the number of 762 will for sure be Hall of Fame bound. The path that he takes to get to that point will be under a microscope because of what the generations before him have done. 

