Doping in baseball

Over the course of the 1990's into the new millenium, baseball has been has the on-going question upon steroid use. Steroids are performance enhancing drugs which have been banned from baseball. The controversy has begun due to the drastic rise in home runs over the past decade. During this decade baseball players like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds have surpassed the homerun record set by Roger Maris (who hit 61 home runs) during the 1961 season.During the 1998 season, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were competing in an epic race to set the homerun mark. By the seasons end Sammy Sosa had eclipsed the record with 66 home runs and Mark McGwire held the single season record by crushing 70 baseballs out of the ballpark. The next the two were in a similar race and McGwire hit 65 and Sosa smacked 63 baseballs out of the ballpark. By 2001, with controversy swirling, Barry Bonds (a 36 year old) and Sosa (32) were once again hitting homeruns at an incredible pace. By seasons end Bonds had bit 73 homeruns and Sosa 64. It seems unlikely that the two could continue hitting homeruns at such a pace at their age without some sort of supplementary help. During the 2004 season Sammy Sosa was involved in an incident where the umpire determined that his broken bat had cork in its center. Corked bats were illegal in baseball because it has been proven that it produces a farther distance of the bat. Sosa appealled the claims stating that he had grabbed the wrong baseball bat, and that he only used that bat during batting practice to impress the fans. With the steroids controversy continued to cause controversy and baseball testing continued to only provide random tests to some players. Players such as Ryan Franklin and others were temporarily suspended, but the testing and penalties were still not severe enough. So the government took action and called Rafael Palmiero, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Jose Canseco (proclaimed steroid user who wrote a book upon his use during his baseball career) and pitcher Curt Schilling (proclaimed anti-steroids advocate)on March 17th 2004 to testify in front of Congress. During the session, Canseco admitted his steroid use which he claims was perfectly acceptable during the 1980's and early 90's. Palmiero denied all steroid use during his career while McGwire and Sosa chose to use their fifth amendment rights not to answer the questions of Congress. Palmiero who was listed in Canseco's book as a user denied Canseco's claims and told Congress that those claims were absolutely erroneous. The committee had stated that baseball had failed to confront the problems of performing enhancing drugs. The committee was disturbed by the accepted use of steroids by athleates because it created a bad persona of players who in many cases are role models to many of the aspiring youth. During the testimonies the players called to Congress offered their condolences for such youthful athleates who had committed suicide after using the performance enhancing drug. During this period Barry Bonds trainer Victor Conte of the BALCO corporation (he was also a trainer for Jason Giambi and Canseco) was not subpoenaed in California by the House Committee for investigation. Bonds questionable use of steroids is the un-going question in baseball. By the end of the 2005 season Bonds had hit 708 career homeruns, only 6 away from passing Babe Ruth as the second all-time leader in homeruns and closing in on Hank Aaron's record of 755 career homeruns. Baseball began applying stricter regulations and applied a zero tolerance policy in correspondence to performance enhancing drugs. On 8/1/2005 Palmiero, now a member of the Baltimore Orioles had tested positive for performing enhancing substances and was suspended 50 games. Palmiero had committed perjury before Congress and now had jeopardized his future as a hall of famer. Palmiero was one of only four baseball players who had over 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. Palmiero's career would never rebound and he would retire. The Barry Bonds controversy continues as he races for the record. The media continues to pressure Bonds with controversial issue. The book was published "Game of Shadows" which offers probablistic evidence that since Bonds trainer was providing performance enhancers to his other athleates that he also provided Bonds with steroids. Bonds had admitted that he did use a clear substance and lotion given to him by his trainer but had no idea that they were any sort of performance enhancers. Bonds claimed that to his knowledge that the substances given to him were legal to treat his arthritis. The rest of the story is on-going....