The Barry Bonds Steroid Controvery

Barry Bonds

One of the baseball 's most troublesome issues has been the increasing use of performance enhancing drugs . Retired home slugger , Jose Canseco has claimed that 85 per cent of big leaguers use steroids and Xen Caminiti , who died in 2004 from drug overdose , stated in a highly publicised article in Sports Illustrated that the incidence of steroid use has mushroomed to 50 per cent of active players . Although other players have stated this figure to be exaggerated , the problem has become widespread within major league baseball . A well known sports

br orthopaedist , Dr . John Andrews asserted that there has been a dramatic rise in muscle and tendon injuries among baseball players related to the increased use of supplements creatine , human growth hormone , and steroids (Teitelbaum , 2005 ,

.107

The use of amphetamines in major league baseball gained substantial notoriety in 1970 when Jim Bouton , a pitcher for the New York Yankees during the 1960s and the author of highly controversial book Ball Four admitted using amphetamines and estimated that 40 of other players did as well . As with football , the size and strength of professional baseball players appear to have increased markedly during the last two decades . As a consequence , suspicions of anabolic steroid use have been dramatically soared during the last decade . In 1995 , the general manager of the San Diego Padres admitted to the prevalence of steroid use in at least 10 -20 of the league players (Hinitz , Yesalis , Bahrke , 2002 br

.12-13

Jose Canseco , who was the first player to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases in the same year , wrote in his book `Juiced ' that he used steroids to help him build the muscles he needed to succeed . He also claimed that (although without proof ) many players in the game had done the same This cast grave doubts on the home run records set by Mark McGwire Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds and others . In 2005 , the congress held a special hearing to investigate the steroid problem in baseball Commissioner Bud Selig while testifying admitted that the sport 's hands were tied because of a complicated agreement with the union that represented the players . Baseball was not allowed to test most players for steroids . Even for those who were exposed , punishment was light (Stewart , Kennedy , 2006 ,

.61 Barry Bond , the legendary baseball player , shot to power and fame by winning three MVP awards in 1990s and he was recognised as the best all round player of the decade . He became the second 40-40 player in 1996 and narrowly missed the fit in 1997 . In 1998 , he became the first 400-400 player in history .1 In 2000 , the house belonged to Barry , who at the age of 35 was on the brink of a remarkable run of five career defining seasons . Up to that point , he had hit 445 home runs over 14 seasons of play . In 2000 , he set a personal home run record with 49 , and in 2001 , he set a new...