Use of Steroids in baseball – Some Recent Facts

Steroids are extensively used by bodybuilders, athletes and models. The use of steroids has been detected in numerous places including High School sports, baseball, football, and, most notably, in the Olympics. These steroids are basically hormone drugs. The form of steroids used in sports is anabolic steroids which are derived from testosterone. Recent research has revealed that a major portion of NFL superstars have been using anabolic steroids. This contradicts popular opinion that the NFL is drug-free but shocking as it is, it is true.
Baseball is no exception when it comes to steroids. The first discovery of steroids in baseball was the publicized Mark McGuire incident when he was found guilty of possessing Adrostendione in his locker. Due to extensive press coverage of the incident, the baseball major league committee brought in the anti-drug policy. Notably, this was the last American organization to do so. However, athletes still continue to use various disguised or “stealth” drugs which can easily bypass doping tests. This was discovered when the home-run rate soared unbelievably through the following years. Evidently, many other baseball players had followed in the footsteps of McGuire.
In 2003, Jason Giambi was found guilty of using “stealth” steroids, namely the Cream. Another player Barry Bonds, consumed a clever mixture of the Cream, the Clear and a number of other drugs in specific stacks so that the steroids in his blood would not be detected.
Unfortunately, steroids are NOT supplements as many people think. They are drugs and they pose a whole boatload of threats in the form of side effects. Most athletes are either unaware of these effects or are too obsessed with their careers that they hardly ever think of the consequences. This has led to the ban of steroid usage in many sports organizations. Also, many nations including the US have made severe laws to control the trafficking of these substances.
Steroids in baseball
Steroids are synthetic hormones which were first developed around the 1930s to treat hormone imbalances. Anabolic steroids, the most commonly known ones, were developed for muscle and bone growth. But as modernization of these substances took place, scientists confirmed that these steroids had the power to explode muscle growth and enhance one’s performance in extremely short periods of time.
This made many bodybuilders, athletes, models etc. turn to steroids to give them the edge they needed over their competition. Suddenly anabolic steroids were everywhere from basketball, cricket, football, baseball and even the great Olympics. Since the famous discovery of steroid usage in the 1954 Olympics, athletes from almost all sport bodies have clung on to this trend.
Baseball, the US national sport, wasn’t far behind in the steroid game. Mark McGwire, the famous baseball superstar was first found guilty of ingesting Androstenedione, an anabolic steroid that converts itself to testosterone once digested. It was later confirmed that this steroid was the primary reason for him scoring an acclaimed home-run before his retirement. Instantly, many other professional baseball superstars began using steroids and the major league committee was forced to ban their use.
However, most players continued to use “stealth” drugs that helped them use steroids without being detected in doping tests. The most controversial of these “stealth” incidents happened in 2003 when Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds were caught using the Cream and the Clear, two of the world’s most disguised steroids. Bonds was found using the steroids in a stack with many other fertility drugs to bypass doping tests.
For decades, researchers have stressed the fact that overdose of steroids could lead to severe side effects. This came true with Steve Bechler, who died on the field. Though the cause was initially unknown, research revealed that it was the result of a steroid overdose.