Since the MLB strike in 1994, steroid use has been in high profile. So much so that the time afterwards has been dubbed “The Steroid era.” Several well-known and respected MLB players have been accused of steroid use and a few, like Jose Canseco, even admitted it openly, crediting the use of steroids for his entire career. Pitcher David Wells said that "25 to 40 percent of all Major Leaguers are juiced".

According to Canseco, up to 85% of MLB players currently in the MLB are using performance-enhancing materials. Conseco’s book titled “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big” names players who have used steroids.

Another player, Ken Caminiti, came forward about his steroid use and detailed the damage done to his body. Ken admitted that his body had mostly stopped producing testosterone and that his testicles have gotten much smaller. As a matter of fact, his body only had 20% of the normal level of the hormone. And although Ken Caminiti clearly knew the damage it did to his body, he still confessed that he would have done it all over again if he had another chance. Ken died as a result of his steroid use.(Wikipedia)

Although baseball commissioner Bud Selig has banned its use, the MLB has certainly been stained by the use of steroids anyway. MLB heroes such as Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro have been accused of using steroids and now their baseball achievements have been called into question because of it. During the MLB steroids Congressional hearing, baseball players Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi admitted during grand jury testimony to using the clear, according to reports in the San Francisco Chronicle. The Chronicle also reported that Barry Bonds also admitted using a substance that he said he had been told was flaxseed oil by his personal trainer. Five months after the Congressional hearing, Palmeiro tested positive for steroids.

A company known as BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative has been cited as a central source of steroids to athletes in all sports. BALCO was an American based supplement company run by Victor Conte.

The company marketed an undetectable performance enhancing steroid known as “the Clear”. This particular steroid was developed by a chemist at BALCO named Patrick Arnold. The Clear, also known as THG, or tetrahydrogestrinone, is a powerful anabolic steroid.(Washington Post)

In 2003, the company's role in a drug sports scandal was investigated by two journalists; Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada. The scandal was referred to as the BALCO Affair and focused on the distribution of the Clear to several high profile athletes in the USA as well as Europe over a period of several years by Conte, Greg Anderson (weight trainer) and Remi Korchemni (coach).

The investigation was aided by a tip from US Olympic sprint coach Trevor Graham in 2003. Graham supplied a syringe containing traces of a substance known as “the Clear”. A test to detect the Clear was developed and some 20 Olympic class athletes tested positive for the drug. Of course baseball has not been the only sport that has had steroids controversy. Marion Jones, an Olympic track star, just admitted to using steroids after years of public denial. She said she used them to prepare for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the Olympics committee has now taken away all her medals. (Washington Post)

To make matter worse, BALCO was later searched and a client list was found. Among the names on this list were Jeremy Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi.

In 2006, Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley's home was searched by federal agents. Grimsley admitted to using human growth hormone, amphetamines and steroids. He was asked to wear a wire in order to incriminate Barry Bonds while talking with him in “private”. In the end, Grimsley was released from his contract with the D-Backs and suspended for games by the MLB.

Major League Baseball is still plagued by rumors and allegations of rampant steroid use. And since Barry Bonds just got the all-time Major League Baseball home run record with 762 this year and his name has been associated with steroids, the story never dies. Perhaps the MLB should institute stiffer penalties for steroid use. For example, couple a suspension with regulated unannounced testing for the duration of the contract. If the player tests dirty again, his contract is void and he is banned from Major League Baseball forever.

The penalty has to be severe enough to detract these players from doing this to themselves. Indeed, baseball has been criticized for being so lackadaisical about steroid use and appropriate sanctions. But it is not just the players and their families who get hurt. It’s the fans and children who look up to these players as role models. If our kids see their heroes using drugs and basically getting away with it, what message are we sending to them?

All the players in the farm leagues and minors are negatively affected as well. In their drive to achieve that dream of a multi-million dollar major league contract, they have to perform above and beyond the athletes presently playing. That creates major pressure to use steroids that can be hard to resist. Some say that amphetamine use is widespread among player in the minor leagues and that steroids is also used a lot.

One thing that makes sense is that if only some players are using performance-enhancing drugs while the rest are not, the former have an unfair advantage, making fair competition impossible. And sports are defined by fair competition, that’s one of the main reasons people love sports, life is full of grays, but sports are black and white. Either none of them should be doing it or all of them should be to make it fair. Although many people say that new records that are made while using steroids, such as Barry Bonds allegedly using steroids while achieving the new all-time home run record, shouldn’t count, others argue that he was batting against many pitchers who are also on steroids. So they say it all evens out in the end. But we don’t know which pitchers are using steroids and which ones aren’t, making it next to impossible to determine what’s fair.

Sadly, as a result of steroid use, people die just like Ken Caminiti. children lose their fathers, women lose husbands, major league baseball increasingly loses its good reputation, and fans lose respect for the sports figures they look up to. Whether it’s money that motivates these players, a drive to succeed and win, pressure to be the best, a cheating mentality, or even the attitude that they ought to use steroids since everyone else is, steroids in baseball is a sad reality in today’s Major League Baseball.