I was reading a blog the other day from an avid baseball aficionado about Ryan Braun and his “cheating” saga. For those that don’t know, Ryan Braun was one of baseball’s top players in the MLB and was named the NL MVP in 2011. After winning his 2011 appeal for PED use (Performance Enhancing Drugs), Braun was suspended for the remaining 65 games of the Brewers season without pay (geez). Many baseball players are adamant that Braun is/was a “cheater” and many say that PED use hurts baseball’s reputation. Really? Baseball’s reputation is not a good one as far as PED’s are concerned, especially looking at baseballs track record. Lets take a look back at the “Golden Age” in baseball back when baseball wasn’t “tainted”. According to “A Different Kind of Performance Enhancer” players have “cheated” since the earliest days of the sport! For example, 1889 Pud Galvin (pitcher) becoming the first player in baseball known for PED use (That’s a long time ago). During WW2, both the Allied and Axis powers gave amphetamines to their troops, in order to improve a soldiers focus, and endurance. After WW2, many of the returning troops attended college, and when they did, they continued to use the benefits of amphetamines for college sports, and then to professional sports, including baseball (There’s a quick history lesson). Even the greats like Babe Ruth and Willie Mays have been linked to trying PEDs! Technically, PED use wasn’t banned until 1991 so does that mean that players who used the stuff before 91’ are still “cheaters”? How can you ban something but yet test for it 15 years later? I’m just going to say it, in my opinion PED use was never a problem in baseball and should have never been tested for. When someone says steroids hurts the “integrity of the game” it makes me cringe. One has to realize, hitting a home run requires mad skills that steroids don’t improve, like hand eye coordination, speed, and baseball know-how. Your big triceps are useless if you can’t hit the ball time and time again. I’ll wrap this up so that way I don’t bore you to death but with the start of a new baseball season one has to realize that no hitters and homers are good for the game. Oh, and by the way there are guys in the HOF who have admitted to steroid use.
To learn more read this: (Cracked is my favorite)
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-reasons-steroids-were-never-real-problem-in-baseball/
http://www.baltimoreorless.com/2011/01/babe-ruth-injected-sheeps-testicles/
traewilliams 