Start of Steriods

Baseball went on strike during the 94 season due to a disagreement on money issues between the owners and the players association. The owners wanted to enact a salary cap which limits the amount of money a team is allowed to pay for the players in one season. The reason they gave was they didn’t want smaller market teams to fall by the wayside. The players association argued against it. The Players Association was already distrustful of the Owners because of collusion that the owners and baseball committed to keep prices down by not awarding high contracts to free agents. On august 12 1994 the players went on strike. The strike lasted an entire season and resulted in the World Series not being played.

When the strike finally ended attendance was at all time lows. On most teams opening days fans booed the teams for their poor play. Baseball was losing a lot of money due to the lack of interest from fans being disgruntled that the league couldn’t work out its differences without costing them a whole season and a World Series. As a result of this many people believe that baseball was willing to turn a blind eye to the steroid use that was going on in baseball. Steroids were believed to fuel the great race for 62 home runs during the 1998 season. The race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire drew in large rating and brought many fans back into watching baseball. This was the height of the Steroids era in baseball.

baseball

Baseball has a very long history. Modern baseball is said to have been started in 1845 when Alexander Cartwright wrote down the rules of baseball for the Knickerbockers base ball club. But baseball origins aren’t clear because many different countries have games that were similiar to baseball. The one game that resembled modern baseball the most was called stoolball. Stoolball dates back to about the 11th century. There was all the same positions that baseball has today like the pitcher, outfielders, and the hitters. The pitcher would throw the ball at a tree stump located behind the hitter, if the ball hit the tree stump the batter was out, if he hit the ball he would have to run from one stool and back to score a point.

The first baseball league was called National Association of Base Ball Players or (NABBP). This league was formed in 1857 and had 16 baseball Clubs located in the five New York boroughs or outlying areas of New York. This league broke apart in 1871 into a professional league, and amateur league. Professional league paid its players while amateur leagues didn’t. The 2 modern major leagues are the National league an the American league. The National league was created in 1876, and the American league was created in 1901.



http://www.sabruk.org/examiner/11/stoolball.html
http://forums.sabr.org/htdocs/dcforum/User_files/3c08097500f21711.html

Steroids

Anabolic steroids (the type taken by athletes) were developed in the 1930’s to mainly treat Hypogonadism, which is when the testes don’t produce enough testosterone for growth , and sexual functions. Steroids ware mainly used to treat delayed puberty , some forms of impotence, and to help build muscle of people infected with HIV. Steroids are used because they help the growth of skeletal muscle, which is obviously useful for bodybuilders and other sports athletes.

Steroids can be taken many different ways, orally (pills), injected intramuscularly (through injection), or rubbed on when it’s a gel or cream.

Steroids are illegal in America without a prescription because of the serious medical side effects such as liver cancer, heart attacks, and high cholesterol. Lesser side affect include acne, and breast development in men. Most of these effects go away when you stop taking the steroids though.

Human Growth Hormone, or HGH is a hormone that stimulates growth and cell reproduction in humans and other animals. It is a 191-amino acid, single chain polypeptide hormone which is synthesized, stored, and secreted by the somatotroph cells within the lateral wings of the anterior pituitary gland. All that basically means is that HGH is a hormone created by the pituitary gland in the brain. This hormone is connected to the increase in height in children and teenagers. The release of this hormone peaks during puberty which is why we have growth spurts at that time in our life.

Taking HGH does help to reduce body fat and produce lean muscle, but it has not been proven to increase muscle mass or help to strengthen bones. HGH side affects are Carpel tunnel syndrome, joint swelling and an increased risk of diabetes.

I can understand why people take steroids, to help get an edge on the competition. Especially in professional leagues the amount of money that the best athletes get can be very tempting, tempting enough to ignore all the health risks and take steroids to make you better.

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/steroids/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_hormone
http://www.lib.mcg.edu/edu/eshuphysio/program/section5/5ch2/s5ch2_18.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17227934
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12147369

Steriods and Baseball

I've Decided to do my blog on steroids, baseball, and Congress.