The back deals: Professional athletes didn’t want you to see: Part 2
A couple years have passed since Alex Rodriguez was accused of using steroids, but has he done it again? Allegations have once again come up for players using steroids in the MLB to enhance there playing ability for various reasons. Over the years many players have used steroids to become the best batters or pitchers in the league. Many have been accused but only several have been caught and punished for using steroids. Does this mean the end of Alex Rodriguez with the Yankees, or could it just be allegations seeking for attention?
Anabolic steroids were developed in the 1930’s for mostly the use of weight gain for people who were sick or needed bone growth. In 1939, these so called steroids were banned from public sale without a perscription. In recent use, people who mostly use anabolic steroids use them for personal gain which fancies among body builders and professional athletes. You mainly see this in male sports compared to female. Major League Baseball is one of the top sports to use performing enhancing drugs in the field of play. Even if there is a prescription prescribed by the doctor, the MLB does not accept this and the player will be punished. The legal side of this is that you cannot sell steroids and if you do, you can be arrested. Steroids are treated like any other substance that cannot be sold to the public.
Major League Baseball’s drug policy was created in the spring of 2006. They called the program the “Joint Drug Prevention and Blunt Treatment Program,” to prevent this scandal for any substance. The policy and program was established and agreed upon by the MLB Players Association and the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. It ends the use of anabolic steroids and other illegal drugs. The program has no power to discipline players for violations of the drug policy, except to place them in the appropriate treatment programs. Punishment is determined by the Commissioner of the MLB.
The first announcement of any type of drug policy for punishments came in 2004. First time offenders receiving 10 days, second time 30 days, third time 60 days and the fourth time being one year without pay. The next step was to have the policy reviewed by the U.S. congress in 2008. The new rules were 50-game suspension for a first offense, a 100-game suspension for a second, and a lifetime ban for a third offense taking place. There was a total of 67 players being suspended for violating the policy. At the top of the list, only one made it to 80 games and two to 100 games.
The 80 game suspension was given to Neifi Pérez on Aug. 3, 2007 and the 100 games with Manny Ramirez April 8, 2011, and Guillermo Mota on May 7, 2012. One student, while standing in line at Monteys, said “Seriously who cares if they use steroids or not. No one wants to go to a game and see a single or strike out, they want to see home runs that’s the fun part about baseball.” He also proceed with saying, “ It’s even cooler if the pitchers take them then maybe you’d be able to see a perfect game thrown.”
Alex Rodriguez got lucky while with the Texas Rangers in 2003. He tested positive for a banned substances and was listed as one of 104 players who tested positive in the random drug test.
The list with the names on it was to be confidential and not released to the public. Until Rodriguez found out from Gene Orza that in late Summer early fall of 2004, the list of names had been seized by federal investigators and would probably be released. Rodriguez went on the record of denying all allegations even in 2007 interview with Katie Couric on “60 Minutes.” Found inside of the book published in 2008, “Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball,” written by Jose Canseco, he claimed that he introduced Rodriguez to a steroids dealer. Canseco, who has admitted using steroids, subsequently said he had no knowledge of any drug or steroid use by Alex Rodriguez.
Rodriguez looked like he was in the clear for a while, until he told ESPN on February of 2009 that he had taken steroids during a three year span with the Texas rangers from 2001 to 2003. This was shocking news and headline news to the world that he had denied for so long, and now he finally admitted it. Although that wasn’t the end of the allegations. In 2012-2013 Rodriguez was accused of using steroids again because his name was on a list of patients that were said to be at a facility in Florida run by a guy that was associated with supplying others with steroids in the past. When CJ Maholland got another chance to talk about sports, he said, “Finally something I know I don’t think that Alex Rodriguez would be that stupid to do steroids again but if he is then he deserves what he gets.” He continued on with saying, “I don’t think he did what they are saying he but I guess we will eventually see the outcome.”
Currently, Alex Rodriguez is on the 60 Day DL and will not return until after the all star Break. There have been talks about cutting Rodriguez from the team if he is involved with the alleged steroid scandal but there hasn’t been an official word from the Yankees top guys in charge. If they were to do this they would be losing about 100 million dollars or more that would be owed to him with no clause in his contract or any way to avoid not paying him. One student at Bloomsburg said, “Well it would be stupid to get rid of him. He is a good contribution to the team when he is healthy, and they would lose a lot of money. Why not take a chance on him? It’s better to lose trying than not to try at all. With everything going on, only time will tell what would happen, because no one know what the future holds for anyone.”
