Last year, baseball suspended 71 players for the use of performance-enhancing drugs. From the high school level to the college level and from the minors to the majors, steroid abuse is an existing issue that needs to be addressed. Even when anti-doping organizations and drug testing agencies are continually improving their policies and their programs, new designer steroids and banned substances keep on cropping up in the market, luring new users, particularly athletes, every year.

What is Major League Baseball doing about this problem? Compared to college baseball where players who are caught doping are suspended for a year and possibly banned from playing in the team for good, major league players are usually suspended or fined but still expected to play in the team. What can be a huge deterrent for professional players, however, is the tarnishing of their reputation and the questioning of their credibility should their name be associated with steroid use or any performance enhancing drugs.

Since the MLB steroid scandal exploded, however, MLB has toughened its penalties; not surprising, considering the media and the public outrage over the indignities caused by these scandals, threatening the integrity of the much-beloved, all-American sport. MLB has since increased the suspension time on first-time offenders, as well as added random drug testing during offseason. Even with the outright ban, moral outrage, and harsher penalties, eliminating steroids in the sport is not guaranteed. While more and more have come out of the ‘steroid closet,’ a lot of the high-caliber players who have been highly suspected for steroid use are still untouched. However, this may be justifiable considering that players shouldn’t be banned or thrown into public scrutiny for unfound allegations and mere circumstantial evidence.

Even if MLB tightens its policies and improve its testing technologies, new and improved steroids and illicit substances will be created by unscrupulous manufacturers and pharmacists, specially designed to be undetected by these very technologies. The players who have the intention or are willing to cheat will always find a way to cheat even if it may be harder to do. The new MLB steroid policy that was implemented in 2008 is more symbolic than practical and effective. The policy is a mere show to appease public outrage and congressmen.

Baseball players are naturally competitive, and their drive to compete and succeed may lead them to seek new ways of getting an edge over other equally competitive players. The pressure is too great that a moment of weakness can plunge a player to the promises that performance-enhancing drugs offer: fame, glory, and a bigger salary. There will always be a market for banned steroids among athletes, especially baseball. The stricter tests and policies will only create a perpetually expanding black market that will prey on weak players.

Rob Dibble, former MLB pitcher, said that the best players don’t need steroids. It only helps the bench players obtain a starting role temporarily, only losing it later when he will most certainly be injured. MLB should rethink its steroid policy once again, coz this one ain’t working.

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