In the past 25 years, major league baseball has gone through a so-called steroid era. More and more popular names of the sport have been caught cheating by using performance enhancing drugs. Of these cheating players, the most popular have been: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa. Many argue that these cheaters should not be recognized and inducted into the Hall of Fame, despite their outstanding career numbers. On the contrary, people like MLB Commissioner Bud Selig argue that the feats reached by players, with or without the use of performance-enhancing drugs, are remarkable and should be greatly appreciated. Has the Commissioner forgotten that when his athletes use performance enhancing drugs, young hopeful athletes will use these illicit drugs also? If the MLB really wants to expunge the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball, they need to either install a stricter policy for those who fail, or simply let pass the use of performance enhancing drugs altogether-which they seemingly already do.
In order to prevent the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball, MLB needs to enact a stricter policy for those who fail a drug test. In most sports, the athletes must submit to random drug tests every few months to prove they are obeying the sport's anti-drug use policy. But, Thomas Boswell, writer for The Washington Post argues that "[b]aseball has passed the point where it has drug scandals" (Boswell). Today, it doesn't come as a surprise when it's discovered that big-name baseball players have been taking performance enhancing drugs. Because it doesn't come as a surprise anymore, the question is raised of whether or not MLB is genuine in its attempts to thwart performance-enhancing drug use from its beloved game. The drug tests implemented for athletes do not seem as random as they are advertised. Boswell shares a realization that "the presence of cheaters will never end" (Boswell).