Steroid Use in Baseball a Social Injustice - 1823 Words

Steroid Use in Baseball: A Social Injustice? In the year of 1998 the sport of baseball ruled the landscape of the sports world as people all over the country were watching Mark Mcgwire and Sammy Sosa race towards the single-season home run record. Major League Baseball, the ruling body of professional baseball in the United States, was all too thrilled with their newfound popularity and growing revenues. The game of baseball had long been considered â€Å"the† American pastime, but entering the 98’ season the league was still searching for ways to reopen the enthusiasm, and wallets, of baseball fans that had lost interest in the sport, largely due to the strike-shortened campaign in 1994. The home run race between McGwire and Sosa that took†¦show more content†¦The steroid scandal would ultimately culminate with a Congressional investigation into baseball which produced the most comprehensive document on the subject known as â€Å"The Mitchell Report.† This document is a written report to Commissio ner Bud Selig summarizing the widespread use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs that had run rampant through baseball, with players from every team being found to have had some experience with performance enhancing drugs. The 2007 federal report also accuses Major League Baseball of sacrificing the issue of drug testing during collective bargaining junctions with the player’s union in the interest of economics (Mitchell). Steroid use in baseball must be considered a social injustice for several reasons. As previously stated, until recently baseball was considered â€Å"the† American pastime. Major League Baseball maintains an audience of tens of millions Americans, many children, making it a social issue. Additionally, if justice is defined as the principle of social order that defines everything each person is due, then the violation of a fair and equal workplace is clearly evident here. Other perspectives through which one can examine this issue are the ethics of steroid use in competition, or possibly the seemingly conscienceless lies told by the players and others, in court and out. Furthermore aspects of this issue that one might