Canseco takes credit for introducing steroids to Major League players in his book Juiced. His tell-all account named the names of Mark McGwire and many others that he claims he either injected with steroids or players he helped use a steroids regimen. Canseco followed up his first book with one titled Vindicated. Canseco still, to this day, stands by his accusations of injected other players on the teams he has played with throughout his career.

Manny Ramirez is just the latest player to test positive under Major League Baseball’s steroid policy and drug abuse policy and be suspended. Prior to Ramirez, there was J.C. Romero, Sergio Mitre, Matt Lawton, Felix Heredia, Jason Grimsley, Guillermo Mota, Neifi Perez (twice), Jay Gibbons and many more. As you can see, Rodriguez and Clemens are missing from this list.

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Rodriguez recently admitted in an interview with Peter Gammons of ESPN that he took steroids during a three year period while with the Texas Rangers. Canseco named Rodriguez as one of the player that he introduced steroids to during his time in the Majors. Supposedly Rodriguez tested positive for a banned substance in 2003 and was the only name leaked from a list of over 100 players that tested positive that year. 2003 testing did not come with suspensions. The new league steroid policy did not take effect until the 2005 season.

The other player listed in the title of this article, Roger Clemens, has also not faced any suspension for using steroids during his Major League career but the accusations have been running rampant regarding Clemens. Former New York Mets employee Kirk Radomski revealed a list of names of players that he witnessed using steroids during his time as a clubhouse attendant. Also, Clemens’ trainer, Brian McNamee, revealed to Congress and baseball officials that he helped Clemens with a steroid regimen while he was still playing.

The list continues to grow as the tests return with positive results. Quite a few Minor League players have tested positive for steroids under Major League Baseball’s steroid policy and have been suspended for a specified period of time as well. One of the most notable Minor League suspensions involved current Braves center fielder Jordan Schafer. Schafer never tested positive for steroids though. He was ratted out and convicted by the league on circumstantial evidence. He served a 50 game suspension in 2008 while with the Braves Minor League organization.

Schafer made his Major League debut on April 5, 2009 and homered in his first-ever Major League at-bat off of Phillies starter Brett Myers. Other players that have been suspended while playing in the Minors have had trouble righting the ship and making it to the Majors following their suspension. Minor League players have to follow the same rules and regulations as Major Leaguers do despite not playing in the Majors at the time of the testing.

As the steroid era continues to fade into the night, less and less players are testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. With the current rules, a first positive test will net a player a 50 game suspension. A second positive test will net a player a 100 game suspension and a third positive test will net a player a lifetime ban from America’s Pasttime. Baseball is trying with all its might to remove drugs from its culture but it looked the wrong way for too long. The sport will be forever damaged because of steroids and this includes records that have been broken.

As the baseball world continues to deal with controversy after controversy when it comes to steroids, the league’s officials are trying to weed out the offenders one by one. A-Rod admitted steroid use in his previously mentioned interview with Peter Gammons of ESPN, Ramirez tested positive and then had his medical records acquired by the league, and now the Rocket is denying all allegations against him in a recently released book about his career. The book is titled American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime and it was written by four New York Times writers. The other controversial book recently released is titled A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez and it was written by Selena Roberts of Sports Illustrated.

These two books reveal some incredible stories of two of baseball’s most prodigious players in Rodriguez and Clemens. Will these books provide further damage to their reputations? Will these books further damage the image of Major League Baseball? These books contain information that both players deem to be hearsay or lies so we might never know. Many people around the sport of baseball felt that the Steroid Era ended in the early 2000s, when MLB’s drug testing policy got stronger, but as we see today it is still going strong throughout not only the Majors but also throughout the Minors as well.[ad#baseball3][ad#baseball3]

The game of baseball has been America’s past-time for many, many, many years and it will continue to be far into the future. As long as there are enough people interested in playing, coaching, and running this great game of baseball then it will remain a constant in American culture.

Baseball has continued to grow in other countries across the world as well. It is still having trouble latching on in Canada but has seen huge growth in Latin America, Japan, and even Australia. Where baseball goes from here is decided by the people who are involved with its everyday operations.

The Dead Ball Era

This was, in my opinion, one of the most interesting Eras that baseball has ever been through. Each and every day pitching was at a premium and a constant. Rarely did you see teams putting up 10 runs every couple of games. Runs were hard to come by. Home runs were hard to come by. Babe Ruth’s 54 home runs in 1920 were more than every other team (except for the Yankees-his team) and the Philadelphia Phillies. Entire teams didn’t total the number of home runs Ruth hit in a season. That’s quite a feat!

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How dead was the Dead Ball Era? In 1927 Ruth totaled 60 home runs. Those 60 home runs were 14 percent of the home runs hit by his entire league.

Pitchers dominated, flat out dominated in the Dead Ball Era.

The Dead Ball Era, unlike The Steroid Era, brought us daily pitching duels-by the handful. It also brought us starting pitchers who would pitch 9, 10 or even 11 innings at a time and then pitch again on one or two days rest. The thought of having a closer or a set-up man was irrelevant.

Pitchers were the iron-men of the game long before Cal Ripken, Jr. came around. They were the reason that there had to be changes made to the game, because they just flat out dominated hitters to the point of frustration.

Roger Angell wrote an essay titled “The Distance.” The essay was about Bob Gibson and his tough-to-get-along-with personality. In it Angell also discusses the reasons as to why the Dead Ball Era ended and why hitters began their emergence as the premier player in the game.

One reason the Dead Ball Era disappeared was that the pitcher’s mound was lowered so it could be closer to the ground and allow the hitters a better chance at the plate.

The Dead Ball Era quickly disappeared and baseballs began flying out of stadiums all across the country.

Blowouts are fun to watch, especially if it is your team putting up 15 runs, but sometimes I am in the mood to see a good-old pitching duel from start to finish. Rarely do baseball fans even see pitching duels in the minor leagues. Baseball has changed considerably since the Dead Ball Era, so much that it has gone through a Steroid Era and now a Post-Steroid Era.

Baseball will forever be America’s Past-time but one can’t look at the sport without seeing some glaring problems. One of those problems has been the use of steroids by minor and major league players to better their individual stats.

The Steroid Era

Even though steroids brought new life to the game of baseball in terms of revenue and returning fans to stadium seats, it also single-handily almost destroyed the sport that we all love so much.

Once the home run became a popular part of the game, players began to hit them at astronomical rates, in turn grabbing the attention of fans nationwide. The home run race of 1998 will forever be remembered as the sole reason for the rebirth of baseball as America’s most favorite sport. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa put on a home run spectacle that summer and fans loved it.

As baseball exited the steroid era it became clear that the use of those performance enhancing drugs was looked at as cheating, especially by the higher-ups of the league.

The Mitchell Report was released in December, 2007 and the ramifications weren’t as disastrous as many thought they would be. Fans are still paying 40 dollars or more for tickets, are still voting in record numbers for the 2009 All-Star game and are still spending millions of dollars on MLB merchandise.

Steroids ruined the game of baseball in one sense–its purity. Records have been broken and reset by players who used HGH and steroids to enhance their ability and to hit balls harder, farther and more often. Baseball’s purity is in the process of being restored now that the steroid era has come and gone to an extent.

With the massive influx of young players into the game today, the majority of whom don’t juice their bodies, baseball is becoming more popular than ever not only in America but in countries all throughout the world.

Steroids will more than likely be an ever present part of sports in our world today. Major League Baseball and the National Football League are trying desperately to change the rules and regulations on performance enhancing drug use in their respective leagues and Major League Baseball is the organization that is having the most success with their drug testing and their substance abuse policies.