MLB: Why Do Officials Always Think Athletes are Cheating?

Connor Hennessey by Analyst Written on April 30, 2008
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In the Major Leagues today, the talk of steroids is always an issue. If a pitcher throws a no-hitter, or a good game, officials immediately bring up steroids.

Why does the talk of steriods always come into play? Major League Baseball is so corrupted these days because officials always jump to conclusions, and assume that an all-star athlete is cheating.

Houston Astro Miguel Tejada recently confessed that he was not really the age the league thought he was. Tejada confessed that he lied about his age when he entered the league, and that he is older than they think he is. He confessed because the talk of him possibly using performance enhancing drugs came up around the league.

In an interview with ESPN, the reporter brought up the age issue with Tejada. The reported actually presented Tejada a copy of his birth certificate and began to harass him with questions like, "Is Miguel your real name?" and "How do we know you haven't lied about more things?" Tejada felt that the reporter was out of line asking those things, so he kindly ended the interview.

Does it matter how old Major League players are? There is no age limit in the league. It is a player's personal decision whether or not to tell the league his real age.

It is not against the rules to be a certain age—so why do we have to harass Miguel Tejada?

I never hear talk about Peyton Manning or Kobe Bryant possibly using steroids. Why not harass them?

MLB All-star Roger Clemens is still fighting with MLB officials over whether or not he used steroids while in the league. Now Clemens is being investigated by Congress to see if he lied under oath.

If it is proven that Clemens used steroids, the pitcher could serve jail time for Perjury charges. Just because Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, says that he injected Clemens with steroids and HGH in the past does not mean he did. McNamee could be lying, but the league all of a sudden investigated Clemens and mentioned him in the Mitchell Report.

What, just because Roger Clemens is one of the best players to ever go through the league, he has to be cheating? He can't just be really good? How is that fair to Clemens?

The season before, former San Fransisco Giant Barry Bonds, broke Hank Aaron's all-time home run record—and sure enough, he was harassed by baseball officials about steroids.

Did anyone bother to ask the question,"Is Barry Bonds just a good batter?" No, they didn't ask themselves that question...they just had to say he cheated.

After Bonds broke the all-time home run record of 755, someone in the post-game conference asked Barry if the record was tainted. That is in no way their business to ask Barry Bonds that question.

Why does it have to be tainted? Did anyone congratulate Bonds? The only congratulations Bonds got was, "Is your record tainted?". That isn't right!

Just because he hit more home runs than anyone who has ever played in the league doesn't mean he cheated.

In my personal opinion, I think that athletes should be allowed to take whatever drugs they want. It is their body, and if they want to ruin it, they should be allowed to. If they want to run the risk of losing parts of their reproductive organs just so they can throw a little harder, or hit the ball a little further, so be it.

It is their body, and as such the way they treat it is their personal business.

MLB should just leave these athletes alone, or they will fall apart. The United States has the best professional baseball league in the world. That is why there are so many foreign players in the league—Daisuke Matusaka from the Red Sox, and Ichiro with Seattle are both Japanese.

If MLB officials continue to think everyone is cheating, players will not want to play in the league anymore. If no one wants to play in the league, Major League Baseball will fall, and America's past-time will die.

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written on April 30, 2008 Opinion

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