Injecting himself with a substance that makes him better at his job cost Robinson Cano and his team dearly on Tuesday afternoon.
Major League Baseball announced Cano had been suspended for 80 games without pay for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Now Cano will forfeit roughly $12 million of the $24 million he is owed this season, and the Seattle Mariners will be without their star player, hurting their revenue and chances of making it to the playoffs. Plus, the lifetime .304 hitter now probably won’t be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame after his career ends.
This is all because of a policy which should not exist in the first place involving a drug which should be allowed for regular use in the United States.
The logic of barring players from using anabolic steroids is that players who use them have an unfair advantage over the rest of their peers. But shouldn’t MLB and other sports leagues want the highest level of competition possible? If they allowed steroids and every player had an equal opportunity to use them, no one would be “cheating.” The increased muscle mass from steroids could help pitchers throw harder and have more stamina while hitters would have improved power and less fatigue as the season progressed.
MLB’s popularity experienced a boon a few years after the MLB strike of 1994, despite the league’s unpopular image at the time, because of steroid users. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa’s 1998 home run chase captivated the country as they smacked 70 and 66 home runs respectively while playing for rival teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, respectively. Just three years later, Barry Bonds toppled McGwire’s single-season home run mark with 73; Bonds is also MLB’s all-time home run record holder at 762.
But since the league started testing for steroids in 2003, no one has even hit 60 home runs in a season.
The positive attributes steroid use gives athletes also transfers over to other sports — hence why the NFL often suspends players for using them. The best example would be quarterback Mark Sanchez.
At the federal level, anabolic steroids are classified as a Schedule III drug, meaning “abuse may lead to a moderate or low physical dependence.” There is no denying steroids are bad for the liver — but if the government wanted to ban everything that’s bad for liver health, they wouldn’t have ended alcohol prohibition.
People have every right to drink as much alcohol, use as much tobacco, and eat as unhealthily as they wish. At least when top-level athletes are using performance-enhancing drugs, they are watching their diets, exercising vigorously, and checking their hormone levels on a regular basis to make sure they are using them as safely as possible. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 37 percent of adults in the U.S. are obese. If this is any indication, it’s not the government’s job to make sure people are healthy — individuals can make those choices for themselves.
Not every job is safe either. Military personnel, lumberjacks, fishermen, and coal miners encounter more risk in their daily grind than an accountant. Those professions might find steroid use helpful. There are also plenty of health risks involved with being a professional athlete when injuries are so prevalent, and yet people take those risks because they can earn millions of dollars. If by taking one more chance these players can make their leagues even more popular and earn more revenue, most of them would likely do it. If a player doesn’t want to use steroids, that’s fine too. It would be their choice.
Even if they remain illegal, people are going to continue using steroids, skirting the law and league rules. However, if the Food and Drug Administration were to remove it from their schedule, they could regulate the drug, making it safer for public use. Plus, a legal steroid industry would result in jobs and tax revenue.
If only pro sports leagues allow players to use steroids but federal laws remain unchanged, players will certainly face a conundrum on how to toe the legal line. But regardless of how it’s done, pro leagues have to realize they are making a mistake by limiting their players’ potential.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published by USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
