In September of 1998, a record that has not been broken in over 30 years was about to be beaten with ease, and by two people. Nearing the end of another baseball season, baseball players Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were about to change the game of baseball as we know it. A record 61 home runs, held by former baseball player Roger Maris, was going to be easily surpassed by these two players. No one really thought of it at the time; players taking performance enhancing drugs in order to play better on the field. That is until a couple years after Mark McGwire belted 70 homeruns and Sammy Sosa hitting 66 of his own. Players started to hit more homeruns with ease. However, despite the fact that players were taking performance enhancing drugs, the game of baseball has been influenced in a positive way.
The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate how the performance enhancing drugs era of baseball will positively influence baseball in terms of entertainment and popularity. I will argue about how the players actions were morally questionable, but also how fans were more attracted to the game when many players were hitting excessive amounts of homeruns.
The target audience is the class, who I’m guessing will have opposing views to what I have to say. I’m sure many people will argue how wrong it is to take these performance enhancing drugs. My job is to show them how the game of baseball is affected due to this and how people are now having a surging interest in it.
1. Bathe, Bill. "Baseball and Steroids- The Controversy." EzineArticles 02 February 2005. 16 October 2007
2. Patrick, Dan. “Baseball, Steroids, and the Truth.” ESPN 03 January 2002. 16 October 2007 http://espn.go.com/talent/danpatrick/s/2002/0531/1389144.html
3. Phipps, Tim. “Steroids in Baseball.” BaseballLibrary.com 19 July 2002. 16 October 2007 http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/submit/Phipps_Tim2.stm
4. Madrigal, Alexis. “Study: Steroids Could Significantly Increase Home Runs for Professional Players.” WiredScience 25 September 2007. 16 October 2007 http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/09/a-little-more-m.html
5. Abdalla, Patrick. “Steroid-Use in Major Leagues Important To Most Fans.” Collegian Online 4 October 2002. 16 October 2007 http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2002/10/10-04-02tdc/10-04-02dsports-13.asp
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