Are steriods a good thing?

http://a.espncdn.com/

We all know that steroids can be a bad thing.  It is cheating the game and everyone involved with it.  However, they can benefit a large amount of people.  Some people can even make the argument that the MLB should legalize steroids and let players choose if they want to use.   Forbes makes an argument for legalizing steroids stating that “legalizing PEDs would make life much easier for professional sports organizations currently tasked with managing convoluted anti-doping policies.” Not only would this be a financial benefit for the teams it would also be more exciting to watch.

If you ask anyone who knows anything about baseball they will tell you that the most exciting play is a towering home run from their favorite player.  A home run can change the entire swing of the game and its one of the main reasons people come to baseball games.  It’s a proven fact that people get stronger from taking drugs.  When players get stronger they hit more home runs.  According to Sbnation five of the 25 players who lead the all time list of home runs have taken steroids.  What this site doesn’t show is how much the team benefits from these players taking steroids.  At at least one point in time 4 of the five players led the league in most popular jersey.

Not only do they receive money via jersey sales, but the overall value of a player goes up.  Most GMs think of their players as assets.  Theses assets can either appreciate or decline over time.  With the use of steroids the value of these players will go up causing the player to be worth more.  The GM can then get more money and players for that player.

Even though there are all of these Pros steroids should not be used in professional baseball.  The bottom line is they affect the overall health of they players.  It’s almost inhumane to make them legal.  Players would feel the need to take steroids just because everyone else is.  Not only will it cause professionals to use steroids, but young players will look up to their idols and feel the need to take steroids just to succeed.  The MLB has done just fine up to this point and shouldn’t feel the need to change the game.
In my next post I will talk about how players affect the public, and their image after being caught using steriods.