Baseball Special Report: New drug rules hit the block
In today’s sports world, the players are rewarded with significant incentives for a good performance in the field and it is an obvious reason which entices the players to display an extra-ordinary game. In order to remain fit, the players take a lot of help from good diet but at the same time, some of them use the un-fair means to get a competitive advantage on their opponents. Drugs and steroids are commonly used to serve the purpose.
The routine of using performance-enhancing drugs, steroids, and other substances has always been a big issue for the Major League Baseball (MLB). The management committee and the players’ association has frequently run various anti-drug campaigns and rules have been formulated to put an end to this un-healthy activity.
The current commissioner of baseball Bud Selig has put a lot of efforts to address this problem in the recent years; he faced a lot of criticism for not being very active in the past though. This year, Bud Selig has been successful in convincing the players’ union to adopt the new rules and regulations of drug testing.
In this connection, Major League Baseball declared to expand its drug-testing program and has proposed to start the process from a lower level. In addition to the Olympic players who had been subject to blood testing for several years, the blood samples of minor league players’ will also be checked for human growth hormone (H.G.H.) in accordance with the new rule. The H.G.H. basically helps boost lean muscle mass.
Blood test has been selected for testing because previously Major League Baseball started testing players’ urine for steroids and other drugs in 2006, but it failed to test the Human Growth Hormone (H.G.H.) as it can only be spotted through blood tests.
Blood testing was also thought to be defective at some point because no Olympic athlete was reported to catch up in the last seven years. Anyhow, the notion was proved wrong when a rugby player in England was caught up through blood testing in February. It convinced the players and the commissioner of baseball, who thought it was lacking the transparency. The credit for the initiation of blood testing in the minor league actually goes to Mr. Selig. He was very instrumental in development of this rule and Selig also started the steroid testing in minor leagues back in 2001.
This particular hormone H.G.H. has been forbidden in all the major professional sports leagues throughout the world and Minor Baseball League (MLB) banned it in 2004, while it was banned in Major Baseball League (MLB) in 2005. As a result of new regulation, any minor league player with positive H.G.H test will suffer 50-game suspension.
The new rule has taken its formal shape this month but there has already been one suspension on account of H.G.H. in 2008. Jordan Schafer of Atlanta Braves was suspended for 50 games in the minor league for being convicted of having H.G.H.
Bud Selig is happy about the new rule and his endeavour essentially puts baseball ahead of the National Football League (NFL) as far as the drug-testing is concerned. Both the sports have discouraged the illegal behaviour and taken practical actions against the drug activity but somehow baseball has got more flake and negative publicity in this side. The two popular baseball players; Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire were associated with drug-allegations in the past.
Besides this, the approval of new rule is creating a bit of confusion among the players on the matter of blood testing because it is more intrusive and revealing. The players feel the potential risk of disclosing other vulnerable diseases by blood testing but the baseball officials have ensured blood samples will only be tested for H.G.H.
This is a positive step and such rules will improve the game of baseball.
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