The Consequences of Cheating and Using Performance Enhancing Drugs - Daniel Kolpek

Cheating. We’ve all done it at least once in our lives. Let’s be honest, nobody’s perfect. Maybe it was the one time you had a ton of homework or were really busy on a Thursday night and forgot about that vocabulary quiz the next day that you swore you were going to study for but it just didn’t happen. So to avoid the bad grade and lecture from your parents, you decide to just copy the person you sit next to. You get an A on the quiz and nothing bad happened. No harm done, right? The same thoughts go through the minds of professional athletes when they begin taking performance enhancing drugs. They don’t think there is anything wrong with it. Or they think, “Oh I’ll just do it this one time to get a little more buff, then I’ll stop.” But it never really turns out this way. After they do it once and start achieving these great feats in their respective sports, they are compelled to continue using them. They know there are no consequences unless they get caught. But what about their fellow players? What about the people who set amazing records through hard work whose achievements are being broken? They didn’t take the easy way to fame. Things like the Hall of Fame are supposed to honor professional athletes like this. Those who worked hard to make it to the top and achieved their goals without any help. So why should players who cheated with drugs be honored and accepted into the Hall of Fame? The answer is obvious, they shouldn’t.

          Dock Ellis was a renown African American pitcher for the Pittsburg Pirates. He grew up playing baseball and helping his strict father at his shop in Compton, California. (Radice) He started his career in 1968. In September of 1970, Ellis threw a no hitter while high on LSD. In his documentary No No: A Dockumentary he describes how he, “Couldn’t see the batter, just which side they were on.” (Radice) He admits to being under the influence while playing many times throughout his career. He would take amphetamines that were commonly called “greenies” before games. (Radice) Staying in the MLB was difficult at that time and Ellis took them to “keep concentration” and “stay in the zone.” (Radice) Ellis was under a lot of pressure and he says that he took them to “deal with the fear of failure.” (Radice) Dock Ellis was a great pitcher and baseball player who led the Pirates to victory in the 1971 World Series. But he had to tarnish his reputation by playing while he was high. Throwing a no hitter is a great achievement for any pitcher and something most will never do in their lives. Ellis could’ve had this feeling of greatness, but he can’t even remember most of it. He didn’t want to take on the pressure and face the demons. People defend him by saying the racial issues and tension he faced justify his drug use. It’s true that this was a time where racial issues were at a height. But they fail to realize that there were plenty of other African American baseball players at the time who faced the pressure head on without the use of drugs while on the field to help them keep their mind. Jackie Robinson is a great example of this. He faced a lot more than Ellis did and he kept his career on the field drug free. Ellis should never be inducted into the Hall of Fame, because he used drugs to cheat his way out of the mental aspect of baseball. If he was honored for this, it would be a disgrace to every player of that time period who worked hard and faced the same kind of pressure without the use of acid. Not just that, but his stats are definitely not up to par with the Hall of Fame anyways.
          Ellis isn’t the only baseball player that abused drugs for assistance while playing in the MLB. There have been many more since him who have used drugs that in my opinion are more deserving of admonition. I’m referring to steroids if you didn’t catch my drift. Barry Bonds is a great example of a great baseball player who ruined his reputation because of his steroid use towards the end of the year. Bonds was an exceptional baseball player who played for the Pittsburg Pirates in his early career, then for the San Francisco Giants later. Bonds holds records for home runs both in a career and in a season. (Harvey 1) Around 1998, Bonds began abusing steroids to help him out at his older age for a pro athlete. (Harvey 1) He was investigated and convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice because he lied to the grand jury. (Harvey 1) As a result, Bonds has never been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Bonds was one of the greatest baseball players even before he started his steroid use late in his career. Proponents of his place in the Hall of Fame argue that Bonds’ early career justify his place there. The only problem is, regardless of his early career, he screwed up. Just like many of us fear the bad grade on the vocabulary test Bonds faltered at the fear of failure. As a result, he decided to cheat his way up to the end of his career, then lie about it to top everything else off.

          These people are not the kind of role models that we need. Athletes that dread decline so much that they cheat instead of working harder to avoid it or overcome it. Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron both never took steroids or any performance enhancing drugs to help them gain their records for most home runs. Same goes for Jackie Robinson. He went through way more than most athletes go through, and he persevered through. These are the people deserving of a spot in the Hall of Fame. Not the fake and deceiving players who took steroids to break records set by those who worked hard for them. Other professional baseball players would be disgusted if players like Bonds and Ellis were voted into the Hall of Fame over other players who actually deserve it. But cheating has its consequences and that is just something players like Bonds, A-Rod, and Ellis will have to learn the hard way.

          In conclusion, professional athletes who abused drugs to attain greatness should not be allowed in the Hall of Fame. They tried to swindle their way to the top, and in the process marred their reputation. They were disrespectful of their fellow players and did drugs to help them for their own selfish gains. So the next time you are considering cheating on a test or quiz and you think it isn’t a big deal, remember what you are doing. Think about your fellow classmates, and about Dock Ellis or Barry Bonds. Remember how they cheated to get the easy way out. Don’t misunderstand me here, I am not criticizing anybody because trust me, I am as guilty as any other person when it comes to this. And I don’t know, maybe you do want to be like Dock Ellis or Barry Bonds. Whatever you do you. But at least try to not take the easy way out just to avoid failure. Instead try to embrace it and learn from your mistakes. Because if you do this, it will make you a much better person in the long run and will help you not make the same mistakes again in the future. Thank you.

Works Cited:  

No No: A Dockumentary. Dir. Jeff Radice. Perf. Dock Ellis. Sundance Film Festival, 2014. No No: A Dockumentary. Cage Free Media, Jan. 2015. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. 

Bunning, Jim. "Baseball Great Jim Bunning: Steroid Users Have No Place in Hall of Fame." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 21 July 2009. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. 

Araton, Harvey. "It’s Time to Reconsider Barry Bonds for the Hall of Fame." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 July 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. 

Athletes Caught Using Steroids. Digital image. Occupational Drug Testing. Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, 9 Aug. 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.