by Matthew Emma

Created on: July 27, 2009   Last Updated: July 28, 2009

The use of steroids continues to be a blight for baseball, enabling players to achieve inflated statistics by cheating. This controversy has tainted the game to such an extent, fans seem to react with indifference when news breaks of the latest player to have tested positive for the use of performance enhancing substances.

This issue has taken baseball to places it never imagined going, from the Halls of Congress to shady drug laboratories. Most fans are sick and tired of hearing about steroids and wonder if the problem will ever go away. That is an intriguing question, but one only the current Major League Baseball (MLB) administration can answer.

Although Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and his administration will never admit this, they secretly knew the use of steroids was going on well before it became a headline. It is hard to argue performance enhancing drugs didn't play a role in the sport's rejuvenation over the last decade and a half. Following the strike in 1994, baseball lost the respect of many fans.

However, a key event that brought the sport back into the fans' conscience was the 1998 home run record chase between Mark MacGwire and Sammy Sosa. Both men may have broken Roger Maris's record, but alas, rumors surfaced the duo achieved the milestone with the help of steroids. However, a blind eye was turned because the excitement generated by inflated stats and highlight reel homeruns made the sport the national pastime again.

Now unfortunately, the use of steroids has spiraled like a snowball barreling down a mountain. More players, including many big names athletes, are reported to have cheated.

Finally, the steroid infection festered to a point even MLB could no longer ignore it. The league conducted countless investigations which concluded steroid use has been and continues to be a problem warranting attention. That said, MLB still refuses to truly tackle the issue head on, taking a half-hearted approach to punishing those who are caught cheating. Penalties levied are mere slaps on the wrist that have no impact on perpetrators.

If Selig and friends want to rid the game of steroids, an extremely firm stand must be taken that sends a clear message that cheating won't be tolerated under any circumstances and, if a player is found guilty of the crime, they will be stiffly reprimanded.

Much unlike the rules of baseball, I would make it a two strike and you're out policy. The first time a player is proven to have used steroids, he is automatically suspended for a period of 162 games (one full season). During this time, he does not get paid and will be strictly prohibited from participating in any team functions on or off the field.

Should a player be caught a second time, he is immediately and permanently expelled from baseball. His contract would be voided and his statistics erased. The expulsion would essentially mean the player never existed.

These punishments may not be popular and could be construed as harsh, but the line has to be drawn somewhere. The use of performance enhancing drugs is a disease. If the idea is to eradicate the affliction, you must take drastic, aggressive actions to cut it off at the pass. Paying lip service to the problem will not make it go away.

I, like many other fans, would be pleased to never hear the words steroids and baseball mentioned together again. That said, fans can only suggest what should be done. However, only Selig and his MLB regime can make this dream reality.

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