Jason Giambi

After the labor dispute at the MLB mid 1990s, many people believe that Major League Baseball was at the time "steroids" since. Many high profile players from MLB have been accused of steroid use and some, like Jose Canseco, even admitted it openly, crediting the use of steroids throughout his career. In fact, Conseco wrote a book called "Juiced" which documented the use and impact of steroids in baseball.

According to Canseco, up to 85% of MLB players currently playing today use of doping products. Jose book titled "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ROIDS, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big" names many well-known players who used steroids during their careers.

Another player, Ken Caminiti, came forward on his steroid use and detailed the damage the drugs did to his body. Caminiti admitted that his body had stopped producing most of testosterone and that his testicles had got a lot smaller. In fact, his body was only 20% of normal levels of testosterone. And although Ken Caminiti knew full well the damage he did to his body, he still confessed that he would have done again if he had another chance. Ken eventually died as a result of his steroid use. (From Wikipedia)

Several MLB players liked was accused of using these drugs stimulating performance. Names like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Jason Giambi have been tarnished by the claims. Their records and awards all questioned because they have not been achieved naturally, but with the help of chemicals banned by MLB commissioner Bud Selig.

A company known as BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative has been cited as a central source of steroids to athletes in many sports. BALCO was a nutritional supplements American company run by Victor Conte.

BALCO made and marketed a steroid dubbed "the clear", also known as THG, or tetrahydrogestrinone, which was created by a BALCO chemist named Patrick Arnold (from Washington Post)

In 2003, the role of society in a sports drug scandal was investigated by two reporters, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada. The scandal was referred to as the BALCO case and focused on the distribution of the obvious to many top athletes in America and Europe over a period of several years by Conte, Greg Anderson, weight trainer and Remi Korchemni a coach.

The investigation was facilitated by a leading U.S. Olympic sprint coach Trevor Graham in 2003. Graham supplied a syringe containing traces of the substance known as "clear". A test to detect the Clear was developed and some 20 Olympic-caliber athletes tested positive for drugs. Marion Jones, an Olympic track and field star, just admitted using steroids after years of public denial. She said she used to prepare the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and the Olympic Committee has removed all his medals. (From Washington Post)

Later, a search of BALCO facilities revealed a client list with names including Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Gary Sheffield and a few other MLB players.

Home Arizona D-Backs pitcher Jason Grimsley was excavated in 2006 by U.S. federal agents and Grimsley admitted he used amphetamines, steroids and human growth hormones. In the end, Grimsley was released from his contract with the D-Backs and suspended for fifty games by the MLB.

After all this time, the use of steroids is still a big problem in MLB. And as Barry Bonds has been involved in that and he broke the record circuit this year, the story continues to have legs. Maybe MLB should institute tougher penalties for steroid use. For example, give suspensions when catching any player during regulated unannounced testing. If the player tests dirty again, his colleagues.