When the news broke last month about several current major league players possibly obtaining performance-enhancing drugs from the Biogenesis of America clinic in Coral Gables, Fla., it became apparent that this will be an ongoing battle well into the future when it comes to the world of professional sports.
Regardless of what rules are put in place, athletes are always trying to figure out ways to gain a competitive advantage either legally or, in some cases, illegally. Now whether they do it by hiring a personal trainer, hard work, certain diets/workout regiments or PEDs, the fact of the matter is that a lot of athletes will always strive to better themselves physically and mentally in order to remain relevant in whatever sport they are participating in, especially with the amount of money that is involved in present day pro sports.
Just think about this. The odds of becoming a professional athlete in any sport are pretty staggering. According to yougoprobaseball.com, one out of every 100 high school baseball players plays professionally. That’s a measly one percent.
In basketball, the odds of playing in the NBA are even lower. According to recent statistics compiled by the NCAA, out of 156,000 male, senior high school basketball players, only 44 will be drafted into the league after college. That rounds out to a whopping .03 percent.
Football offers the slightly better odds when it comes to becoming a pro. Two-hundred and fifty players out of 317,000 high school seniors will likely be drafted, which rounds out to .08 percent.
So in the grand scheme of things, being a professional athlete is about defying the odds. But to some athletes who defy the odds and make it to the pros, it’s also about finding loopholes in how to get there and sustain success, and that’s where PEDs come into play.
Look, we all want to be successful at we do. That’s a given. But when being successful involves cheating, there has to be some form of punishment laid down.
Take current Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Melky Cabrera (not picking on Melky just giving an example) for instance. After a so-so start to his career with the Yankees, he was shipped to Atlanta in 2010. After hitting .255 with four home runs and 42 RBIs in 115 games for the Braves, he was released. The Kansas City Royals then picked up the struggling outfielder and got a surprisingly huge return on investment.
In 2011, Cabrera set career highs in batting average (.305), home runs (18), RBIs (87), runs scored (102) and stolen bases (20) en route to becoming just the sixth Royal to record at least 200 hits in a season. Considering he had never posted similar numbers in his first few seasons in the majors, it was surprising that Cabrera played as well as he did while playing in Kansas City.
After being shipped to the Giants following the 2011 season, Cabrera set the National League on fire during the first half of the 2012 season. He was even named the MVP of the All-Star Game. But on August 15, Cabrera, who was leading the league in hits and was second in the NL in batting average (.346), saw his season come to a screeching halt when he was suspended 50 games for testing positive for high levels of testosterone. Cabrera admitted to using the banned substance and accepted his suspension.
So was Cabrera’s last two years in the majors the result of PEDs, or was it just a coincidence that he had the finest two seasons of his major league career just out of circumstance?
How he performs this season will definitely give us the answer to those two questions, but it’s also gives us a great example of how an athlete will use any means necessary to prolong a career.
Now I’m not saying Melky would be out of the league had he not indulged in performance enhancing drugs, but I do believe Cabrera and other professional athletes take PEDs to prolong their careers. It’s just like anyone else that makes a good salary. When you get used to making a certain amount of money and living a certain lifestyle, you grow accustomed to living that way. And if an athlete can make another $20 million dollars or so by breaking the rules, we’d be naïve to think they want at least try to do so.
Hey, not all athletes are alike. And not all athletes cheat. In fact, most don’t. But when it comes down to it, a lot of them will go to many lengths to make sure they remain relevant. It’s just sad that they have to cheat to do so. But money makes us all do crazy stuff. And for some athletes, it’s the driving force behind why they do cheat.