Category: Baseball

The Tallahassee BeanCounters (TBC) is a minor league baseball team, which is based in Tallahassee, Florida. Incidentally; it had never been audited before the writing of a letter by an anonymous whistleblower; reporting fraudulent activities within the company, to Franklin Kennedy, the organization’s owner. An additional impetus for the audit of the company’s accounts was the granting of a mortgage to the company for the construction of a new training facility. This investigative report seeks to confirm whether allegations made by the whistleblower are true or false, by scrutinizing the company accounts, employees, materials, and the organizational chart.

It is worth noting that the organization is run by an ex-base ballplayer, who is an associate and long-time friend. Seemingly, he does not have an academic background in business administration, which sets the stage for flaws in management. From the interviews with employees, it is observed that there is no whistle-blowing structure in the organization, coupled with the absence of an internal auditor, thereby providing conduits for the siphoning of funds illegally from the company.

One of the indicators of fraud within the organization is the lack of proper specialization and division of labor. For example, Tucker Johnson who is the head coach, delegates some of his duties to Sam McCarty the equipment manager, because of his phobia of paperwork, and does not counter check orders made on new equipment by Sam, who can easily inflate the quantities required. Additionally, there is overlapping of roles within the organization, that is seen where Julie Roper who is the assistant to the president, also assumes the role of a concessions manager. Julie’s ineptitude at work is shown where she fails to do her job at times as required. Her job description warrants the counting of condiments at the end of every game, but she views this as a laborious task and so does so sporadically. On May 13th for instance, she counts the condiments but fails to do so on the 14th and 15th, creating loopholes for fraud by altering the concessions figure. Phil has a charming personality, which enables him to create a rapport with everyone in the organization. From the evidence gathered, he is seen to be very unpredictable, when he decides to cut down on employee expenses, by instituting job cuts. In a move that raises eyebrows, he fires his assistant Terry Hughes for going away to see her mother and replaces her with his niece, a clear indication of nepotism. He also takes deposits to the bank, a duty that should be undertaken by junior staff.

Furthermore, in the build-up to the construction of the new training facility, he was the one who handled the bidding process and kept the bids in sealed envelopes in a safe in his office. Ordinarily, the bidding process should have been handled by a hired independent body, or by the company’s owner, Franklin. The process is handled solely by Phil, raises a red flag as to whether the bidding process was free and fair, and if the contractor, Larkin Construction, was indeed the lowest bidder as purported.

There is some likelihood of fraud taking place in the parking lot because we can read malice from the issuance of tickets to the various categories of cars. Strangely enough, there is no way of telling the difference between tickets sold to big vehicles and small vehicles, because after paying the tickets are just placed under the wipers of vehicles’ windshields, while the spectators are watching the game.

The organization in question seems to be outsourcing payroll services, from the ADC payroll company, which does nothing more than just distribute money to the accounts of the employees. The process of filling out a consolidated timesheet is done by Candie, and the calculation of salaries owed is done by Michelle, who writes out a check to the ADC payroll company, to disburse the funds. This begs the question of the need for outsourcing of a payroll company, that just pays out money which could have easily been handled by Michelle, after compilation of the necessary bi-weekly data by the various departments. Michele who is also a part-time student can easily be tempted to canvass to get tuition money.

Myrna and the other workers at the ticketing booth, have worked together for 20 years. Additionally, their husbands attend every game and the six have a personal relationship. This in itself can lead to loopholes for committing fraud; for example, we do not know whether their husbands pay for the tickets. The period is also long enough, for the ladies to come up with a way to swindle the ticket payments. It is of importance to note that the other ladies, leave when Ben Hill and the armed security guard arrive, without confirming the amount of money they have, and leave the duty to Ben Hill and Myrna Myers alone.

As evidenced from the attendance to one of the games, and interviews with the employees, Ben Hill is the one who calls all the shots and almost has the final word on a collection of any fund. He is the last person who confirms the collections and reconciliations, keeps the money, and even does the bank deposits. He has an open check to do anything as he wishes. It is also noted that he has a larger-than-life personality, is always at night clubs and hits out on every woman who comes close to him. These can be possible forces, towards unprofessional allocation of funds, given that he has the opportunity to do so.

The accounts receivables have been increasing exponentially, from May to September, due to either a very weak collection system or unaccounted figures. For example, the increase from $14338, $71602, $89912, $132134, to $112932 respectively, which can lead liquidity issues.

The figures for concessions in September are given as $3671, which is an understatement, since we see that the condiments were not counted on 27th September, the last day inventory was taken in the storeroom. This gives an implication that there are some inventories, whose figures might not be given correctly; therefore the balance sheet does not give a true and fair view of the financial status of the organization.

Although the organization qualified to give impressive profit margins for the period when the construction was going on, we doubt whether that was the true position; given the ambiguity, we have in the final financial accounts. We would like to ask for the cash flow statement for the current period, a balance sheet, and financial statements of the same period for the previous year. There is also a need for a bank statement, to help in the preparation of a bank reconciliation statement.

Ultimately, the TBC organization is a business enterprise like any other, which should be run by professionals, starting from the senior manager to junior staff. A human resources office should be instituted, to recruit qualified personnel for the various duties that are required to run the organization efficiently. This is a measure to ensure that, there is perfect division and specialization of labor. A whistle-blowing channel should be enacted, where a phone line is opened for employees to tip off the organization, in incase there is an impending crime. The office of an internal auditor should be put in place to ensure that all the monthly activities are vetted to detect any unscrupulous activities that might present themselves.

Football verses Baseball: Which is more profitable? In the current contemporary world of professional sports, there are two key players. These are: baseball represented by Major League Baseball (MLB) and football represented by the National Football League(NFL).There are other sports which are more profitable than the two but the argument here boils to which sport between the two is more profitable.

This paper examines both sports from different angles to include attendance, entertainment value, ticket costs, venues, salaries, television revenues and athlete perception. The goal of this paper is to determine which sport is more profitable (Bouchette 12).

From the overall two thousand regular attendances in National Football League was 72,782,013 in 2,416 games at an Average per game crowd of 30,125 whereas the official attendance paid in Major League Baseball was 16,387,289 in 248 games. Therefore, baseball is twice as popular as football.

The popularity in attendance clearly manifests realization of huge amounts of earnings from base ball as opposed to football. Football game is almost on every day on a variety of channels and its ratings are considered dismal when compared to baseball. The main reason for the rating is purely based on season length. This is because in MLB seasons are too short and every game means a lot. This makes baseball more profitable than football (Martin 18).

Television revenue has nowadays become big business in sports industry. This is because television networks are paying large chunks of money to championship game to earn the rights of broadcasting sports activities. The championship game in the Major League Baseball is rated as the highest broadcast every year.

Both MLB and NFL enjoy large television contracts. However the revenue shearing plans are quite dissimilar. The Major League Baseball receives 2.7 billion dollars a year from television revenue. National Football League receives 340 million dollars a year. This fact renders baseball more profitable than football (Bauchette 45).

In regard to the ticket price, baseball becomes more profitable than football. This is because the ticket price usually vary but at average, ticket price for NFL contest was $ 20.07 With the highest average price being $ 30.33 to watch the famous Washington redskin.Where as on the other hand, the average ticket price for MLB was $53.4 to watch the Boston red sox and the lowest average ticket price was $34.07 to watch Milwaukee Brewers.

The average MLB venue can hold up to 70,000 people with the largest stadium in San Diego setting its capacity to 76,000.The smallest of the MLB stadium is found at Boston with the capacity to hold about 33,871.Thus, baseball stadiums are better able to accommodate large numbers of people as compared to football stadiums.This is enough evidence that baseball is more profitable than football (Martin 22).

Player salaries in most times are claimed by team owners as the determinant factor of raising ticket price. In baseball, player salaries are so high that it’s not comparable to the earnings of American public. In the year 2000, the average player salary in baseball was more than two million dollars a year. In football, the average individual salary was less than two million dollars. This is because in football, there are many players and numerous registered footballs clubs (Martin 35)

In reference to the above arguments, baseball players are seen in a better light as compared to football players. Entertainment is yet another point of interest in differentiating between the worth of football to that of baseball. Interestingly, both are affordable, well attended, and fun to watch. Thus, it’s too much unfair to specify which of the sports as the best in its entertainment value (Martin 64)

In conclusion, Baseball enjoys reasonable ticket costs within specified season length, reasonable player salaries as compared to football, best overall revenues, and larger stadiums to accommodate big numbers of the viewers (Bauchette &Martin).

Works Cited

Bouchette, Elestra. Steelers not awash with cash for stadium. Pittsburgh Publishers, 1998. Print.

Martin, Nathan. Sports and Culture Relations: American and Global Perspectives. Prometheus Publishers, 2011.Print.

Baseball as a game in the U.S. traces its origins back to the year 1978, when the game had no formal rules and special equipments. Although the game at this time was “crude” due to lack of rules, proper organization and representation, this never prevented its spreading because of its popularity that was spreading fast among the American citizens.

By late 1860’s there was calls for need to professionalize the game; something that contributed to its development into a national game. Due to many complications that were arising due to the uncontrolled rate at which the game was expanding, there was need for formation of a national body that was to govern the game; hence the formation of the National Association of Baseball players (NABBP).

Although not all clubs joined the organization, at least those that joined it made it to grow as a national organization that managed baseball activities. With time due to diversification of the game, there has been many major transformations and re-organization of the game, hence its present status as a well-known and respected game.

For example, although previously individuals had tried to professionalize the game, there efforts achieved less due to many divisions and wrangles that existed. In many ways, this managerial wrangles and divisions were the main contributors or major building blocks of the currently existing baseball developments.

For example, the managerial wrangles led to the formation of the USA Baseball in 1978; an organization mandated with the role of governing the game in the U.S. this organization closely collaborates with the U.S. Olympic committee in trying to improve the quality of the game.

It achieves this through promoting of several activities that include major tournaments, minor and major leagues. Majority of participants in these activities are either high school students or individual who have embraced the game as their professional activity.

This organization has led to the success of the game, because it has enabled the team to win a number of medals both in national and international tournaments (History of Baseball, (n.d.), p.1). This paper will discuss concepts of the unionization of professional baseball, impacts of the unionization of the game to players, managers and the game in general. It will further discuss the roles played by the baseball unions as concerns player remuneration and compensation; primarily on factors that determine player compensations.

History of Professional Baseball Unions

Prior to 1871, baseball had no organized professional management bodies, but rather the game followed informal procedures and rules. In addition, because of the informal organization of the game, there were no special playing equipments and standards, which players and teams were to meet.

Although this was the case, it never lasted for long with the formation of the National Association of professional Baseball players in 1871. The government mandated this organization with the overall role of controlling the game, organizing tournaments, and dealing with problems that arose in during the game or among different participants and stakeholders.

Although this was a professional body, which in common scenarios is supposed to be well organized and structured, NABBP lacked the required structural organization, something that made it hard for it to control player’s affairs (Baseball Labor History, 1997, Para. 1-2) . This is because many players had no single clubs they could identify themselves with, because they kept on moving from one to another in for search “greener pastures”.

This never lasted for long, because later on in 1876 under the leadership of Hulbert, the National League of Professional Baseball Players came to existence. The primary aim of this organization was to control the unrestrained movements of players across different teams with no formal procedures. In addition, William’s another aim was to ensure that, club managers had major control over these teams and not as the case was previously where players had all the freedom of doing whatever they wished.

Many changes came as a result of the formation of this organization, an example being the selection of five best players to join major clubs that managements decided at the termination of each playing period. The managements named this the “reserve Clause”, something that contributed to the introduction of contractual terms. Contractual terms in many ways came with many limitations on players in that, there freedom was now limited because of denial of transfer rights.

In addition, previously players could negotiate their payment terms, however with the introduction of this clause, such rights were limited to players, instead the team owner had the rights of deciding the remuneration and benefit amounts. On the other hand, these introduced a new concept of contract renewing, whereby clubs could “sell’ their players to other clubs in exchange for money although players were unwilling to join such clubs.

The whole idea of baseball players’ remuneration underwent many changes as time advanced because the quality of the game was deteriorating; a factor that resulted due to low motivational levels in players because, clubs denied then chances of joining clubs of their choices.

In addition, the introduction of the salary cap by one baseball club proprietor; Goodwill Spalding led to increased wrangles in baseball management. This is because each club player was to receive approximately $2500 annually, an amount that was far below what was appropriate. Many individuals received this with mixed reactions, hence causing the formation of another baseball union called Brotherhood Professional Baseball Players.

This organization came into being because majority of individual felt that club owners were overexploiting players hence, misusing their talent. This received a revolt from club owners, because they too felt isolated and despised by simple players whom they could control. This prompted them to react back by imposing some uniform fees on players (Baseball Labor History, 1997, Para. 4).

Although this league helped to fight for players’ rights, it never lasted for long because of the opposition that it faced from club owners; primarily Spalding, hence the re-adoption of the previous reserve clause. Many players opposed this clause because it constrained their rights, something that led to the filing of a court case in early 1920’s, which the baseball won.

This marked the onset of the many cases that followed due to wrangles between baseball players and club owners; a factor that primarily contributed to the call for reformulation of the baseball antitrust law.

This calls yielded little because, the overexploitation continued for some time, hence making players to consider the option of forming a giant baseball organization to defend their rights. In addition, the fact that players had problems with club owners as concerns pension plans also contributed greatly to the call for the formation of a grand organization that was to foresee the articulation of players’ rights.

Although most baseball leader’s efforts gained little, the fight to unionize baseball never stopped because as time advanced many other individuals and players came up with initiatives whose main mandate was to fight for baseball players rights. For example, in early 1990’s through collaboration with other baseball stakeholders, baseball players formed the Player’s Protective Association (PPA). This organization’s main mandate was to fight for players’ remuneration rights and enhancement of playing conditions.

Later on in 1912, through collaboration with other bodies that fought for other sport players’ rights, baseball players came up with the Fraternity of Professional Baseball Players; an organization that also was to fight for their rights. Little success of these organizations never stopped players from struggling for representation, because in 1946 they formed another body that was to articulate their rights called the American Baseball Guild (Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), 2010, p.1).

Still up to mid the 19^th century these formed organizations had achieved little as concerned the abolishing or restructuring of the reserve clause. It is important to note here that, the major reason why the players wanted to eliminate or change the reserve clause is because, it had tied players to specific clubs hence, denying them transfer rights to clubs they longed to move to.

The little achievement by previously formed baseball unions was not a demoralizing factor to players. This is because although the fruits from such organizations were less, in 1965 players re-organized themselves in order to develop proper strategies of putting forward their grief. Their struggle for recognition made then to seek help from external sources; hence the appointing of Marvin Miller as their leader.

This marked the onset of a major transformation in terms of baseball unions because the appointment later turned out to be success factor because of his representational skills. Players appointed him because they believed that Marvin had the power of influencing the government and negotiating with club owners on players’ rights.

The concept of miller leading the players association received many oppositions from club owners, whereby their struggles to eliminate him from this leadership position were fruitless. Miller fought to ensure the union had enough funds to manage its affairs. To achieve this, he came up with the concept of a licensing plan that was to ensure that all baseball players were registered and accepted members of a specific representational organization.

In addition, he came up with a tutoring and mentoring programs, whose main aim was to ensuring players expressed their grief with solidarity, hence the need to abolish differences that existed amongst them. His efforts gained many fruits for example, in 1968 through his leadership and using his influencing power, the union won a case that led to the formulation and signing of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is the sports sector.

This agreement was one of its kinds in this industry because; it prompted most club managements to increase players’ salary to $10,000 (MLBPA, 2010, Para. 5). His struggle to see respect of players’ rights never stopped here, because in 1970 through negotiations with club owners and other stakeholders, players received arbitration rights, when it came to handling of players’ problems.

Granting of arbitration rights marked the onset of many achievements that followed as concerned baseball players’ rights. It is necessary to note here that, Miller’s achievements not only enhanced the respect of baseball players, but rather it had impacts in all sports sectors; hence, the accordance of respect to professional sport. Throughout Miller’s reign much happened in the sports world, in terms of developments and respect of players’ rights.

His great achievements included the introduction of licenses in sports, improvement of contractual terms, and adoption of correct pension schemes by organizations. In addition, his struggle to increase the unions saw the expansion of the union to international standards, something that unions and individual feel even today. This is because currently, MLBPA is one of the most prominent and powerful sports organizations in not only America, but also globally (Korr, 2003, p.1).

The concept of the reserve clause received much opposition and faced many court challenges, whereby finally under arbitration the concept of free agency came into being. This abolished the monopoly enjoyed by many clubs in that, it helped to abolish the continuous tendencies of clubs renewing players’ contracts without their consent.

MLBPA has undergone many changes, and has seen many leaders come an go, whereby some of the leaders who have seen the union sail through changing hard times include Ken Moffet (after miller) and Fehr. Other developments after Miller’s achievement include increase in revenue amounts, restricting of the free agent market that made club owners enjoy the monopoly as concerned the signing of new contracts.

This in any ways has contributed to compensation of players for their rights abused by club owners, for example in 1990; players received $280 million from club owners. Achievement of these has never been smooth in that, it had to involve unrests and boycotts from players for example the 232-day boycott in 1994 to 1995. This in many ways enhanced negotiation standards and agreements rates, something that was very clear during the 2002 signing of a new sort contract (MLBPA, 2010, p.1).

Impacts of the Unionization on Players, owners and the Baseball Game

In common practice, the main aim of all players’ organizations is to fight and a ensure team managements and club owners respect all player rights. The case has not been different in MLBPA; owing to the many struggles, it has undergone to achieve its present status, primarily because of the much turmoil, which it had to undergo in the past.

For example to achieve its present status, the union had to organize many strikes and work boycotts. In addition, in some instances it had to file court cases, whereby it lost and won some. On the other hand, where the court cases failed, arbitration had to prevail, hence the current achievements of the union.

Although the quality of the game has had a major boost, players have benefited most because of the freedom that abolishing of the reserve clause granted them. Currently baseball players have employment rights, a scenario that contrasts to what existed previously where, club owners enjoyed the monopoly of controlling all baseball activities.

Under Miller’s leadership, club owners granted players collective bargaining opportunities through agreements signed between the two parties; players and club owners. Such like developments have contributed to the currently earned good salaries by baseball players, as compared to the past when their salary was little to sustain a good living (Goodman, 2000, p.1).

In addition, players have arbitration rights, something that is a major boost to the formalities of solving players’ problems. These rights have achieved a lot for example, in 1989, players benefited from a damage compensation that amounted to $ 38 million. In addition through this arbitration rights, player have received other benefits either in form of salaries or compensations from club owners incase something in cases where problems occur during playing time.

Currently players have information access rights, something that the club owners tried to constrain during early times when there existed many contending issues between the two parties. Apart from material gains, the unionization of baseball has created strong baseball teams whose solidarity has brought many achievements, which has contributed to talent exploitation hence the coming up of many stars for example, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa (MLBPA, 2010, p.1).

On the other hand, the unionization has contributed greatly to the increasing bargaining power of players. MLBPA represents all players’ grievances in court and to baseball club owners. Hence, due the nature of the power they posses, they have helped baseball players to express their grievance hence, bettering their negotiating terms.

Although the unionization of professional baseball has contributed a lot to players’ well-being, to some extent it has contributed to the downfall of players who never participated in the strike. This is because to the union the young players’ act of not joining others in the strike deviated from the union’s rules hence, the only way of punishing them is by denying them union memberships. This has greatly contributed to talent wastage, because they are not entitled to benefit from any deals by the union (Kendrick, 2010, p.1).

To club owners, considering the amount of fines resulting from compensations, management of most baseball teams have little to celebrate for, because these compensations are major sources of looses. Baseball unions from time to time have challenged any management orientation club owners adopt; any time they feel, such changes are violating player’s rights. In many ways, this has made management hard in that, from time to time there are policy changes, something that costs club owners substantial amounts of money.

Although the above is the case as concerns managements, at least the same has helped to shape management practices of teams. This is because currently, clubs give players the required respect and recognition, something that was rare previously during the reign of Albert Spalding as a club owner.

The game has received a major boost in terms of quality and standards. Previously, the “reserve clause” and the contractual terms was a major demoralizing factor because, players could not afford to play for their dream teams. With the formation of MLPBA, club managers adopted better managerial policies that saw the change of contractual terms hence, guaranteeing players their individual freedoms.

On the other hand, previously there were much segregation in terms of players in specific baseball teams, whereby there existed clear divisions between the whites and black Americans. This led to the formation of the Negro League Baseball Players Association. However, due to unionization such segregations have vanished because of equal representation.

This in many ways has contributed to the development of the game to international standards, because every registered player has equal chances of exhibiting their expertise as far as the game is concerned (Negro League Baseball Players Association, 2007, p.1).

Factors that Determine Player Compensation Packages in Baseball

Currently, professional sport has undergone many transformations in terms of diversification, hence making the entire field a multifaceted field. Depending on one’s competence in terms of playing skills and how much fans like one, one becomes a good marketing tool of clubs they belong.

Majority of organizations adopt the incentive plan, for most management considers it the most appropriate mechanism of encouraging performance. The same is not different when it comes to professional sports, because for players to maintain high playing standards, club managements have to adopt the same measures. The overall role of determining the remuneration packages of baseball players rests with the Major League Baseball players Union.

The league achieves its mandate by employing the use of collective bargaining agreements. Depending whether a player is in the national league or in the American league, the remuneration packages vary accordingly. In addition, negotiation also forms the foundation of any remuneration package a player receives hence, the importance of unions as main negotiators (Manzano, 2006, p.1).

Any baseball player is entitled to a specific minimum salary. In addition, to the minimum salary, clubs add other performance related monetary benefits; depending on terms of agreements. For a player to have arbitration rights, they have to be in the league for a minimum of three years, whereby contractual renewal terms determine the amount of salary that a player earns.

After the third year; when the clubs are renewing contracts, the salary varies depending also on the new contractual terms. Generally, a player’s remuneration package depends on achievements; in terms of game quality and the representing union’s agents during negotiations (Miller, 2000, pp. 87-88).

Roles of Unions to Player Compensation

The remuneration packages of baseball players in most cases depend primarily on the strength of the negotiator(s). Players on their own cannot afford to negotiate good contractual terms hence, the need for representation by agent provided by unions where they belong. This is the case, because sometimes working conditions may be unfavorable or their may exist many contending issue under consideration.

In addition, because majority of players have little knowledge about the nature of benefits they should receive from their clubs, special representation by union agents ensures club managers do not take advantage over them. This ensures club owners award players good remuneration packages through the process of structuring the wage benefits (Milkovich & Newman, 2007, pp. 94-97).

Although one may argue that, contractual terms are clear hence, no need for one to be represented by a union member, it is necessary for individuals to remember that, contractual term are alterable before one signs a contract. Hence, the use of an agent guarantees improved contractual terms, which translates to better benefits.

In addition, unions’ representation can act as a security measure because many changes can occur in terms of skill demand and competition (Milkovich & Newman, 2007, p. 504). Therefore, to ensure there is job security and assurance of continuous gaining, it is important for players to have representation from a union, it being a corporate and registered body, hence has rights to defend an individual in case something wrong happens in the course of the game.

Conclusion

In conclusion, baseball unionization has undergone a major transformation process. This is because a comparison between the past and present quality and standards of the game clearly shows that, the game has undergone an evolution. The evolution is in terms of managerial qualities, policy developments, and changes in the general practice of the game.

Reference List

Baseball labor History. (1997). An old fashioned game with old fashioned traditions. Web.

Goodman, A. (2000). Sports Law History: the role of Marvin Miller. Web.

History of Baseball. Baseball. Web.

Kendrick, S. (2010). 1994-95 effects are felt, at least on video games. About Baseball. Web.

Korr, C. (2003). Baseball union. Dictionary of American History. Web.

Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). MLBPA information. MLBPA Players. Web.

Manzano, C. (2006). The business of baseball: how do players earn such Big salaries. Law Offices of Catalina L. Manzano. Web.

Milkovich, G., & Newman, J. (2007). Compensation (9^th e.d.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin Publishers.

Miller, P. (2000). A theoretical and empirical comparison of free agent and Arbitration-eligible salaries negotiated in major league baseball. Southern Economic Journal, 67(1), 87-104. Web.

Negro League Baseball Players Association. History of Major Negro Leagues Association. NLPBA. Web.

The habit of steroid use among professional athletes is not uncommon in sports arena. Over the past decade, athletes have been charged with the use of performance enhancement drug namely the anabolic Steroid. The reputation of these athletes has been tarnished after they openly admitted to the allegations.

However, it is common knowledge that the use of performance enhancement drugs in competitive sports has been perceived with a lot of negativity (Frounfelter & Brandley 113).

Fans and other stakeholders in sports have unanimously agreed that using anabolic steroid, for instance, give users a competitive edge and hence provides uneven playing field for athletes who engage their physical strength during sports such as baseball.

The debate on steroids use in baseball gained popularity in 1991 when a ban was put in place. However, testing among the major league players did not start until in 2003. The results were heartbreaking as many players were confirmed to have used steroids at least once in their sporting activities (Miah 316).

Today, MLB is at crossroads of whether to carry out medical test on steroid use among baseball players due to the increase in franchises value derived from promotion of high performing players.

This essay explores the use of this enhancement drug as well as the actual and perceived economic results of steroid use. In addition, the economic cost of steroids to players is also analyzed.

Mass entertainment sports

The use of performance enhancing drugs can be viewed on the board of the rise and fall of mass-entertainment sports. According to Yesalis (112), the use of performance enhancement drugs can be traced back to ancient Roman and Olympic times. Players would use herbs and mushrooms for performance improvement.

This gave them a competitive edge in the game. The trend has not been consistent since the use of this drug diminished during the post-Roman and pre-Modern era only to be revived during the nineteenth century (Del Cid 180).

The rejuvenated use can be traced back to the role of the media in promoting sports as a form of entertainment. Media has promoted the use of performance enhancement drugs as successful players are glorified through numerous sponsorships which translates to appearance in highly paid adverts (Del Cid 182).

The media has also increased attendance to the matches which translates to higher income for the franchisee, players and their coaches (Del Cid 184).

Economic motivation

The perceived economic value of steroid use has led the players to ignore the harmful effects of their actions. According to health experts, prolonged use of steroids can pose adverse effects to the user. Therefore, its usage should be prohibited at all costs.

Miah (318) observes that the harmful effects of steroid use can be analyzed both empirically and theoretically. From the empirical point of view, regular use of steroid is unhealthy but there is lack of clear explanation on whether these harmful effects occur when one participates in sports (Dec Cid 175).

If the use of steroids is permissible during recovery, why does the issue of harm arise when the same drug is used during sports participation? The claim based on harmful effects might be less supportive especially when we consider the harm that faces the baseball players in terms of injuries (Dec Cid 176).

Steroid use and the affected victims

Perhaps, it is vital to investigate who will be hurt when steroid is used to boost performance of an athlete, say in baseball. From the theoretical perspective, paternalism assumes that the steroid user is an adult capable of understanding the risks involved (Frounfelter & Brandley 125).

On the same note, it is also worthy to consider an individual hit by a fastball when in a baseball pitch. The latter can be equally fatal although the fatality may not have a long term impact on the victim. Furthermore, the use of steroids has been opposed due to the indirect harm on non-users.

For instance, non-users may start using the harmful drug to keep up with the veteran users. The argument might seem plausible from a face value but not when we consider the risks involved in training so as to ‘keep up’ with the rest of the team.

All players have to undergo the rigorous physical training rest they fail to ‘keep up’. Sometimes, training sessions are risky but are not prohibited just like the use of steroids (Yesalis 23).

Test for steroids by MLB

Apart from the moral and ethical issues on steroids use, the questions on whether a player should use steroids or not can be analyzed in economic terms. Miah (308) explains that baseball players used steroids in hope of achieving utility.

This can be actual or perceived. The economic motivation behind steroids use is to build the body muscles and gain strength in order to increase productivity. In baseball sports, fans are always attracted to the player whose offensive is above average.

The fans might not care whether the prowess is enhanced by use of steroids (Miah 309). Offensive prowess derives positive economic benefit which translates to increased salary for the player.

By extension, the economic benefit can be translated to the increase in league franchise finances which has dramatically rose post-steroids era. MLB value has risen post-steroids era which poses the dilemma of whether to test for steroid use or not.

Economic punishment and benefits of steroids use

On the other hand, the positive economic benefit will also attract negative benefit because of the high price of steroids and the resultant cost of health related problems associated with steroids use (Rosen 706). In addition, steroids lower a players’ life expectancy which is considered to be a negative economic cost (Rosen 708).

The shortened lifespan will economically cost a player of his or her pension’s benefit which would have been earned in future (Rosen 709). Finally, the expected economic punishment will be perceived when the player is caught up with in terms of legal fees and loss of glory (Rosen 701).

This may also translate to economic loss incurred through hefty court fines and the tedious, time-consuming criminal justice process.

In summing up, the argument for and against the use of steroids in baseball sport depends on an individual’s point of view in regard to moral issues associated with using performance enhancement drugs. The debate raises issues based on the harmful effects associated with steroid.

It is upon a player to decide whether the actual or perceived benefits outweigh the associated economic cost. Medical scholars agree that steroid use medically harmful and should be prohibited to protect athletes. However, the paternalism theory assumes an adult should be left alone to make decisions about his /her own life.

Works Cited

Del Cid, Hector. “Winning at all costs: Can major league Baseball’s New Drug Policy Deter Kids from steroids and maintain integrity of the Game?” Sports Law journal 14.169. (2007): 170-193.

Frounfelter, Gregory & Brandley, Greg. “Ethical considerations regarding Anabolic- Androgenic Steroid Use: Emphasis on the Exercise Professional.” An international journal for exercise physiologists 3.12 (2000): 112-136.

Miah, Andy. “Rethinking Enhancement in Sport.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1093 (2006): 301–320.

Rosen, Sherwin. “Prizes and Incentives in Elimination Tournaments.” American Economic Review 76 (4), Sept. 1986, 701-715.

Yesalis, Charles. Anabolic steroids in sport and exercise: New York: CIP, 2000.

Major League Baseball Players Association (union) is an association of expert major league baseball players. The association was founded in the 1953. In 1966, Marvin Miller from united steel workers association was hired to head the organization. He served as an executive Director until 1953. In 1977, Donald Fehr joined the MLBPA.

In 1985, he was named an executive director. He led the association through the Major League Baseball strike in 1994. He then stepped down in 2009. The Major League Baseball Association is a communal negotiating representative for major league baseball’s players. The association consists of 1,200 players (“Encyclopedia Britannica Online” par.1).

MLB constitutes of major experts sports league of Canada and United States. It consists of 30 teams, 1 in Canada and 29 in the United States. MLB manages the global baseball classics. It has the fifth highest average attendance among NLF, AFL, Bundeslinga and premier league sports. It is governed by Major League Baseball Association constitution (Okrent, Lewin & Nemec 33).

Role of Major League Baseball Players Association

The Major Baseball League Association has various roles in the modern world. One of it roles is to protect the rights of the players. It negotiates employment contracts in a collective order to attain a collective negotiating agreement. It ensures transparency of the employment of its players and staff in the association, as well as protecting their rights.

The association also negotiates the salaries of it player. The association also has a role in the modern world of negotiating the salaries of its players. It ensures that the players are given the right pay. It also negotiates the salary increment of its players. This justify why the baseball players have the highest salaries among the four sport leagues.

The association has a role in arbitrating grievances. Grievance arbitration is adjudicative procedure through which disagreements arising out of operation and application of a collective agreement are cracked. The association solves the agreement that arise during the signing of collective agreement to ensure they attain a collective agreement.

In addition, the union also ensures the field safety of the players. It ensures that the field in which they play in is safe for the players. It also caters for their health when playing for example the field ambulances and the field first Aid.

It also controls the license for major baseball players as well as distributing licensing revenues. Major league Baseball Players Association confirms the player agents (Johnson et al 10).

Major league baseball strike

This association had five strikes. The 1985 baseball strike which lasted only for two days did not cause work slowdown since the 25 games scheduled for those days were later made up. The major league baseball strikes took place in 1972, 1981, 1994 and 1995. This strikes caused a major work slowdown.

The 1981 was as a result of the owners striving hard to win back the civil liberties over the players. The 1972 strike occurred on 1^st April to 13^th April. The strike that was the worst work slowdown was the strike of 1994-1995 (Okrent, Lewine & Nemec 33).

Between 1994 and 1995, the major league baseball strike was the eighth work slowdown in the history of baseball. It was the fourth in season work slowdown in 22 years. The strike lasted from 12^th August 1994 to 2^nd August 1995. The strike led the termination of 948 and 931 games. This strike was caused by a number of reasons.

The major baseball players association felt that the salary cap lowered their salary growth. In addition, the players being offered a free agency after four years seemed a poor compromise to them. The main reason for this strike was in response to the worsening economic situation in baseball. The cancelling of World Series in 1994 was the first in history after 1904. Major League Baseball the first experts sports to lose its whole postseason due to labor dispute (Jennings 19).

Conclusion

The major league baseball association is a union that is of great help to the baseball players. It ensures that the needs of the baseball players are met accordingly. The 1994-1995 strike greatly slowed down the work of the union. This strike ought to be avoided in future to ensure the success of the baseball players. The players do a great job in the field.

They ought to be paid well enough. Motivating the players is also necessary. This will show some appreciation to them. Any grievances that arise in the baseball leagues should also be taken into serious consideration. They ought to be solved in the best interest of the players.

The association should ensure that there are adequate platforms set up to address players’ problems. Baseball players face a lot of risks in the field. The baseball association should ensure that all players have medical covers. In addition to this, the baseball association should ensure that the players’ payments are done in good time.

There are many baseball players aspiring to join the major league. The association should invest in searching for these untapped talents. This could be done by holding tournaments in various cities aimed at attracting the young players who haven’t found clubs or sponsors.

Works Cited

“Encyclopedia Britannica Online.” Major League Baseball Players Association. Web.

Jennings, Kenneth. Ball and strikes: the money game in professional baseball. Praeger publishers, 1990. Print.

Johnson, Richard, Stout, Glenn, Johnson. Dick Yankees Century: 100 Years of New York Yankees Baseball. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Print.

Okrent, Daniel, Harris Lewine, David Nemec. The Ultimate Baseball Book. Houghton Mifflin Books publishers, 2000. Print.

Introduction

Baseball, as a sport, continues being a favorite sport among Americans. There has been a gradual increase in average salaries paid to baseball players in Major Baseball League (MBL). Data of three selected teams (NY Yankees, LA Dodgers, and NY Mets) provides an analysis of team performance during the years (2002-2010) in relation to salaries offered.

Descriptive Statistics

To understand clearly the relationship between variables that are prerequisites for team performance, a measure of central tendency (mean) and measures of dispersion (standard deviation) and Skew are used in the discussion of results.

Skew

Skew in a frequency distribution shows to which side a variable under study occurs. A positive skewed value shows that distribution is rightly tailed and verse versus. Left skewed value shows that the variable under investigation is closer to its maximum value than a right-skewed value, which shows closeness to the minimum variable value. Descriptive statistics can quickly give the overall trend of a variable within specified intervals.

Standard deviation

The use of standard deviation as a measure of disparity among salaries paid to players provides an effective variable than average salary as it gives a direct insight on performance attributed to a specific team (Sato, 1997).

Results discussion

Annual Salaries offered to players

NY Yankees had the highest average salary paid to players at $ 6,710,945 in a season. This is 1.8 and 1.6 times higher than average salary paid to players in LA Dodgers and NY Mets, respectively, figure 1. Standard deviation values in salaries stood highest in New York Mets at $1,252,571 per annum, translating to be factors of 3 and 1.9 higher to that attributed to LA Dodgers and NY Yankees, respectively.

Table 1 does show that, indeed, the most successful team, NY Yankees. Over the period have offered a significantly average salary to their players, almost six times compared to the industry value of $ 1,850,000 (Depken,2000) as such being successful NY Yankees have kept low standard deviation in salaries offered to their players relative to their own average salary.

Large discrepancies, as expected in NY Mets, had a negative effect on the overall team performance as some players feel more appreciated than others. Skew values to average salaries of LA Dodgers players stood at -1.01 with NY Yankees at -0.68 and NY Mets at 0.99. This implied that mean salaries offered to LA Dodgers were less than the median salary offered by a factor of 101% with NY Yankees at 68%. The Mean salary of NY Mets was higher than their median salary by a factor of 9.9%. This meant that the salaries of LA Dodgers players were evenly distributed relative to average salary with above-average distribution in NY Yankees and a weak distribution in NY Mets. This distribution has an impact on overall performance (Scully, 1974).

Team Support from fans

NY Yankees had the highest average number of fans attending their matches, as depicted by home matches averaging at 48,385 supporters annually. This fan-based support in comparison to the other two teams is higher by a factor 1.1 and 1.3 times to fan attendance by LA Dodgers and NY Mets, respectively. A large standard deviation in attendance by NY Mets supporters is undoing to the overall revenue to the team averaging to 8,359 supporters annually. This accounted for 2.1 and 2.5 times more disparity to NY Yankees and LA Dodgers, respectively, table 1 and figure 2.This big disparity in support attendance means there exists a big variance in revenue accrued by the club from its supporters.

With unclear revenue base, NY Mets cannot afford large salaries to players hence their unstable performance. The level of supporters in a population to a team impacts positively on the overall performance (Burger and Walters, 2003). Indeed a large number of supporters’ results to big revenues collected, changes to high salaries paid to players with a net effect of good performance. The skew values for average fan support were highly negative to LA Dodgers at -0.9 with NY Yankees at -0.167 and NY Mets at 0.43. This implied that LA Dodgers fans had the highest attendance as the support was very close to the average support, followed by NY Yankees with least attendance to average occurring in NY Mets. The skew values show the inclination to the overall average attendance.

Table 1. Comparative descriptive statistics between NY Yankees and LA Dodgers

An effective measure of descriptive statistics

The use of histograms in descriptive data presentation is preferred over the use of skew values. There is a greater understanding in analyzing changes within a variable under discussion over a given period by the use of graphical works as compared to individual score values represented by skew values. It is easier to appreciate trends like average salaries paid to players over the period with greater emphasis on increasing and decreasing patterns.

By the use of a histogram on NY Yankee’s average salaries, we can figure out that between the years 2002 to 2005 there was a positive increase pattern whereas between the years 2006 to 2007 there was a decreasing pattern. Skew values give the direction of variance in a frequency distribution curve, notwithstanding they lack capacity in helping to comprehend quickly trends of variables that are well met by the use of histograms.

Conclusion. Future trends to salaries offered to players

Analyzing data from teams participating in Major league baseball agrees strongly with the research objectives. There is a positive relationship between supporters’ attendance to games to higher salaries translating to better performances. Supporters’ attendance is critical in overall revenue accrued by the club, forming a strong financial base. Levels of standard deviation in player salaries seem not to affect team performance as the most successful teams have great standard deviations in salaries to players. This can be attributed to higher average salaries to players in these teams compared to others. This study determines that team performance is positively correlated to salaries offered players (DeBrock et al., 2004).

It must be known that to predict clearly the salaries offered to players in the Major Baseball League; there is a needed use of a mathematical model. This is true to the fact that a lot of variables related needs to be factored in analysis. Nevertheless, the use of descriptive statistics paints a quick picture of the various trends in the multi-billion sports industry. Lastly, increasing trends in salaries payable to players will continue positively in the future because there is a great urge to invest in the sport in the form of advertisements and contracts, which will reflect on team performances.

References

Burger, J.D. and Walters, S.J.K. (2003). “Market Size, Pay and Performance”. Journal of Sports Economics, Vol. 4 (2), 108-125.

DeBrock, L. and Koenker, R. (2004). “Pay and Performance: The Impact of Salary Distribution on Firm-Level Outcomes in Baseball”. Journal of Sports Economics, Vol. 5 (3), 243-261.

Depken, C.A. (2000). “Wage Disparity and Team Productivity: Evidence from Major League Baseball,” Economics Letters, Vol.67, 87-92.

Fans attendance. Web.

Salaries. Web.

Sato, M. (1997). Some remarks on Mean, Median, Mode and Skewness. Australian Journal of Statistics, Vol. 39 (2), 219-224.

Scully, G.W. (1974). “Pay and Performance in Major League Baseball,” The American Economic Review, Vol.64 (6), 915-930.

Introduction

The stakeholders in the game of baseball have made concerted effort to promote integration of major league baseball in the United States. According to Zeiler (46), baseball has remained one of the most popular sports in this country that attracts millions of fans. Traditionally, this game was considered an exclusive sport for the Whites. However, this has changes and great baseball players have sprung up from various races in this country.

However, the main problem that the game has been facing is the stereotyping that is directed towards players by a section of the society. The Blacks and Asians have suffered from discriminative criticism from various quarters when playing this game.

Media coverage has a major influence in the integration of major league baseball. There has been an effort by the stakeholders to use media positively to promote integration of major league baseball as a way of promoting the sport in the society. The journalists have been tasked with the responsibility of ethical journalism as a way of fighting negative ethnicity that has affected this sport for several years.

There has been concern from the stakeholders that although the press has improved in their reporting, it is still possible to read criticism that has stereotyped connotations in their reports. The researcher believes that mainstream press sources have failed to combat negative ethnicity when reporting about this sport, making it difficult to achieve integration among the stakeholders.

Discussion

According to Liscio (78), the media houses have made an effort to ensure that their reporting is sensitive to the fact that the United States is an integrated society with people from various races and ethnic groups. They have committed to be responsible in their reporting to ensure that both players and fans of football do not feel offended with the message they pass across.

The 21^st century has seen a major shift in the manner in which Americans of different races interact. Liscio (54) says, “It is important to understand how and why the racial integration of professional baseball profoundly affected American society and culture.”

This scholar says that baseball is one of the major sports that bring all Americans together irrespective of the differences in their races. Journalists must realize that when making their reports, they are responsible for the message that comes out to the public.

The message can be a unifying factor or act as a catalyst towards a more disintegrated American society. Journalists’ words have strong impact on the way individual Americans view themselves and other members of the society. The message can make Americans feel that they are in a society that is one large fabric consisting of Americans of all walks of life. In the same manner, it can make Americans feel that they are in a disintegrated society where people are defined by their race or ethnic backgrounds.

For this reason, media stations have come out strongly to integrate the society through responsible journalism. The media houses know that the society is looking upon them to bring people together through messages of unity. In order to understand the progress that has been made, it is necessary to address how African American and mainstream press sources evaluated the prospects and the success of integration.

Evaluation of the prospects and the success of integration by the mainstream press sources

According to the evaluation made by the mainstream press sources, there has been a massive success in the fight against stereotyping and the need for integration of major league baseball. According to Zeiler (85), major media houses such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Sports Illustrated have reworked their reporting policies to be in line with the current efforts that seeks to promote integration.

It is rare to experience cases where reporters make remarks that have racial connotation. Most of these mainstream press sources have based their evaluation on the fact that most Americans no longer consider race as a factor that can be used to determine the credibility of a person. Most Americans abhor messages laced in ethnicity. According to these media, it has been through the effort of the press that the society has come to embrace one another. This is reflected in baseball sports.

In fact, Liscio (112) says that the integration of major league baseball has been completely achieved. The Blacks, Whites, Asians, and other ethnic groups in the United States have been completely integrated as players, reporters, and fans of baseball.

They play together, cheer together and report together in an environment where race plays not part. When they play, cheer, or report, they never realize that they come from different races or ethnic background. They consider themselves as a team brought together by a national sport cherished by many Americans. The reporters have also accepted the fact that they are responsible for their reporting, and they have embraced this integration.

Evaluation of the prospects and the success of integration by the African American press sources

The African American press also agrees that changes have been seen in the fight against racial discrimination in baseball as one of the leading American sports. They are in agreement with the fact that major steps have been made towards achieving integration of major league baseball.

However, they have some reservation with the manner in which some of the reporters pass their messages to their audience at different levels. They have argued that some of the main stream media have perpetuated stereotypes against a section of baseball players and fans, especially the Blacks and Asians. A section of the society feels that journalists on major media stations still use retrogressive words when describing some of the baseball players.

This may not be manifested in the literal words of the reporters. However, the comparison they make, and their descriptions clearly demonstrate that they have very low opinion towards these players. Sometimes the comments may be easily ignored because of the skilled manner in which these journalists make them. In other cases the stereotype may be so pronounced that their intention to hurt the player or fans cannot be hidden.

Some of the reporters still prefer describing the players based on their skin color or place of origin. Although one may want to ignore this as just a simple description of the players, this is one of the ways of perpetrating ethnicity in the workplace. When a reporter describes one player as a White, another as Black, and another one as an Asian, the reporter will be creating a rift among the players.

To the audience of such a reporter, in the field will be a White, Black, and Asian, instead of American baseball players. This is an issue that is widely ignored by these reporters, but has a serious impact on the manner at which the fight for racial discrimination progresses. It is not possible to say that we are close to achieving success if the stakeholders are constantly reminded of the racial differences of the players.

The reporters must learn to use the names of the players, and their unique characteristics that have nothing to do with their race or ethnic background. It is not possible for a reporter to use skin color when trying to describe two or more Whites. The reporter will be forced to use names and other unique characters of the players to describe them. This is what is expected of the reporters even in cases where the players are from different races. Until this issue is addressed, it may not be easy to claim that the integration of major league baseball has been a success.

Conclusion

The two arguments clearly show that some steps have been made towards achieving integration of major league baseball in this country. They are in agreement that among the players, fans, and reporters, there has been an effort to work as a team without being clouded by ethnic reasoning.

However, while the mainstream media feel that the process of achieving integration is already successful, the African American press sources believe that this success is yet to be achieved. Both sides of the argument have their supporting facts. However, the truth is that some of the reporters still use words that profile players based on their race or ethnic backgrounds. This means that success in integrating major league baseball is yet to be achieved.

Works Cited

Liscio, Stephanie. Integrating Cleveland Baseball: Media Activism, the Integration of the Indians and the Demise of the Negro League Buckeyes. Jefferson: McFarland & Co, 2010. Print.

Zeiler, Thomas. Jackie Robinson and Race in America: A Brief History with Documents. New York: Bedford, 2013. Print.

The Science of Sociology Research

Sociology is a social science where sociologists seek to know more about the social world. This includes studies human behavior and also studies human associations.

Conducting research

In social research there are various processes followed in order to come up with conclusive findings. For example, and individual needs to define the problem under study and also review what others have to say about the area of study. This is known as the existing literature. After this, an individual comes up with a hypothesis and also takes into consideration any ethical issues that may be involved in conducting the research. This is followed by a careful determination of the research design to use while conducting a research. For example, one can use observations, secondary analysis, observation or surveys to find out more about the area of study. The individual then collects and analyses the data obtained through the method used in collecting that data. Finally, the individual draws a conclusion while relating to the study and the findings of that study. This includes a challenge of what had been studied earlier while coming up with proposals for future studies (Andersen & Taylor, 2006).

Information flow

In a sociological research, information ought to follow the correct path. This makes sure that it is organized and stored in the right manner for future. For example, after a research, information is generated or produced through various means like observation. After this, information is disseminated to different areas for the purpose of publication. Dissemination may be done by either secondary or primary means. This is followed by exchange of information between different sources for the purpose of reviews (Willinsky, 2000).

Sociological study of baseball

When studying a baseball group, a sociologist can use observation as his method of research. This ensures that the individual will not interfere with the group’s activities. It also makes sure that the sociologist is in line with ethical standards of conducting a research in such a group. A baseball research reveals that the game was started almost a century ago. It also shows that the game deals with failures by showing players how to deal with these failures. Because of this, most baseball players are harsh to each other. The main reason behind this is that most of baseball rules are not coded. While rules in other games are passed through writing, baseball rules are passed through word of mouth from one generation to the next. This game requires brave individuals who are not easily intimidated by rival parties (Morgan, Meier & Schneider, 2001).

Through observing such a group, it is possible for a sociologist to observe the leadership styles employed in the group. It is also possible for a sociologist to determine whether there is team work or no team work. In baseball, leadership styles are evident through the way the groups follow what their leaders have to say, even if there are no rules to govern the game. The team also has to work closely together in order to make it through a game. This is the only game where sportsmanship works to propel the group to the front.

Conclusion

In conclusion, sociological research helps in determining various aspects of individuals or groups. For example, the study of a baseball group helps in knowing the leadership styles, rules, teamwork. It also helps in knowing more about baseball through various study methods like observation.

References

Andersen, M. L., & Taylor, H. F. (2006). Sociology: understanding a diverse society (4th ed.). Ripken, C (1998). The Only Way I Know. New York: Penguin Group.

Morgan, W. J., Meier, K. V., & Schneider, A. J. (2001). Ethics in sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Willinsky, J. (2000). If only we knew increasing the public value of social science research. New York: Routledge.

The nature of human beings implies the thirst for various entertainments. It could be taken as one of the basic peoples desires that impacts their lives and results in significant shifts in the structure of society. For centuries, humanity has been creating new and more complicated ways to entertain itself and satisfy this need. The significance of this sphere is also evidenced by the fact that a great number of other aspects of society were subjected to entertainment and reorganized to provide all members of society with the show they needed. The sport had also become one of these aspects.

Having appeared as the activity aimed at the improvement of a persons physical shape and state of health, it then evolved into one of the greatest shows attracting millions of people. Furthermore, the creation of the team sport contributed to the significant improvement of its visual appeal and attracted the new audience. However, the evolution and popularization of sport also gave rise to a number of concerns. These are related to such issues as benefits and the promotion of various issues. The appearance of these concepts initiated the reconsideration of the approach towards sport and predetermined the usage of modern medicines and technologies to acquire a competitive advantage.

The popularity of a team sport became the main factor determining the usage of various technologies to attain success. At its current stage of evolution, sport heavily depends on financing as it was turned into one of the most beneficial businesses.

An average modern team has several sponsors that try to promote their products and obtain benefits. Moreover, the teams popularity and sports successes impact its profit-making capacity and attract new sponsors that guarantee stable incomes. For these reasons, there is a significant shift in the traditional factors that condition the thirst for victory. The sports achievements are becoming replaced with the need for revenue and benefits. In this regard, the players workout session became more professional.

At the moment, it bundles the usage of the latest technologies and medicines to achieve the greatest results. Yet, the scope of the problem lies in the fact that there are numerous regulatory authorities that limit the functioning of the sphere and prohibit the usage of various medicines because of their pernicious impact on the athlete’s health and the unfair competition they might promote. The drugs related to the group of steroids were also included in the exclusion list.

It includes the catalog of drugs that might have an overwhelming impact on the health of a sportsman, promoting the crucial increase of his/her physical capacity. Usually, the precise investigation of the long-term effects of a drug serves as the main reason for its inclusion in the list. It is evident that various sports demand the development of certain skills and physical abilities. That is why there are also numerous drugs and steroids created to meet the existing requirements.

Nowadays, there are numerous games that attract special attention because of their overwhelming popularity. The list of these games includes the majority of the modern team and competitive sports like football, hockey, figure skating, etc. Furthermore, baseball could also be considered as the environment beneficial for drug abuse aimed at the creation of competitive advantage. The game is extremely popular in the USA, where it is the 2nd most attended sport (Collier para. 2).

The nature of the competition implies the perfect physical shape, power, endurance, speed, and reaction. Additionally, the high attendance level and great TV audience provide numerous possibilities for multiplying the benefits. The combination of these aspects gives rise to a number of critical concerns related to the usage of steroids.

In general, various forbidden substances has been an ongoing issue for baseball. According to the statistics, from 20 to 40% of the professional baseball players use drugs to increase their abilities and achieve better results (Collier para. 7). However, the problem is not new as the first cases of the usage of substances were fixed at the beginning of the sports development. Pud Galvin, a baseball player at the end of the 19th century, was known to use the first primitive steroid derived from the testicles of animals (Lavine para. 8).

The case proves the significant scale of the problem and its long-term character. It is evident that the evolution of technologies resulted in the creation of more complicated drugs, which had a more significant effect on the state of athletes. For instance, the discovery and the widespread use of amphetamine in the 1940s helped to improve the endurance and mental focus of players, guaranteeing better results (Lavine para. 11).

This invention promoted the further evolution of medicine and the separation of sports pharmacology aimed at the creation of drugs improving the athletes results. The challenge became so significant that a certain regulation authority was created to introduce some limits and guarantee fair competition. However, the efficiency of the given agency is doubtful as there are numerous steroids that appear every year and which leave no traces of their usage.

The majority of modern steroids used in baseball belong to the new generation of drugs characterized by the more significant effect. The anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are the synthetic derivates of the naturally produced hormone testosterone (Peterson para. 2). The growth of muscles and the improvement of some other characteristics are the main effects promoted by these drugs on the body. They could be legal and prescribed to a person suffering from the lack of natural testosterone. Yet, when it is used by baseball players, it promotes the significant increase of the tempos of the natural muscle-building processes. The athletes who need faster recovery could also benefit from the usage of AAS.

The fact is that the exercises they experience while playing result in the increase of the level of tiredness and release of cortisol that destroys muscles and prevent them from restoring (Peterson para. 4). The main advantage of AAS is that it blocks the release of cortisol and helps muscles to restore faster (Peterson para. 5). Therefore, there are numerous side effects that could pose a great threat to the general state of the health of a sportsman.

The above-mentioned mechanism of the functioning of steroids contributes to the acquisition of the notable competitive advantage combined with the general health deterioration. This fact provides a certain rationale for the attempts of various regulatory authorities to limit the usage of various substances and monitor the state of health of athletes. The World Anti-Doping Agency is one of the organizations that perform constant monitoring of the issue and renews the list of the prohibited drugs annually. Additionally, it introduces the World Anti-Doping code, which is the document that aims to introduce and monitor the anti-doping regulations in all sports and countries (Bruno 11).

For this reason, baseball also depends on this agency as it tends to guarantee the fair rivalry and exclude any potential threat to the health of players. Furthermore, if a sportsman is accused of using doping, his/her case will be investigated by the court. In such a way, the government tries to indicate its concern about the state of the given sphere. The governmental monitoring is crucial for the further development of sport and attempts to exclude steroids from the usage to guarantee the fair competition. However, a number of scientists state that the current level of the governments involvement is not enough to introduce significant changes to the sphere (Powell para. 3).

Various governmental regulations could be the easiest way to stop usage of the performance enhancing drugs (Powell para. 5). Yet, there are still numerous challenges which the state might face while trying to solve the nagging problem. First, it could promote the vigorous resistance of the club owners who have the stable incomes and promote the usage of steroids to improve the results. They obviously impact the evolution and existence of baseball and are able to use the peoples dissatisfaction to attain their right to manage the league and teams.

Second, as mentioned above, baseball is extremely popular and complicated game that implies the cooperation of a number of spheres and organizations to guarantee the better results. The shifts of the traditional pattern might trigger the growth of the dissatisfaction of one of the actors and condition the significant changes.

Sports pharmacology is one of the above-mentioned spheres appeared due to the evolution of baseball and the need for drugs to improve the state of sportsmen guaranteeing faster recovery. The current level of the popularity of sport provides a giant revenue for various pharmacology companies working in the sphere. For this reason, they are interested in the further elaboration of drugs and creation of new steroids.

Furthermore, the strong partnership between sport and these companies contributes to the creation of new drugs which will not be detected by various tests and could be used by sportsmen to improve their physical conditions. At the moment, pharmacological companies are powerful agents that have their interests in the sphere of sport and could hardly be influenced by various limits and regulations as, despite all attempts, statistics show that a new drug appears every year (Bruno 14).

Additionally, new steroids have much more complicated nature that conditions their powerful influence on the organism of a sportsman and proves its efficiency. The given pattern gives rise to a number of concerns. related to the necessity of the improvement of doping tests and introduction of severe penalties.

Nevertheless, under the existing doping control protocols, all modern professional sportsmen are obliged to provide a urine sample to confirm that he/she uses only legal drugs. The sample will be later divided into two portions. and preserved in special sealed containers marked as A and B samples (Bruno 19). This separation is needed to prove the results of the first test. If a first sportsmans sample reveals the presence of the prohibited drugs, the second one could also be investigated to confirm the results of the previous tests and guarantee the complete objectivity of the investigation.

Additionally, the provided samples might be retested to guarantee the credibility of results and to use the newest technologies to determine the presence of some prohibited drugs not noticed before. Baseball players also have to provide their samples to confirm the absence of forbidden substances in their organism. Yet, there are numerous cases of cheating used to conceal the real results. A dirty sportsmans urine might be replaced with the clean one to replace the results of the test (Collier para. 7).

Moreover, diuretics could also cleanse the system before the test and help an athlete to conceal the real results (Collier para. 8). For these reasons, there are numerous debates related to the efficiency of the method and the necessity of its replacement with the new one. The question is also complicated by the fact that the majority of the modern steroids could hardly be discovered by other tests. That is why the necessity of change becomes obvious.

It follows from these cogitations that baseball is impacted by the usage of steroids greatly. Despite all measures aimed at monitoring of the state of the question and creation of the efficient tools to prevent the application of drugs, there are still well-known cases that prove the systemic character of the problem. For instance, several modern and former stars including Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Jose Canesco highlighted the crucial character of the issue and accepted the spreading use of steroids in baseball (Lavine para. 10). Canseco also confessed that he had been using drugs for his entire career, and his results could be influenced by it (Lavine para. 11).

Furthermore, the Barry Bonds case could also evidence the strangle of steroids in baseball. An athlete holds numerous records and has never been caught using steroids. However, the increase of his muscle bulk and results gained the attention of critiques and served as the basis for the precise investigation of Bonds results. Moreover, he was one of the participants of BALCO case and provided the false information (Mintz para. 5). Despite all these facts, Bond was only convinced of obstruction of justice. Besides his name is associated with one of the most notable steroid scandals. There are many other cases that prove the existence of the nagging problem and introduce the necessity of the reconsideration of the approach towards the usage of drugs in baseball.

To summarize, baseball is one of the most popular sports in the USA. Its high popularity determines a great deal of attention given to the sport and conditions the evolution of spheres that go along with baseball. For this reason, the sports pharmacology and steroids remain the important part of the game as they promote better results and contribute to the significant improvement of the physical conditions of players.

The scale of the problem is significant and is proved by former athletes saying that the bigger part of baseball players use drugs to guarantee fast recovery. In this regard, the strict control of the usage of the prohibited substances becomes one of the major WADAs concerns. Unfortunately, the modern tendencies and the continuous growth of the number of sportsmen using steroids condition the further evolution of the problem.

Works Cited

Bruno, Charles. Performance Enhancing Drugs in Baseball: A Legal and Moral Analysis. 2014. Web.

Collier, Robert. “How Steroids Fundamentally Changed Baseball”. Sport Techie. 2015. Web.

Lavine, Joshua. Juicin’ In The Majors: A History Of Steroids In Baseball. 2013. Web.

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William Ellsworth “Dummy” Hoy is considered one of the greatest athletes in the history of American Major League Baseball. His achievements would have been extraordinary for an athlete having no physical handicaps, but the fact that, deaf and mute, he managed to excel in his sport only emphasizes Hoy’s significance as a baseball player.

In the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century, the overall social environment and a widespread hostile public attitude toward disability provided many obstacles to a successful career for any person with a disability. Nevertheless, Hoy’s differences did not prevent him from becoming one of the best leadoff hitters of his time nor from winning the hearts of his teammates as well as many fans, hearing and deaf.

William Hoy was born on May 23, 1862, into a middle-class family that lived in the rural community of Houston, Ohio. Hoy and his siblings grew up on a farm owned by their parents, Rebecca Hoffman and Jacob Hoy. At age three, Hoy contracted meningitis, leaving him deaf and mute (Porter 136). As a result, he could not attend public school and instead was accepted at the Ohio School for the Deaf, which had coincidentally been “the first residential school to introduce baseball as a team sport to its male students” in 1863 (Edwards 172).

It is probable that the school’s strong athletic program helped the many young boys who attended there, including star pitcher Edward Dundon (1859–1893), follow the path to careers in various semiprofessional leagues (Edwards 172). However, while Hoy’s predecessors generally played semi-professionally, he was the first to make it to the majors.

Hoy did not enter the world of professional baseball immediately after graduation. As Berger states, “in those days many deaf people were either employed or self-employed as shoemakers or shoe repair people,” and William Hoy followed this customary career path, opening his own shoe shop. However, the business did not go well as most of the residents in the rural settings of Hoy’s time preferred walking barefoot. Thus, when his workload was lacking, this future athlete passed the time playing ball with youth from the area near his shop.

By a lucky coincidence, during one of these games, a local man noticed Hoy and, impressed by the way the shoemaker moved, invited him to play for the Kenton, Ohio baseball team. Berger mentions that although William Hoy played against a professional Urbana pitcher, Billy Hart, he “had no trouble solving him for some base hits.” That game changed everything and helped Hoy decide to become an athlete.

Over a fourteen-year major league career, this baseball player joined seven teams. Hoy started with a minor league contract in 1886 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and then set off to the majors, joining the Washington Nationals baseball team in 1888 (Edwards 173). However, Hoy spent his best years, 1894–1897, playing for the Cincinnati Reds (“Dummy Hoy”). In his time in the major leagues, “he played in 1,798 games; amassed 2,044 hits, 249 doubles, 121 triples, and 40 home runs; scored 1,426 runs; stole 597 bases; and attained a career batting average of.287, a career on-base percentage of.386, and a career slugging percentage of.373” (Edwards 173).

Considering his record, American baseball writer and historian Bill James ranked Hoy as number six in his top-ten list of the most remarkable centerfielders ever (Edwards 174). Hoy’s achievements clearly show why he became one of the best-known deaf baseball players in the United States and why the members of the Deaf community consider him an iconic figure.

The invention of a signal system through which he communicated with his teammates was yet another of William Hoy’s important contributions to professional sports. When he was playing for the Cincinnati Reds, it was reported that he “was so admired by his teammates that the Reds all learned sign language” (Edwards 176). This communication approach better integrated Hoy into the team and served to improve the game. However, the use of hand signals and fingerspelling benefited not only the deaf player but the hearing players and coaches as well. According to Porter, everyone found sign language extremely helpful, and as a result, it became standard practice in baseball afterward (142).

To understand the significance of this novel mode of communication in baseball, it is important to look at the overall context of the time frame when it was introduced. At the beginning of the twentieth century, deaf education had begun to focus on oralism, promoting “exclusive use of speech and lipreading to communicate” instead of fingerspelling (Edwards 177). At the time, this method was believed to help deaf individuals better assimilate into a mainstream culture so they might function as “normal” people.

It is even reported that some hearing educators tried to teach deaf children to laugh “normally” (Edwards 178). Against the backdrop of this trend, the image of William Hoy fully embracing his identity as a deaf professional baseball player demonstrated that oralism might not be the best way for a deaf person to find success.

Notably, although William Hoy used his voice to communicate with his teammates, he did not speak English and only made a variety of peculiar sounds. According to Sam Crawford, a right fielder for the Cincinnati Reds in 1902, “he’d make a kind of throaty voice, kind of a little squawk, and when a fly ball came out, and I heard this little noise I knew he was going to take it” (Porter 140). This example of high-level collaboration between deaf and hearing players serves as evidence that words may not be necessary for athletes to understand each other well, providing they share a mutual commitment to work together for everyone’s benefit. It also shows that deafness as such is not a barrier to success and that the acceptance of one’s own physical difference can provide significant advantages.

After retiring from a successful baseball career, William Hoy bought a farm in Ohio, where he lived with his wife, Anna Maria Lowery, and their three children. To the end of his days, he was actively involved in the Deaf community as well as multiple youth and adult baseball organizations. As a sign of recognition, he became the first deaf baseball player selected for the Louisville Colonels Hall of Fame in 1941, the American Athletic Association of the Deaf’s Hall of Fame in 1951, and the Cincinnati Hall of Fame in 2003 (Porter 143).

In 1961, he appeared on the field for the last time, when he was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in a game between the New York Yankees and the Cincinnati Reds (Porter 143). At that time, he was ninety-nine years old, yet Berger states that, even at such an advanced age, he was full of zest for life and physical strength. Unfortunately, William Hoy did not live to celebrate his 100th birthday and died of a stroke in Cincinnati. Nevertheless, many baseball fans and Deaf people, in particular, continue to praise his accomplishments.

It is valid to assume that the road to success was not without difficulties for Hoy as he found he had much to prove along the way. First, he had to withstand the stereotypes held by his parents and society, constraints that meant he was not expected to succeed and that reflected people’s general discomfort with disability. Second, he had to evince the qualities of an excellent player even as others judged him more critically, and he was forced to find ways to compensate for his inability to hear, which could easily hinder the game at any time. Strong determination, a deep passion for baseball, undeniable talents, skills, and intelligence assisted him in attaining this goal.

Moreover, these qualities allowed him to take an important position on the team and to gain his teammates’ appreciation. It may also be possible to assert that his lack of speech and non-conformity with the hearing norms and culture of his time, which endowed the story of Hoy’s success with unique features, made him a role model within the Deaf community. By excelling in his profession and embracing his identity, he indirectly advocated for the rights of the Deaf. Nowadays, he continues to serve as an embodiment of the American dream for the members of the Deaf community as his story shows that people with a handicap can achieve great accomplishments and influence the course of history.

Works Cited

Berger, Ralph. “Dummy Hoy.” Society for American Baseball Research. Web.

“Dummy Hoy.” Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Web.

Edwards, R. A. R. “No Dummies: Deafness, Baseball, and American Culture.” Sign Language Studies, vol. 12, no. 2, 2012, pp. 171-187.

Porter, David L. Their Greatest Victory: 24 Athletes Who Overcame Disease, Disability and Injury. McFarland & Company, 2013.