Should PED Users Be Recognized As All-Time Greats?

The MLB has long been turned into the major professional league that is notorious for steroid use. During the 90s and 2000s has been known as the Steroid Era in professional baseball. 129 players were accused of breaking the steroid acts, only 16 admitted and the rest were revealed either by tests or their peers. 37 of these players were given formal suspensions by the MLB (Bones). Some may think that these athletes are now nothing but cheaters, while others have sympathy. There are many angles to take on this argument. Does the use of steroids sway the integrity of the game, or was it just a part of the player culture and training during the time period?

From the first moment a person is born, they are taught to follow the rules. They are told it is wrong to cheat, and that lying only makes the matter worse. In this way, using PEDs is clearly something that should not be tolerated in the league. If it is in the rule book, actions and suspensions should take place. Some would argue that  the punishment should extent all the way to bans from the Hall of Fame, and possibly even all of Major League Baseball.

This is the straight forward argument, but there are also other stances. During The Steroid Era, a large number of players, possibly even the majority of players, took PEDs at one point in their respective careers. Out of the 129 players that were caught by the MLB , the vast majority are complete no-names. Players took steroids, and were still no good in the league (Berg). Only those that were stars were the ones that were brodcasted on the news and talked about around the country. Also, this means that the stars who were taking PEDs were competing against other players taking PEDs! The greats in the league who were caught would still have been the greats if steroids never existed.

Steroid use is not right and should have no place in the MLB. They are against the rules of the league,  and they should enforce a suspension if they are caught. With that being said, being caught with an illegal drug, if the player was in the Steroid Era, should not have a punishment of being ineligable for The Hall of Fame. It should be treated with suspensions, and fines. If one player violates the rule on multiple occasions, than expulsions from the league and Cooperstown should be considered. Steroid use is wrong for many reason, but it was a part of the league.