Media affects society in positive and negative ways. This can be seen in baseball, America's national pastime. Baseball became a national sport in the United States at the end of the 19th century. From the beginning of the sport, they have tried to maintain the highest standards for every player and every ball club. There have been moments of scandal, but of all the things that happen to drug abuse in baseball, drug abuse has been described as one of the worst things a player can do. To defame baseball was to ruin everything the sport stood for. This research paper will examine one of the worst stains in baseball history, the steroid era. As many know, the steroid era began around 2003, but there was a time when many forget it. In the 1980s, there was a strike, a cocaine scandal, a botched call to the 1985 World Series, and the banning of all-time leader Pete Ross for gambling (Addona). These were the main things on people's minds at the time, but they didn't see that steroids were slowly making their way into the mix. In April 1988, the Los Angeles Times reported that America's pastime remained "essentially steroid-free" (Steroids). Thomas Boswell wrote for the Washington Post, as a sports reporter, not feeling the same way. Boswell wrote for the Boswell wrote about Jose Canseco as "the most striking example of a player who made himself great on steroids." Canseco denied the allegations and later won the American League Most Valuable Player award. Jose finally admitted to using steroids in 1985, saying he had taken them in the late 1980s and 1990s (Steroids). He says steroids in baseball were as common as a cup of coffee in those days. Testing was not mandatory, but baseball added steroids to its middle of paper...... This forced authorities to crack down harder on drug use. Works Cited Addona, Dan D'. “SABR.” Baseball's Forgotten Era: The 1980s. NP, 2011. Web. May 13, 2014. .Fitzpatrick, Laura. “Steroids.” Time. Time Inc., January 13, 2010. Web. May 13, 2014. “STEROIDS SCANDAL / THE BALCO LEGACY / From children to professionals, the pressure is on to stop the use of performance enhancers.” SF door. Np, December 24, 2006. Web. May 13, 2014. “Steroid era continues to impact Major League Baseball.” Mass media. Np, and Web. May 13 2014. .