Most athletes are into their sport because they want to be the best. If not they at least want to earn a ton of money so they can be set after retirement. But the extent to where some players go is too far. While aiming to be on top on a performance basis is it worth the use of drugs, in particular steroids or performance enhancing drugs.
Below are some of the most successful athletes whose careers were linked to steroids. As you can see they were some of the top statistical performers in their respective sports. They also were some of highest earning. Performing so well that the money earned is above most others in the game.
While drug use occurs in all sports. Steroids is more popular in baseball. Reason being to me is simple, baseball has no salary cap and players potentially can earn a lot more than in other sports. Below is a breakdown of all the major team payrolls across the 3 major sports of baseball, basketball, and football.
I believe the reason why baseball has the highest case of steroid users is because as athletes playing for that sport they can potentially earn more when compared to playing in other sports. As you can see from the slideshow atop most of athletes linked to steroids were baseball players. You also see that their career earnings were tremendous as they made much more money than the average person would.
The legacies left by some baseball players is another issue to be questioned. Is it ethically okay that the games all time leading home run hitter were linked to illegal drugs? Or is it fair that the player who earned the most is also connected to drugs while others struggle in training just to make it to the main stage? Without a doubt the issue of morality is a big one when it comes to sports and drugs, so much that each respective league has been in efforts to rid the leagues of any usage.