Since the Major League Baseball 2000 season, home-run slugger Barry Bonds has averaged a home run in about every eight at bats. But it now appears that performance-enhancing drugs may have helped Bonds' amazing streak--and Major League Baseball is reeling from the news.

If recent reports are any indication, the League's public relations nightmare has only just begun. The Barry Bonds case is exposing further revelations of widespread drug abuse in the sport. New York Yankees star Jason Giambi has admitted using human growth hormone and steroids during the 2003 season. Giambi testified in 2003 that he had used several different steroids obtained from Greg Anderson, weight trainer for San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds. Giambi also said he had used syringes to inject human growth hormone into his body as well as "undetectable" steroids taken under the tongue and rubbed on as a balm.

The sports steroids scandal is not new, nor is it restricted to baseball. Olympic runner Alvin Harrison recently accepted a four-year suspension for drug violations stemming from the BALCO Laboratories case, and steroid use is a growing problem in sports of all sorts. However, Harrison's suspension is considered by some to be a major victory for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's effort to clean up track and field, and baseball officials hope America's favorite pastime can undergo a similar rehabilitation.