The Communication of Cheating: A rhetorical analysis of the communication Major League Baseball players use when accused of taking performance enhancing drugs.

There has always been a strong bond between baseball and controversy. Most recently, this connection has manifested itself in the form of the steroid era in baseball. While that chapter in baseball history has closed, there are lingering effects. Each season, players are receiving suspensions for performance enhancing drug (PED) use by Major League Baseball. Through different methods of rhetorical analysis, four players will be looked at and critiqued on their statements regarding PED accusations. Reading and analyzing the communication through the lens of these players shapes the strategies that each player chose to implement. In a post-steroid era league, Ryan Braun, Jenrry Mejia, Jhonny Peralta, and Nelson Cruz were faced with PED accusations, which ultimately, culminated in serving suspensions. Each player made unique rhetorical choices that would shape how their audience perceived them. Through a rhetorical analysis of the communication the players had in response to the claims against them, it is possible to identify strong and weak communicative strategies