Now, it's finally public. Approximately 80 present and former players named (the first news reports said 102), including several future Hall of Fame candidates. A players union that actively circumvented the drug testing program by informing players about scheduled "random" drug tests. A franchise (the San Francisco Giants) that actually marketed the home run chase of the game's most notorious steroid abuser---Bary Bonds, the all-time home run king, who may well be on his way to prison for lying to the feds about his role in the scandal. Franchise owners who cared more about money than anything else and willingly entered into enormous contracts with suspected steriod abusers. Players who did it because seemingly everybody else was doing it. So much infighting that an effective anti-steroids policy and testing program could seemingly never be developed and when it was, it was too little, too late. An impotent and seemingly clueless MLB Commissioner.
So much for fair competition. So much for the integrity of the game. It's the revenge of the Black Sox.
We all knew that this was coming, but in a way, the scope of the Mitchell Report is breathtaking...it's so large that we can't do anything about the past, so let's look to the future. The problem is so big that we have to let the bad guys get away with it.
Some of the names are household names---Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada, Barry Bonds, Paul Lo Duca, Mo Vaughan, Andy Pettitte, Eric Gagne, Kevin Brown...and the beat goes on.
Wow!
Now on top of all that, consider this. Most of the bad guys were not and never will be exposed. Why do I say that? Well, consider the limited sources for the Mitchell Report---a few who were forced to cooperate with the investigators by law enforcement as a part of their plea agreements in the face of criminal charges, a few players who were busted by positive drug tests, a few players implicated when law enforcement authorities raided pharmacy houses that dealt in performance enhancing drugs...that's all.
Almost no current players cooperated with this investigation...nor were they urged to do so by the MLB Players Association. So much for setting the right example by doing the right thing. So much for caring whether the problem is solved or not. So much for being role models or caring about your responsibilities to the youth of America. Add to that tipping off players about upcoming drug tests and you have a union that is a real piece of work.
Perhaps the most indigestible part of the Mitchell Report is the recommendation that no disciplinary action be taken against past miscreants (unless the Commissioner has to do so in order to protect the integrity of the game) because the only thing that will happen is that everyone will get bogged down if they try to do so. While I understand the reasons why, this really sticks in my craw and I am sure that it does for a lot of other people, too. This one ought to send up a big red flag to Barry Bonds supporters because this was what they have been complaining about from day one---that Barry was being singled out. This recommendation is a recipe for discriminatory enforcement.
Memo to Senator Mitchell and Commissioner Selig---If you wanna let the bad guys go, you have to let Barry Bonds go, too.
So what do we have at the end of the day? Everyone is to blame, so no one can be blamed. The problem is too big to clean up the past. Don't discipline the past miscreants---they should get amnesty (unless the MLB Commissioner wants to make an example out of someone).
OK. I'll take the Mitchell Report at face value, but let's add two more recommendations: (1) no Hall of Fame for any of these performance enhancing drug using frauds; (2) in the future, all first-time users of performance enhancing drugs must be banned from baseball for life.
Henry Aaron was right about that...ban the first-time users of performance enhancing drugs for life.
That's how you can clean up this game. Anything less is as big a fraud as the players named in the Mitchell Report are.
Jessica White
Melanie Fitzpatrick
Yankees World Series Parade
Notable Cuban Defectors 
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Great Blog, I jsut read a few sections of the report myself, and it's quite the eye opening read (some of it quite eye closing). You bring up an interesting point about the Hall of Fame, one that will be debated about for months i'm sure. If they aren't going to punish anyone for past use of steroids, then they're should be some sort of reprocussion ie. not getting into the Hall.
I definately think Selig has had his head in the ground for too long, and it's about time he did something. If not then resign, and let someone with a backbone take care of it
Bentley00
(.)(.), ON
Total Comments (1349)
How can you get back at the cheaters/drug takers if baseball and congress can't? By not watching their games and by not buying their merchandise. All these players and owners care about is money, anyway. Roger Clemens is EXAMPLE # 1.
If people quit watching, that's when something would change. But because the stands were packed and the TV ratings were through the roof during all the records being broken due to steroids, they turned their backs. But if people didn't watch, then they'd clean it up. It will only happen then.
I haven't followed baseball for 5 years now, and it was surprising at first, but I don't miss it anymore.
I grew up idolizing players like Clemens and McGuire and Bonds -- what a shame.
Only once baseball has been cleaned up will I ever watch again -- good luck with that! There are too many other good sports with decent players.
irishjohn
Total Comments (62)
Did you guys read the same report that I did? I randomly picked out 20 of the 80 players named in the report. Of those 20, only two used steroids. The other 18 were accused of using HGH.
In case you don't know, steroids have been banned since 1991 but HGH was NEVER explicitly banned by MLB. It only became a banned substance when Congress passed a law that identified it as a "controlled substance" at the END of 2004.
Of those accused of using HGH, only 4 are accused of using HGH since it was banned. The rest used HGH before it was added to the banned substances list
I'm not so Pollyanish as to say that baseball doesn't have a problem. But most of the guys named in the report are only guilty of using a substance that was eventually banned. If they banned certain vitamins next week would you then claim that all those guys taking vitamin B were cheaters last year?
Let's get at the steroids and look to cleaning up the game for the future rather than penalizing guys for trying to get a legal edge back when the edge they were seeking was legal.
Buffeye
Denver , CO
Total Comments (2)
Banning first time users for life? No hall for any of the guys named, are you insane?
Bill5385
Philly, PA
Total Comments (61)
This is terrible for the sport, however I was surprised, as I thought that there would be more names put on that original list. What do you think the vegas odds were that Brian Roberts would be on that list, Id have to say somewhere around 100 to 1
TDIBENZ
Nahant, MA
Total Comments (6)
My reply to Bill5386 is as follows:
No, I am not insane when I advocate a lifetime ban for first-time users of PEDs. The use of PEDs should be treated just like gambling because it adversely impacts the basic integrity of the competition and the game of baseball as a whole---one strike and you are out! I am in favor of the exact same policy that MLB has toward gambling. I am not talking about the use of street drugs here---that can be handled under the normal substance abuse policies.
Don't believe for one minute that a strict policy like this would ensnare players who are being treated for medical conditions. MLB has a waiver procedure and there is no problem when players use it. There are unfortunately a few doctors who anyone can go to who will prescribe anything you want for a price. Did you notice that most of the players who were busted when the law enforcement authorities raided pharmacies and seized their records had prescriptions written by doctors but they hadn't complied with MLB's waiver procedure? These weren't legit.
Once I was not in favor of a lifetime ban for the first offense. I thought that it was too harsh. My reasons for changing my mind are simple. In the case of PEDs, all of the incentives are to cheat because crime pays. What about the players who want to stay clean and compete fairly? Doesn't MLB owe its primary responsibility to them first and foremost? Users of PEDs take their jobs and perform at levels that they can't achieve. Think about the enormous contracts. A suspension just isn't enough to deter this. Even if you get caught, it is still worth it to use PEDs. It won't be worth it if it costs a player his career. That is the only way to stop this.
This isn't over with the release of the Mitchell Report. There are still several major law enforcement investigations ongoing that are going to bring out more names of players that nobody ever dreamed were users. I am confident of that. This will be a constant drum beat for months and possibly years to come. As I noted in my blog, the Mitchell Report is based on very limited sources...a few players who got busted and a couple of law enforcement investigations.
As far as the HOF is concerned, the Commissioner can take care of that by himself without either the union or the media having any say about it. All he has to do is to make users of PEDs ineligible for the HOF. That is exactly what happened with Pete Rose when he got busted for betting on baseball. Pete Rose is the all-time hit leader. If Pete Rose doesn't derserve to be in the HOF because he engaged in actitivy that adversely impacted on the integrity of the game, I don't see why Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens or any of the others deserves to be in the HOF.
I don't want to see MLB destroyed, but if this is not stopped soon, MLB will wind up with as little credibility as Olympic track and field or professional wrestling.
BKT
Los Angeles , CA
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I wrote a similiar blog called "witch hunt in baseball' Check it out.
drj0514
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