What's 409 pages long and tells little new information?
If you guessed the Mitchell Report, you're absolutely correct.
There was much anticipation when the report on steroid abuse in baseball became public last week.
Overall, we didn't really learn too much from the report.
The biggest names out there were Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. We know Bonds is in big trouble concerning the BALCO hearings. There's a chance he could even do some jail time.
We didn't know much about Clemens and his supposed use of illegal substances.
Will the new information harm either Bonds or Clemens for the Hall of Fame when both become eligible? Early talk has been that they won't be harmed too much in the eyes of the folks who vote.
Contrast that with Mark McGwire, who was not implicated in the Mitchell Report. McGwire is mentioned many times, but only in reference to past incidents which are well known.
One area of discussion was the whole androstendione issue of 1998. McGwire acknowledged using androstendione and creatine, which at the time were legal, over-the-counter supplements.
The whole andro issue cost McGwire the 1998 MVP award. And it cost him a first-ballot spot in the hall of fame.
Will McGwire be voted into the Hall of Fame this year based on the new information?
It remains to be seen, but it's likely McGwire might have to sweat a few more years before he makes it. Clemens and Bonds might actually make it into the hall of fame before McGwire.
The only evidence against McGwire comes from Jose Canseco's book, which also was the basis of the entire congressional baseball steroid hearings and the building blocks for the Mitchell Report.
One of the main reasons for the Mitchell Report was the alleged serious steroid use by young athletes. The report suggests hundreds of thousands of high school students are using steroids. Does this report include legal over-the-counter supplements, or is this just anabolic steroids and their designer equivalents?
The latest movement has been to designer drugs, which were invented to get around tests, and Human Growth Hormone (HGH). We're learning more about both. BALCO was a lab which designed steroids, such as those used by a number of prominent athletes. HGH was something which wasn't in the test categories before, but will be scrutinized in the future.
One Cardinal, Rick Ankiel, was mentioned for HGH use. However, his usage came following major surgery on his pitching arm and was part of the treatment. He was exonerated last fall by Major League Baseball.
One major thing we should note from the Mitchell Report is that the Major League Baseball Players Association continues to be a roadblock in trying to control the steroid problem.
"The Players Association was largely uncooperative," states the Mitchell Report. The report states that requests for interviews were either turned down or largely ignored. When Mitchell asked for cooperation from players, the Players Association sent out a memorandum discouraging players from cooperating. Not one player responded to Mitchell's memo. Most players who made allegations about the use of performance enhancing substances were discouraged from meeting with Mitchell by the Players Association.
Until there is full cooperation by the owners and Players Association, there will be no true solution to the crisis. Maybe the option would be to give the commissioner extra powers, but I don't see the current one being able to do much. Baseball would need a forceful person in the mold of Kennesaw Mountain Landis to solve the problem.
I just don't see either the owners or players willing to give up any power to allow a commissioner to have those type of powers again.
And that means the problems will remain.
- Jay ( #6 / #44 Mizzou Tigers ST21 )
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let me know what you think of my blog, fannation!
- jay
my time has come
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I would still vote for Clemens and Bonds, but not on the first ballot as a way to protest their dipping into the artificial substance cesspool.
Cassidy's House:…
Whatsittoya, NO
Total Comments (16281)
This is such an insane argument between MLB and it's players and fans that it isn't even funny. First of all ...They will NEVER be able to test for HGH without a players consent since it has to be done through a blood test. Personally, I know I would never give them the consent to test my blood for any and everything they can think of. (although the insane amount of money players make could sway my decision I suppose)
Secondly, even given the results of this report, there's nothing anyone can do without proof, because it would all be locker room hear say. Not admisable in court. Selig says he will personally hand out justice case by case......." Chh..."
and Lastly, the contents of this "report" mostly identifies players who were prescribed steroids after surgery or an injury. Some are even pronounced "guilty" simply via association. Granted there are the few players who were actually caught . ie. Jose Guillian of Seattle even though it did nothing for his performance believe me....but the majority of players implicated in the report are no longer hurt nor using the steroid prescribed to them after being on the IRL
So in MY eyes, the Mitchell Report is a sham to appease Congress
Zags4final4
Lost Somewhere In, WA
Total Comments (1274)
At the end of the day, this is an issue baseball fans are simply going to have to deal with. It happened, it isn't going away, and will probably continue.
Hllywd: Old…
Columbus , OH
Total Comments (7912)
Nice blog, Mizzou... the dilemma of it all, in my opinion, is how so many sports fans (and their information source, the sports media) are so hypocritical about performance-enhancing drugs. Baseball, and to a large extent football, players seem to have ample opportunity to cheat. Tests are not conducted in sufficient quantities to catch more than simply the dumbest of dopers. And the league is concerned only with the use of steroids, it seems; amphetamines have only been subject to testing since 2006 (though the issue has been public knowledge since the late 1960s and accurate testing has existed almost as long), and HGH cannot be tested through urine.
But American professional athletes in the nation's summer and autumn pastimes have such an easier time than an athlete wishing to compete in the hundred-meter dash or the 400-meter individual medley or Paris-Roubaix. American sports leagues have the most lax standards concerning performance-enhancing drugs. While steroids might be banned, other endurance-enhancers such as erythropoietin are not even considered. Cortisone shots are administered freely in an effort to keep the bread-winners out on the field here in the United States; internationally-governed sports recognize that no miracle pill is a substitute for recuperative rest, and if an athlete wants to compete on an injury it is at their own risk and with full knowledge of the damage being wrought by such stubbornness. Succumbing to painkilling temptation is met with a two-year suspension if discovered; and the in- and out-of-competition testing in these sports makes sure that it is at a more effective rate.
And yet the media and many fans are more suspicious of cyclists and track stars than they are about baseball players. What the Mitchell Report has done for fans is force them to recognize the fact that it is not simply Euro sports stars who are suspect of doping offenses... even our greatest of baseball and football players, and a great deal more striving to catch the upper echelon, can and do enhance their performances. Too many people pushed the doping issue on the back burner (unless Barry Bonds was in town) until reading about positive results among the leaders at the Tour de France or hearing ESPN talk about Marion Jones having her Olympic medals stripped; now, with all the information packed into a tidy if exhaustive 409 pages, rather than scattered across the country and over the internet, everyone who cares about baseball must come to terms with the systemic issue.
The time has passed to merely treat symptoms; now we must diagnose the real damages wrought upon baseball...
Bigalke
Springfield, OR
Total Comments (22305)
The Names on the Michell Report definetly shocked me but what I am interested in now is what is gonna happen now to the players that were named on it
Daveita
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