Baseball's Mitchell Report released.

Apparently, 80 players were named as having used steroids, HGH, and other "performance-enhancing drugs" (if there are any others that are not steroids or HGH, that is). The most notable of those names are 7-time Cy Young winner Roger Clemens, his teammate on two teams since 1999, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejeda (who the Baltimore Orioles traded to the Houston Rockets JUST YESTERDAY), Eric Gagne, and of course, Barry Bonds.

The report can be found here, but be warned; it's 409 pages.

There was one considerable roadblock in this investigation, though; the fact that the MLBPA (Baseball's players union, in layman's terms) have urged ALL active players to not cooperate with former Senator and leader of the investigation George Mitchell. Most of the leads came from the BALCO investigation, the Kirk Radomski investigation, and the recent investigation conducted by the Albany, NY District Attorney's office.

Man, talk about the New York Y*nkees... that 2000 club is pretty damning. NINE players? Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Glenallen Hill, Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Mike Stanton, Denny Neagle, and Jason Grimsley (and maybe more, those were the names that came to mind)? Holy crap.

Since almost all active players refused to cooperate with the Mitchell Report, I'm fairly certain there are more names than just those that were mentioned that were in fact cheating. Jose Canseco, the man who single-handedly STARTED this drug culture in baseball, claims to have some "dirt" on Alex Rodriguez, who has been perceived to be among the cleanest (as far as drugs are concerned), which Canseco has stated will be exposed on his latest book. A-Rod is not listed on the report. Now, as far as the current Yankees roster is concerned, only two names are there, and they are Pettitte and Jason Giambi (as it stands now, Clemens is an ex-Yankee, since he's a free agent and may retire, ESPECIALLY given the fact that he's been named in the Mitchell Report).

Now, as much as I want to crucify many of these players (including Pettitte and Clemens, ESPECIALLY since they played for my favorite team) the same way I want to crucify Barry Bonds, on one hand, given how the investigation went, some of that may just be hearsay, but I do believe some of these players were in fact cheating (especially those who got busted through BALCO). I happen to have a copy of Game of Shadows! Bonds is currently awaiting trial in a Federal Court for perjury that he committed during the BALCO investigation. 95% conviction rate in the Federal Courts, folks. That's how certain I am that Bonds will be behind bars!

However, I do have respect for one of them, and that's Jason Giambi, and that's because unlike other drug cheats, he was man enough to admit to it, both in the court of law (though his testimony was leaked), and eventually through the media, not to mention the fact that he cooperated with George Mitchell.

Nonetheless, this report makes the Andy Reid crackhouse scandal look like Mickey Mouse!

I dont follow baseball but how can they justify asking players not to co-operate? Or am i missing something?

More than half of the players listed were not active this past year, so the commissioner's office and/or player's union did not have jurisdiction over them when this investigation was carried out, but it will affect their future in Cooperstown, nonetheless. That precedent was set last year when Mark McGwire fell short of the necessary votes to be elected in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

As previously mentioned, the only named person I know of who cooperated with the former Senate Majority Leader in this investigation is Jason Giambi, who did so at the request of Commissioner Bud Selig, and it was probably because of a statement he made through the media early this past season about the steroids issue which could very well be interpreted as an admission to using steroids.

As for punishment for these players? The retired/inactive players really cannot be punished, but as stated earlier, their Cooperstown future is very much in jeopardy. The active players, on the other hand? Selig has stated he'd investigate them and act on a "case-by-case basis". George Mitchell did not have subpoena power, which is another thing that could have hurt this investigation. Players' punishments will depend on what they were when these players violated the policy. For example, a player who violated the policy between 2003 and 2005 would receive a 15-day suspension for a first offense (which is why Jose Guillen was suspended for 15 days, despite being caught after the current policy was implemented), while a player who violated the policy in 2006 and beyond would be suspended for 50 games on a first offense. The reason; the MLBPA would be screaming "bloody murder" over retroactive punishment.

It's a good conversation topic, but other than stir up talk shows and such, what will actually happen? Until baseball actually puts in stricter drug testing, I fully expect players to continue using HGH and steroids.

The other thing to keep in mind: Mitchell only seemed to bust one single drug ring, and it happened to be one based in New York, so of course, Yankee and Met players will be exposed. Yet, let's not go nuts and say that just the Yankees are a dirty, juiced team. I would wager my life that there are rings like this, with people like Radomski and the Yankee trainer, in every city and region that has baseball and if this investigation went there other players would crop up in every city.

The other question is: Does this REALLY matter? Baseball attendance seems to be growing, even with so many teams having players linked to steroids and HGH, so do the fans really care? I think, if these players are helping them win, they look the other way, otherwise, they crucify them, which is obviously hypocritical, but is also very much like every single sport's fan's mentality: "Just win and you'll be forgiven"

So, if baseball does start to crack down on drug use, this report has been helpful, otherwise, it's just another media-driven story witch-hunt. None of these players are really going to get in trouble, other than the biggest names and really, is the HOF THAT important to them? They're rich, they're secure, I'm not sure if getting into the HOF means that much to them. But, if jailtime (these drugs ARE illegal afterall without a doctor's note) or other such consequences could be used, then, we may finally clean the sport up.


Take care all.

Although there was much hype aboot the Mitchell Report, I doubt much will happen to the players involved. The list only lists "alleged" users, so I don't expect any of the noted players to be suspended at all, except maybe those like Pettitte that actually admitted to using anything.

The report emphasizes that everyone already knows but doesn't like admitting, that MLB is filthy with steroids, and everyone is cheating.

In my opinion, they should look more deeply in the NFL and NHL. How is everyone in the NFL becoming so insanely huge??? And the NHL testing procedure is a joke. The cleanest league by far would have to be the NBA, but then again, I have little faith in all the majors. :(

(Oh, and I almost died laughing when I saw Greg Zaun's name on that list... I think he might be taking the reverse roids :p)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by White Raven

Although there was much hype aboot the Mitchell Report, I doubt much will happen to the players involved. The list only lists "alleged" users, so I don't expect any of the noted players to be suspended at all, except maybe those like Pettitte that actually admitted to using anything.

The report emphasizes that everyone already knows but doesn't like admitting, that MLB is filthy with steroids, and everyone is cheating.

In my opinion, they should look more deeply in the NFL and NHL. How is everyone in the NFL becoming so insanely huge??? And the NHL testing procedure is a joke. The cleanest league by far would have to be the NBA, but then again, I have little faith in all the majors. :(

(Oh, and I almost died laughing when I saw Greg Zaun's name on that list... I think he might be taking the reverse roids :p)

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Historically, the NFL's drug testing policy, alone, has been so much of a deterrent that only two players in NFL history have tested positive for steroids twice; both players are no longer in the league. However, even they have problems with the undetectable stuff like HGH. There were about four or so Raiders players linked to the BALCO scandal, most notably Bill Romanowski (back when "The Cream" and "The Clear" were not detectable by standard drug tests).

As for the NBA, they're not as clean as one would think. I heard a report that 60% of all NBA players smoke marijuana.