Breaking news indicates that MLB players of the highest magnitude will
be named as PED users later today in the Mitchell Report. The latest
development says that Roger Clemens's and Andy Pettite's trainer will
name those two stellar pitchers as juicers.
Over the next few hours and days as readers ponder the implications of
the Mitchell Report, keep these points in mind:
- PEDs, steroids included, are highly regulated in the practice of
medicine. Any use of HGH or an anabolic steroid as a PED is illegal
whether or not expressly banned in a late-to-the-scene MLB policy.
However, as far back as 1991 Commissioner Fay Vincent defined a policy
against the use of PEDs in baseball.
- PED and steroid testing can be viewed as a mild success, or a
moderate to huge failure. Most of the names today in the Mitchell
Report will be 'non-positive' offenders.
- Any talk of Babe Ruth using booze, or players using greenies
(amphetamines) is a distraction. Focus on the illegal use of steroids
and anabolic drugs to enhance athletic strength, and muscular power.
Use a narrowly focused attention to digest the pervasive penetration
of PEDs into the MLB culture. There will be time later to analyze the
broader implications of drug-cheating for records and Hall of Fame
eligibility.
- Think of Mitchell's remedy for the widespread doping culture.
Should there be a role for 'sports fraud' laws?
We also wonder if a commissioner who presided over this corruption can survive?
Put your batting helmet and chest protector; this will be a wild ride.
Read more news and blog posts on the Mitchell report on steroids in baseball here.
Brady Anderson was a light-hitting outfielder with the physique of a stick-figure in the 1990s. He never hit more than 21 home runs in his first six seasons, then managed to hit 50 in 1996, and no one in baseball called bullshit.
I'm a former employee of MLB. All these players' steroid use was an open secret. We used to joke about it in the newsroom and with the staff writers covering games. Selig is a hack and an egomaniac and Mitchell is a stooge, hired to make it look like he didn't already know everything in the Report.
It shouldn't be a blanket condemnation of the players on the list. These guys worked hard to help their teams win and would do almost anything to stay off the DL or come back from an injury. I'd say it's not a matter of trying to hit the ball farther or throw the ball faster so much as trying to bounce back from injuries.
It wasn't commendable, but MLB wasn't testing, and these guys didn't want to let down their teammates by being unable to perform. We shouldn't vilify them when we might do the same thing in their position. Let's test now and move forward without ruining people's reputations over something that isn't life and death, like war or health insurance.