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The Mitchell Report: Report To The Commissioner Of Baseball Of An Independent Investigation Into The Illegal Use Of Steroids And Other Performance Enhancing Substances By Players In Major League Baseball
416 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2007
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January 29, 2008
It is difficult for me to write about baseball without engaging in some of that overly sentimental fawning about how baseball is the truly American sport that best typifies innocence, summer, and all that is good and decent about our sports and our youth. Blah, blah, blah. But, in a lot of ways I really do believe all of that hokey stuff. I love baseball and I love what baseball represents and I love what it means to me.
Recent years, however, have not been so good for the sport of baseball. The steroid era left an indelible black eye on the sport and has tarnished many of the records that true baseball fans like me hold so dear. This report from Former Senator Mitchell took 20 months, named 89 players, and was supposed to “bring to a close this troubling chapter in baseball’s history.” I fear, however, that this report falls well short of that goal. Quite simply, it is not the defining piece that chronicles the steroid era in baseball; I think it raises a lot more questions than answers. Indeed, to paraphrase Churchill, I think the best we can hope for is not that this is the beginning of the end, but instead that it is the end of the beginning of this issue. (Speaking of this issue, some of the best commentary I have heard on this issue is from Seth Everett who compares this steroids issue to the Iraq War and makes the compelling case that what is most needed for both of those areas is a well thought out exit strategy, but that may prove very elusive.)
Make no mistake, I think those that are “tired” of hearing about the steroid era are simply silly, but this report brings us no closer to knowing the full scope of involvement of players. All we really know is that a lot of players, on all different levels of ability, were doing it. Even more troubling, I don’t really know if the sport is cleaned up. All we really know is that less people are testing positive and that players seemed to have moved toward the much harder to detect Human Growth Hormone (HGH). (By the way, as some have mentioned, this is not just a baseball problem, HGH is a problem for competitive integrity (which is why this issue is important) in every sport and it is not only baseball’s obligation to develop a test for HGH detection.)
Although the Roger Clemens elements have received the most press, there are a lot of other interesting elements in the report. I think a real underreported element is the insinuation made that some (Greg Anderson, for example) may have known in advance as to the time in which players would be tested. A lot of the Report is rather boring - chronicling the health effects of HGH and steroids and the various efforts of baseball in conjunction with the Union to agree to meaningful testing - but the names are where the fun really starts. One of the things I found off is the extent to which players made it so easy to get caught, like sending illegal drugs directly to the clubhouse.
What was most sobering about the Report, though, is that performance enhancing drugs will likely continue to be a huge problem in baseball and other sports. As we have learned, when the stakes are high, people tend to cheat. The stakes are very high in baseball right now and the temptation to cheat is higher than ever and players have been able to stay ahead of the curve. I think baseball’s steroid era truly is a dark time in the sport, but sunshine shined on the problem is not a bad thing. Sunshine brings light and light brings heat and heat often gets people moving, hopefully this movement will be in a positive direction for baseball’s future.
Recent years, however, have not been so good for the sport of baseball. The steroid era left an indelible black eye on the sport and has tarnished many of the records that true baseball fans like me hold so dear. This report from Former Senator Mitchell took 20 months, named 89 players, and was supposed to “bring to a close this troubling chapter in baseball’s history.” I fear, however, that this report falls well short of that goal. Quite simply, it is not the defining piece that chronicles the steroid era in baseball; I think it raises a lot more questions than answers. Indeed, to paraphrase Churchill, I think the best we can hope for is not that this is the beginning of the end, but instead that it is the end of the beginning of this issue. (Speaking of this issue, some of the best commentary I have heard on this issue is from Seth Everett who compares this steroids issue to the Iraq War and makes the compelling case that what is most needed for both of those areas is a well thought out exit strategy, but that may prove very elusive.)
Make no mistake, I think those that are “tired” of hearing about the steroid era are simply silly, but this report brings us no closer to knowing the full scope of involvement of players. All we really know is that a lot of players, on all different levels of ability, were doing it. Even more troubling, I don’t really know if the sport is cleaned up. All we really know is that less people are testing positive and that players seemed to have moved toward the much harder to detect Human Growth Hormone (HGH). (By the way, as some have mentioned, this is not just a baseball problem, HGH is a problem for competitive integrity (which is why this issue is important) in every sport and it is not only baseball’s obligation to develop a test for HGH detection.)
Although the Roger Clemens elements have received the most press, there are a lot of other interesting elements in the report. I think a real underreported element is the insinuation made that some (Greg Anderson, for example) may have known in advance as to the time in which players would be tested. A lot of the Report is rather boring - chronicling the health effects of HGH and steroids and the various efforts of baseball in conjunction with the Union to agree to meaningful testing - but the names are where the fun really starts. One of the things I found off is the extent to which players made it so easy to get caught, like sending illegal drugs directly to the clubhouse.
What was most sobering about the Report, though, is that performance enhancing drugs will likely continue to be a huge problem in baseball and other sports. As we have learned, when the stakes are high, people tend to cheat. The stakes are very high in baseball right now and the temptation to cheat is higher than ever and players have been able to stay ahead of the curve. I think baseball’s steroid era truly is a dark time in the sport, but sunshine shined on the problem is not a bad thing. Sunshine brings light and light brings heat and heat often gets people moving, hopefully this movement will be in a positive direction for baseball’s future.
Displaying 1 of 1 review