Mitchell Report Analysis

Here are the players named in the Mitchell report:

Chad Allen
Mike Bell
Gary Bennett
Larry Bigbie
Ricky Bones
Kevin Brown
Ken Caminiti
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Paxton Crawford
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Chris Donnels
Lenny Dykstra
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jason Grimsley
Jerry Hairston
Phil Hiatt
Matt Herges
Glenallen Hill
Todd Hundley
Ryan Jorgensen
Wally Joyner
Mike Judd
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Exavier “Nook” Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
Daniel Naulty
Denny Neagle
Rafael Palmeiro
Jim Parque
Luis Perez
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
F.P. Santangelo
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Derrick Turnbow
Mo Vaughn
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Jeff Williams
Todd Williams
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun
Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Paul Byrd
Jose Canseco
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jose Guillen
Darren Holmes
Gary Matthews Jr.
John Rocker
Scott Schoeneweis
Ismael Valdez
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard
Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Randy Velarde

I'll have more on some of these players as I read through the entire report. It's 400 pages so it could take a while.

What should happen to the players whose names are on this list? Nothing. Because the information in the Mitchell Report is selective, and not at all comprehensive, it would unfair to punish only those who happened to buy steroids from the suppliers who got caught and ratted them out.
But Jay Gibbons and Jose Gullien did get 15 game suspensions so perhaps we could see similar punishments for other active players.

Also, there is no reason for criminal prosecution of these guys. The same people who complain that our tax dollars are being spent on prosecuting Barry Bonds now want the law to go after these guys.
First of all, the standard of proof needed to convict someone is much higher than the standard used to include someone on this list.
Second of all, Bonds is not being prosecuted for using steroids, they're going after him because he lied to a federal grand jury. If the Feds let such a high profile figure get away with that it dilutes the power of all federal grand juries.

The men on this list, as well as McGwire, Sosa and countless others who used steroids cheated...the fans out of the thing which most hardcore baseball fans like myself hold most deaR about the sport, the sanctity of the records and numbers. These players have robbed me of the chance to discuss many of baseball's hallowed numbers in reverent terms with my son. And even worse, the problem of what to do with baseball's history books seems like a problem without a solution. Retroactively expunging the records and entire careers of the cheaters is capricious and ineffective because it might leave records to other cheaters who just didn't get caught. An ineffectual asterisk is not appropriate because it's either too specific (once again it wouldn't nail all the cheaters, just those who got caught), or too broad (if applied to the entire generation).

But Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens still deserve to be in the Hall of Fame because they were great before they started juicing.

The fate of a nation of baseball fans turns it's lonely eyes to Alex Rodriguez. Other than elite performance A-Rod bears none of the other hallmarks of a steroid user. He did not undergo a significant physical change, nor drastic swings in his performance.

I don't want to hear anything from any player on this list about them being wrongfully accused. In all, the players on the list comprise no more than a quarter of baseball's total steroid cheats since the 1980s. So how are we to believe that the few that got fingered by a reliable source are wrongfully accused?

That said, this report doesn't, in many cases prove that players used steroids, it's merely an as comprehensive as possible accumulation of everyone who has been linked to steroids.

There are three major reasons why steroid use flourished in baseball for so long. The players used them for financial gain, the league ignored the problem for financial gain and the media (this means you Murray Chass) looked the other way for no good reason at all. And the media is still doing it. You have a guy saying he shot Andy Pettitte in the ass with steroids and retarded monkey sportswriters are still defending Pettitte. The job of the media is to look at issues critically but the sports media is full of ex-jocks and jock sniffers who won't state the obvious for fear of being ostracized. No one on this list is unfairly targeted, they're cheaters.

Don't tell me that Paul LoDuca paid Kirk Radomski $3,200 because he took his car to be washed, picked up his dry cleaning and brought his 19-year old girlfriend to the clubhouse so she could give him a postgame blowjob. As valuable as those services are, LoDuca paid the guy for supplying performance enhancing drugs.

The best thing that could come from this report would be stronger testing, blood testing, similar to what the Olympics does. A program that tests for everything. If after so many of their brethren were outed, the Players Union still opposes such testing than the owners should impose it (to the extent to which they can do so) and force the players to strike over it. Also, there has to be random testing during the offseason, at least twice, for every player.

Now that we have a list of users it will be interesting to compare this list in 15 - 20 years to the list of ballplayers who died prematurely. Ken Caminiti is already on that list, let's hope none of these other guys join him, but maybe if they do people will finally wake up to the dangers of steroid use.