THE MITCHELL REPORT

Face losing your job for life. Maybe some will get it.

 

just got done

i must be part of tbr's special ed class, as i've just finished reading this thing. good lord 409 pages! next on my reading list is war and peace.....

anyway. what bothered me initially (since i am a yankee fan) was the number of yankees on this list. then i started picking up on something. almost all of the information george mitchell has came from the mets attendant radomski (sp?) and then this mcnamee (sp?) guy (who was a yankees strength guy). so of course all the names they report come directly from these two guys, and only these two guys. that bothers me some. i realize they were the only two who would speak, but seems like to me they said hey we got these names. lets just print these. sure there are plenty of others but no one else will speak. 20+ years of the "steriod era" and only 2 guys will talk.

it was also interesting to me how many of the names listed seemed to get their start on the performance enhancers after coming off surgeries or rehabbing injuries.

so much info going through the ole noggin right now. my eyes are almost crossed from reading. maybe i'll make more sense of it tomorrow...sorry for the rambling

 

Hogwash.

Haven't read most of it....ain't going to. It is hard for me to consider it much more than fiction. In my book, Mitchell is without merit. An ex-Senator??? Is that supposed to give him credibility? A politician evaluating and assessing accountability??? That, in and of itself, makes me chuckle! At least the National Enquirer has photos to substantiate their stories!

I will say that unless HGH was deemed an illegal substance at the time the players were using it to heal themselves, it was not illegal. If I were an injured player in the majors, and thought HGH would help me heal faster (which it does), AND IT WAS NOT ILLEGAL, I'd have used it, too.

I'm convinced there is illegal steroid use in pro sports. This report, however, is not conclusive or factual in it's content. In my opinion, until is can be proven as factual, it is not a valid document.

Anybody want to have a pool to guess how many lawsuits will be forthcoming on behalf of the players named? (How dare they go after Lenny Dykstra?!?!?!?!?!? That made me mad.)
DDD

 

Honestly...

...I really don't understand what all the fuss is about. Having been in collegiate baseball and football lockers rooms as far back as the late seventies and having spent alot of my last 25 years in gyms and fitness centers, I have a real feel for just how prevalent and easily accessible steroids are in every day society! To think that professional baseball players who have money to spend, millions to potentially make, no fear of getting caught (because it wasn't illegal at the time) and access to medical professionals willing to accomodate, one would have to be pretty naive to think these accusations are not true. In fact, I truly believe the Mitchell Report only scratches the surface. Although I didn't agree with what Jose canseco did, when he first threw everyone one under the bus about steroid use, I absolutely believed he was at least 80% truthful.
My biggest issue is what was the purpose naming names and making this report public. If your not going to press charges, remove records etc. etc., why damge the reputation of these guys and give the sport such a blackeye? Why not just come out with a blanket statement that says, yea, it's bad, lots of people, let's just draw a line in the sand, clean it up and move forward. Really, the commissioner, in my opinion, is one of the main culprits. Baseball leaders HAD to know and chose to look the other way while their sport prospered in money, attendance and popularity. What possible good could come out of making this public information? (Except maybe that your most hated player made the list or your favorite player is not!) Not suprised at all with the names on the list, in fact it clears a few things up for me (John Rocker comes to mind). My only question is Where's Brady Anderson? 50 home runs in one year? The guy weighed like 125 lbs, come on dude.
Having loved the game for many years, it's just a sad day. But I can't say I didn't see it coming.
On a lighter note...Hal Morris on roids? Man, he should ask for a refund.

 

Where's?

Not that this list was all inclusive by any stretch of the imagination, but just a few notable names NOT on the list...

Manny Ramirez
David Ortiz
Ken Griffey Jr.
A-Rod
Vladimir Guerrero

Heck, we know Griffey is clean. Clemens can pitch til he's 50.. Griffey can't play for 10 consecutive games.

 

Looking forward...

Two very obvious questions come to mind.

1. Can they really clean this thing up? Will the medical field stay one step ahead of the drug testing?

2. Here's the one I like. What will steroid free baseball look like?
Will we revert back to the 80's where 25 home runs led the league? .301 batting avg. wins the title? Hey, maybe we will have a triple crown winner now that specialized power guys. That would be cool.

OK that was atually fou questions but you know what I'm sayin...

 

Respectfully speaking, you may need to research Sen. Mitchell and see for yourself his background and his qualifications.

Here's a link to a brief biography for you.

http://library.bowdoin.edu/arch/mitchell/research/bio.htm

Sen. Mitchell was a US Attorney for the state of Maine, and a Federal District Court Judge prior to his career in the US Senate. He is well respected and is qualified, but was limited because he couldn't subponea witnesses.

 

2. Here's the one I like. What will steroid free baseball look like?
Will we revert back to the 80's where 25 home runs led the league? .301 batting avg. wins the title? Hey, maybe we will have a triple crown winner now that specialized power guys. That would be cool.

Quote]

I think this is a great question and a real tough issue for MLB. The purists like myself get more pleasure from watching gapper with men on base than watching an oversized guy hit a ball fifty rows into the seats. But without a doubt, these superhuman feats have created a whole generation of new fans that think thats the way the game should be played (see the popularity of HR contests.. which I despise). If the players go back to normal size and production, does baseball lose these new fans?

 

BR?, but not Babe Ruth

little Brian Roberts is on the list. What year was it that he started out the early season hitting HR's like gangbusters?