The Mitchell Report
I woke up from a nightmare early this morning–my girlfriend and I were being chased by a bear–and I never fell back asleep…not because of the bear but because of the Mitchell Report. It’s officially messing with my head. The report is due out in a little over an hour as I sit here writing this. I’m scared. And angry. And sad. Scared that some of my childhood heroes will be named as cheaters. (Please, God, not Cal Ripken Jr.) Angry to think that while I was playing steroid-free during summer ball and my Mets tryout, other people likely had an illegal edge. Sad on behalf of Major League Baseball and humanity itself.
History is about to unfold before us. This report will be talked about for generations. Millions of fans might be alienated, but in the long run the sport will survive. It’s a beautiful game. The people in it right now might not be, but baseball will cleanse itself.
I’m tempted to start guessing which names will be on the list–no doubt there are bookies out there taking bets on this right now–but all I’m gonna do is get back into bed and pull the covers over my nose and turn on ESPN and brace myself.
I’d almost rather not watch the news coverage. I wish I didn’t have to update the steroids section in my book. I wish I never had to write a steroids section in the first place. And I’d rather not be blogging about this. But this is baseball and life and it can’t be avoided. Hopefully something good will come from all of this.
Zack Hample
it’s a terrible shame…i’m sitting here listening to mike and dog hoping that my favorite guys are not on it. it’s an even greater shame that in the ultra competitive world of professional sports that many, many guys that ordinarily would never “cheat”, caved into the notion that if they did not use PEDs , then their careers would not favorably compare with others who did.
yea this is scary…
clemens and pettitte were already named by the former strength coach for the yankees..anyone know if it was jeff mangold with these reports? also, the bergen record had said “several” prominent yankees will be on the list. it could be doomsday for yankee fans which doesnt really bother me. theyve had enough good times…
mets wise, im hoping that piazza isnt on there..that would completely ruin my past childhood-i was his biggest fan ever. im pretty sure someone said no current 40 manned mets will be on it, but thats probably not true…im willing to bet ramon castro and scott schoeneweis are on it…id be shcoked if bonds wasnt, and some other names-troy glaus, jeff bagwell, pujols, rick ankiel will probably be on it…my guesses..
i was also thinkin darryl kile..im not sure if the league would do that to his family, but its not impossible
so those are my thoughts..
Don’t worry: Cal Ripken is not on the list. I received an email from BBD with a list of players, but obviously it needs to be confirmed (and the players will be) at the 2:00 PM EST press conference with Senator Mitchell.
15 minutes btw..
Jose Canseco is on hand, apparently
the problem with this list is that it will NOT be complete. there will be players that “get away” with it in the public mind…which to my mind is unfair to those poor sods that DO get named.
I know, but at least they’re going to set up a better testing system so that we end up catching those who don’t get caught here anyway.
Please Piazza….don’t be on that list
Yankees are tainted….nice
I will never watch another MLB game again. I don’t care if the Chicago Cubs play in the World Series in my backyard. This league is full of cheaters and cowards.
it’s also a shame that some of you people can’t even engage in a reasonable discussion about this.
The two names I was praying would not be on the list were Mike Piazza and ARod. Everyone made fun of Jose Canseco but it turned out he was pretty much right. Even though he took steroids, too, the press owes him an apology for dissing his book.
What did Mitchell suggest MLB do about it?
I hate this snow. It turns to ice. But Its was great for football.
Think about snagging Zack!
Chris
Manny Alexander
Chad Allen
Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Mark Bell
Gary Bennett
Marvin Bernard
Larry Bigbie
Barry Bonds
Ricky Bones
Kevin Brown
Paul Byrd
Alex Cabrera
Jose Canseco
Ken Caminiti
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Paxton Crawford
Jack Cust
Chris Donnells
Brendan Donnely
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Matt Franco
Ryan Franklin
Eric Gagne
Jay Gibbons
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Troy Glaus
Juan Gonzalez
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Darren Holmes
Todd Hundley
Wally Joyner
Mike Judd
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Gary Matthews Jr.
Mark McGwire
Cody McKay
Kent Merker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
Daniel Naulty
Denny Neagle
Rafael Palmeiro
Jim Parque
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Armando Rios
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Brian Roberts
John Rocker
F.P. Santangelo
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Derrick Turnbow
Ismael Valdez
Randy Velarde
Mo Vaughn
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Jeff Williams
Matt Williams
Todd Williams
Steve Woodward
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun
the 89 players who were listed in the report…
Clemens was an obvious one. He’s 45 and throws 95. I wonder what his kids think and I hope he gets into the hall because he probably started using the roids after 40, and he alrady had 300.
nooooooooo. rondell white and nook logan! i love them! rondell white was really nice and so was nook logan. and i played against mike stantons son in little league. he used to live in closter which was two towms over from where i live in. he wasnt all that good. maybe he could borrow some steroids from his dad
I just heard someone say that if Clemens gets into the hall, Pete Rose will have a fit!
So after all those years of competition between Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens. It was actually RJ who prevailed.
Is anyone really that surprised? Don’t many of you still believe HGH is somewhat widespread? How many of you thought Giambi’s miraculous comeback in 2006 might have been due to HGH?
Unfortunately, when this much money is involved, I truly understand why a guy might make the decision to play around. What stinks and why the steroids must be outlawed is to protect those who do not want to shoot up. Unless we’re willing to make big time sports the sole province of the chemically altered, there has to be a level playing field. I believe we need to think about the guy who didn’t make the majors because he didn’t want to shoot and was passed over for someone who did. And I haven’t even considered the tens of thousands of college and high school athletes who might believe they have to do the same thing.
At the end of the day, the biggest thing that concerns me about the Mitchell Report is Bud Selig doling out punishments. He presided over the whole mess and had to know!!!!!!!!!!! If he truly wants to set an example, he’d step down concurrently with making any suspension. But Bud is such a principled guy, eh? (“eh” is hockey talk).
Btw, here’s a question for you Zack as a journalist. If the ends don’t justify the means on Barry Bonds, how should we look at the SF Chronicle journalists for using illegally released Grand Jury
testimony to get their story on Bonds. Putting aside broader First Amendment issues against the equally weighty constitutional rights of the accused in a grand jury proceeding , does getting the big story justify using illegally-obtained information? I don’t like what Bonds did, but I’ve never been happy with how this all came out.
Finally, just e-mail me about the Yankee Post-Season tix, that is not a problem.
Listen to Father Puck, folks: the man just hit a DINGER!
Selig – and Donald Fehr – who, by pretending the doping didn’t exist – should both be forced to resign.
I felt much the same way as you did, but now I think that the report was pretty tame. I doubt people will be talking about it in years to come, except in passing.
The thing that really strikes me is this is just what three guys knew. How many trainers are there across the league that were helping out, even if it was only one or two guys.
Clemens made the Yankees hire his trainer. Mcguire had the stuff in his locker, Gagne got his shipments sent to Dodger Stadium! The one thing that I think the report revealed is that HGH and/or steroid use/amphetamines was widely accepted across baseball. It’s almost hard to hate some guys for it, because i imagine to many of them it just looked like “This is how it is in the league now.” Sort of like how a catcher one day said “If i wear this new helmet, I dont’ hurt as much!” and then everyone did it.
I’m sick over it as well. You can only overlook so much until the feeling of betrayal takes hold.
Between this & Jimmy Edmonds being traded, I’m one sad girl. I’ve been teary-eyed over Jimmy all morning, he will be so sorely missed and so many wanted him to retire a Cardinal. :’(
EVERYONE-
I’ve been pretty sick for the last 30 hours. Getting better now, a little, thankfully. I’ll answer everyone’s comments…at some point soon. Ugh.
TSWECHTENBERG-
I love that you keep up with NYC sports talk radio from so far away. Maybe I should have some pasta from Coppola’s shipped to you on dry ice.
GJK2212-
Hmm, well, now that Pettitte has admitted using HGH in 2002 (and if it’s really true that that’s the only time he used it), then I hold nothing against him because it wasn’t banned by baseball then…just like Andro was still legal in baseball when McGwire hit his 70 homers in 1998. I blame the players union and the commissioner for not banning those drugs.
YANKSFAN61293-
I’m soooo glad you were right about Ripken.
ZONK34-
No comment.
SABBATH5000-
I hope you still continue to read my blog.
RUTHSTERN-
Looks like A-Rod isn’t such a bad guy after all…
PUCK COLLECTOR-
Okay, so by that rationale (95mph at age 45), must we assume that Nolan Ryan was also juicing?
CHRIS-
Always.
JONELI24-
Thanks for putting together that list. It DOES, however, hurt to read it.
GOISLANDERS4-
Rondell was always such a nice guy. At least he wasn’t affected by ‘roid rage.
MISTER.CHAD-
Good point.
FATHERPUCK-
No no, you’re right, we shouldn’t be that surprised. But I think what surprises us most is seeing ACTUAL names. I’m pretty sure HGH is still widespread in pro ball, and I’m pretty sure Giambi’s comback had something to do with it. Excellent point about leveling the playing field, and about Bud Selig and the SF Chronicle journalists. I really can’t answer that one, but you’ve gotten me (and probably everyone else on here) thinking. So…thanks for that.
BOODLEHEIMER1-
Amen.
CEETAR-
Yep, if you consider ALL the trainers and chemists and players willing to cheat, it’s hard to imagine that there aren’t thousands of names that could’ve been on that list.
DORFMUNDER-
Wish I could cheer you up…so if it makes you feel any better, I suspect that Jimmy’s best years are well behind him. (Hope that doesn’t make you feel worse.)
nooooooooooooooooooooo!! after i went 12-1 in the regular season, i just got knocked out in the first round of the fantasy football playoffs!!!!
make it the chicken francese.