Mitchell Report Names Names

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Mitchell Report Names Names

Filed on December 13th, 2007 in Baseball, Steroids ⋅ ⋅

The long awaited Mitchell Report was released, and as promised, it named names. From the expected names like Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Jose Canseco, to the surprising, like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Paul Lo Duca. One thing the report made very clear was that everyone was to blame, from the top on down.

The question remains as to how this report will be handled by Major League Baseball, and baseball fans alike. Fans have been very quick to write off alleged steroid users, throwing asterisks around everything Barry Bonds has done, lobbying keeping Mark McGwire out of the Hall of Fame, and dismissing the careers of Jose Canseco and Rafael Palmiero. But how will they handle having to do the same to Roger Clemens?

In my defense of Barry Bonds I asked the question as to what the baseball world would do if Roger Clemens was found out to be a steroid user. Both he and Bonds showed many of the symptoms, so to speak, of steroid users, yet Bonds was treated completely differently.

I suspect there are many disappointed people today, and not for the right reasons. Because of this report, and names appearing in it like Eric Gagne, Kevin Brown and Miguel Tejada, people will have a harder time blaming Barry Bonds for all that is wrong with baseball. Of the 75 names named in this report, only one of them is the all-time home run king. Paul Lo Duca didn’t even become a decent home run hitter. In fact, most of the players named in this report are relatively insignificant in the world of baseball.

As I’ve said before, I’m not condoning what any of these men have done, but I am asking that people take an objective look at just what these performance enhancing drugs can do for a baseball player. The drugs will not turn you into a superstar, but they can help you recover from injuries and be in better shape. Is that a competitive advantage? Absolutely. But these drugs are not magic baseball-skill-improvers. That needs to be remembered.

So what happens next? How does baseball move on from this? The most important questions can only be answered by the fans. Baseball will do what it has to do to move on. They will tweak the testing policies and try to appear tougher on steroids. But the most important thing will be the fans’ reaction to this report. Will people blame every name on this list, and hold them all to the same standard. Or will people pick and choose which names matter. Will pitchers be more forgiven than outfielders? Will anyone be as blamed as Barry Bonds?

At this point, it’s nearly impossible to deny that Bonds ever took steroids. But for anyone who knows what these drugs do, it is equally impossible to give the drugs the credit for Bonds becoming the best baseball player to ever live. Bonds may not be the nicest guy (he has been to me in my personal experiences), but to deny what he has done on the field is unfair. There’s no doubt the drugs helped him, but people need to stop being so spiteful and give the man the credit he deserves for being an amazing baseball player. If it were the drugs, you’d see other players improving like he did. The fact that none of them did makes it possible to deduce that the drugs weren’t the key factor in Bonds’ late career surge in power.

My biggest question will be how the media and fans treat the stars like Roger Clemens in the wake of this report. It has been so easy to blame Bonds because to many he’s naturally unlikeable. But Clemens is more of the All-American boy, and it will be very interesting to see if people start throwing asterisks by his numbers. Will Clemens finish with 354* wins or 354 wins? If Barry has 762*, then it’s only fair to say that Clemens has 354*.

But they don’t. Bonds hit 762 home runs, and he deserves to be recognized for it. Clemens has 354 wins, and he deserves to be recognized for it. But I’m quite sure that it won’t work this way. Bonds is the villain, and Clemens is the hero. There is no report that will change that.

I recommend that everyone who plans on opining on this issue read the Mitchell Report. If nothing else, the stories are interesting.

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Full PDF of the Mitchell Report.

Full list of players listed in Mitchell Report:

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