The defining report on Baseball’s darkest hour since the 1919 Black Sox scandal was released today containing the names of over 80 current and former major league players who have purchased or used performance enhancing drugs to gain an uneven advantage on the playing field and all I can say is…SO WHAT?
The Mitchell Report comes after months of investigation into the steroid problem that has become the biggest detriment to the integrity of the game known as “America’s Pastime”. Today with the announcement implicating such boldfaced names as Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettite, Barry Bonds, Troy Glaus, Eric Gagne and Gary Sheffield and the promise of swift punishment which followed in a statement by commisioner Bud Selig, fans of the game should now feel safe in knowing that this is the first step in ensuring that baseball will soon be rid of this kind of implorable behavior and blatant cheating…or should they?
I personally believe that while this report and the bringing to light of these names was a necessary step, it will not have the effect that both Sen. Mitchell and Major League Baseball would like. Selig promises swift justice and these multimillionaire players probably just chuckle and go on with their days. Unless Major League baseball is willing to sacrifice some of it’s on field product by handing out suspensions that will prove to players that breaking the rules will put the remainder of their careers and their ability to earn a living by playing the game in jeopardy, nothing is going to change.
Roger Clemens, arguably one the greatest pitchers ever and the best pitcher of this generation, will now be vilified in the court of public opinion but if he decideds to pitch next season some team will still pay him 20 million plus to wear their uniform and put fans in the seats. Furthermore, when Clemens finally decides to hang up his cleats, does anyone truly believe that the allegations brought forth today will override his achievements (as tainted as they now are) during his career and keep him from entering baseball’s Hall of Fame five years from that day? Will it make any difference in the candidacy of Barry Bonds?
Will these allegations keep the current players from signing multimillion dollar contracts in free agency? Do you believe that the Royals who just signed Jose Guillen to a 3 year 36 million dollar pact or the Brewers who inked Gagne to a one year deal worth 10 million will suddenly have a change of heart and look to have these agreements voided now that these players have been branded as “cheaters”? Baseball is like any other business and while integrity is important it is still about the bottom line.
After the strike, MLB was looking for a way to reconnect with the fans. They found that way during the exhilarating assault on history and the home run record that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa engaged in during the summer of 1998 as the two players battled to see which one would be the first to surpass the record held by Roger Maris. Ultimately McGwire would put up 70 home runs and break the record while capturing the imagination of fans worldwide and bringing baseball back to the forefront of popular sport. Only 2 seasons later, McGwire retired suddenly citing burnout and Sosa was struggling to keep his career going while rampant allegations of steroid use were dogging both of them. Today when the Mitchell Report was released, neither was implicated. Was it that the investigation brought no evidence of foul play by Sosa or McGwire or was this baseball’s way of thanking the two men who together helped to resurrect their sport that summer? What about Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive shortly after his milestone 500th HR and then was suddenly gone from the game…Did MLB allow him to walk away quietly because up until the failed test he had been one of the “good people” in the game?
MLB and Sen. Mitchell would like to think that this report will be a beginning to the end of the steroid era in baseball but what this report will truly bring about (and already has) is more questions. Questions that may never be answered as long as players who are implicated have no compelling reason to give those answers. Each player who was implicated was given opportunity to meet with Mitchell and tell their side of the story and all but Jason Giambi declined to do so. Who can blame them when they can keep their mouths shut and go on making millions without fear of reprecussions. If baseball truly wants to change the landscape and rid it’s sport of this ugliness than it must begin immediately and hit these offenders where it hurts most, only then will we begin to see a return to the true “america’s game” that we once trusted so unquestionably.
