After 20 months, we’ve finally seen the Mitchell Report. OK, I’ve seen some of it — scanned about 100 of the 400-plus pages. And here’s what I gleaned from it: major league baseball has a problem. Believe if you want that the 80 or so players named in various places in the report are guilty of using. Then extrapolate that out for all the users who didn’t leave a paper trial and for all the HGH users who can’t be named, since there’s no test to detect it. And you have what for a number? 100? 200? 300? Everyone in the majors and another 500 in the minors?
And that’s the problem, the perception that the number of ‘cheaters’ is much bigger than what’s been revealed in the report. As Senator Mitchell himself said, those who don’t use are then forced to make the choice to either stay at a competitive disadvantage, or use themselves. It is a moral dilemma. Choose between supporting yourself and your family by doing whatever it takes to perform in peak condition, or doing the ’right thing.’ Thankfully, there are enough people who still believe that the clean way is the best way.
Perhaps the most bothersome part of the report was Mitchell’s assertion that there are hundreds of thousands of high school and younger athletes who currently use steroids or other performance enhancers. That’s a lot of kids, kids who are in danger of physical harm and in some cases death.
Though I’m not big on promoting professional athletes as role models, the truth is, that they in many households, they are. Because they do their jobs on a public stage, that is an unavoidable consequence. I hope the players realize that because of that, they need to do the right thing.
I’d sure like to know how Mitchell came up with those numbers for high schoolers using HGH and/or steroids. How would a kid even have access to those drugs? It is a serious problem, but I think those numbers are distorted.