The Black Cloud Over Manhattan; Mitchell Report to be Revealed Today

Three hours from now, the sports world will turn its attention to midtown Manhattan where up to 80 players will be denounced for steroid use by former Congressman George Mitchell. At this point, it is tough to determine whether the list is comprised of players with failed drug tests or merely find themselves there by matter of heresay. Early reports suggest that the Yankees will suffer the greatest indignity with "several prominent players" being mentioned. Articles have already surfaced that cite a former Yankee trainer who has confirmed that Roger Clemens will appear in the report due to testimony given by the ex-employee. Herein lies one of the greatest flaws of this investigation, Clemens name will be run through the muck presumably without a failed drug test. I'm not suggesting he did not use performance enhancing substances (in fact, his body transformation would certainly provide evidence in support of these claims), but in the absence of a positive test result, the findings will have a lot of grey area. However, before getting to the more specific problems with this 20 month investigation, let's evaluate the man chosen to spearhead these efforts.

Senator Mitchell has been lauded for his superb congressional records and his knowledge of baseball certainly made him a prime candidate. But Mr. Selig, how do you possibly select a man with direct ties to an individual organization? Not only does he hold a cushy position with the Boston Red Sox, many reports suggest he is a passionate fan with strong allegiances to the ball club. I fancy myself as a man of integrity, but you better believe if I was running this thing that Derek Jeter's name would not appear on that list even if I had 10 failed drug tests in my pocket. For his sake, and the sake of the integrity of this report, there better be a fair representation of Red Sox on the list. Preliminary lists floating around the internet have pegged Jason Varitek, the Red Sox captain, as well as former Sox stars Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon. It is important to emphasize PRELIMINARY, and may not be accurate. If these hold to be true, it will give more credence to the report. However, Mitchell's ties to the Red Sox will be a tough obstacle to overcome. He's already come under fire for the announcement of Paul Byrd's abuse of hGh just prior to pitching a pivotal playoff game against the Sox. But since Selig decided to take the investigation out of "baseballs" hands and turn it over to "government", it is important to note how undemocratic this process appears to be.

First of all, where's the due process? Has every player whose been listed been notified and had a chance to plea their case before their names get sullied? What recourse will the players have to defend themselves? In the absence of a positive test, can MLB justify any suspensions or docking of pay? If this report is predicated on testimony from ex-trainers and clubhouse attendants, what if they just don't like someone in the clubhouse? Are these men of great character? Is a drug peddler like Kirk Radomski to be trusted? The findings of this report must be questioned and deemed credible beyond reasonable doubt.

The efforts of baseball to retroactively police themselves is shallow at best. It's still tough to rationalize this tremendous undertaking by Mitchell and his staff, especially given the lack of cooperation from players. Only one active player has testified before the committee, and it is widely believed he only spoke of his own drug habits. Despite one's personal feelings on steroid use, I personally despise it, it is unconscionable to hold people accountable for taking substances that weren't illegal in the sport until 2003. The executives at MLB just needed to give a "mea culpa", take all the heat for turning a blind eye to their sports perversions, and move on. Major League Baseball is flush with cash, generating over $6 billion in revenue. For them to try and become beacons of moral integrity to save face at this point is hypocritical at best, more appropriately depolorable. Let's just hope that no player is falsely accused because I sense a lot of counter-suits are in the making. Baseball should have just taken the money and run. By attempting to "take this issue head on", they will run in to a lot more problems than they can possibly solve. Bud Selig was hoping December 13, 2007 would read on baseball's epitaph as "The day the black cloud was lifted". It seems that the storm is just beginning.