The Mitchell Report Explodes

The George Mitchell Report was released today at a press conference in New York, and to say the least, it got the interest of anyone who cares about Major League Baseball. And it is being treated like an earthquake just rocked the sport.

The former senator from Maine was commissioned by MLB to investigate the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs that have proliferated in the sport over the past decade. The 304-page report named names. And their were some huge names mentioned.

Miguel Tejada, Eric Gagne, Brian Roberts and Paul LoDuca were among the biggest names mentioned, but the biggest were Yankee pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. Jason Giambi was the only active player who spoke with Mitchell and his investigators. The Mitchell investigators spoke at length with a former trainer, Brian McNamee, who worked with Clemens and Pettitte for many years. The information on Clemens sounds the most damning, and could well derail his chances for a first-ballot Hall of Fame election.

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

There were rumors that players like Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra were on it, but they were proved to be false Internet nonsense.

The Mitchell Commission based a lot of the report on the testimony of Kirk Radomski, a former Mets batboy and clubhouse attendant, who was caught trafficking in steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. It appears that he gave them a treasure trove of information. (It was also part of his plea bargain agreement that he name names to Mitchell.)

I haven't had a chance to read the full report, but I look forward to checking it out. Here is the complete report: http://files.mlb.com/mitchrpt.pdf

What will this mean for MLB and its fans? At this point, your guess is as good as mine. The sport needs to be cleaned up, and the report is a good first step. What will this mean to the players named by George Mitchell's report? Hard to say exactly, but they will surely have some kind of stigma attached to their careers, especially to the ones who are currently playing, and those who are big stars like Clemens and Tejada.

This just the beginning. It will be interesting to see if the report leads to any permanent changes. As a fan, I hope it brings more awareness to the scourge that is steroids.