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Report Depicts the Magnitude of Doping in Baseball
December 14, 2007 07:15 PM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell releases the findings of a 20-month investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs; some commentators remain skeptical about the inquiry's methodology.
30-Second Summary
On Dec. 13, 2007, Mitchell released a detailed 409-page report identifying 86 professional baseball players as having used performance-enhancing drugs.
The former senator blames “everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades” for condoning what he calls “baseball’s steroids era.” He charges owners with being preoccupied by “economic issues,” and writes that Selig and the players’ union looked the other way as drug use became “widespread.”
Despite the report’s league-wide censures, much of the media attention has focused on the roster of athletes it presents.
Among the most well-known players are Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettitte, David Justice and Roger Clemens.
Justice has vehemently denied the allegations, and Clemens’ lawyer told reporters that the charges amounted to “slander” because they lack “tangible evidence.”
Similar questions about the relevancy of the report’s evidence have already emerged in the press.
According to ESPN writer Jayson Stark, “Two attorneys who were surveyed Thursday, both of whom now work in the sports world, say they're extremely dubious that the allegations against Clemens would hold up in court. Not even in a civil case.”
Legal action of that order appears unlikely, because the reports advises Selig to grant most of the players it identifies amnesty. Nonetheless, the Commissioner said he has yet to decide whether suspensions should be imposed.
It remains unclear what, if any, effect this ordeal will have on professional baseball in the future, but the affair has succeeded in putting pressure on the league to act. As Selig himself said, “I have to do something … And I think the sport will be better off.”
The former senator blames “everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades” for condoning what he calls “baseball’s steroids era.” He charges owners with being preoccupied by “economic issues,” and writes that Selig and the players’ union looked the other way as drug use became “widespread.”
Despite the report’s league-wide censures, much of the media attention has focused on the roster of athletes it presents.
Among the most well-known players are Miguel Tejada, Andy Pettitte, David Justice and Roger Clemens.
Justice has vehemently denied the allegations, and Clemens’ lawyer told reporters that the charges amounted to “slander” because they lack “tangible evidence.”
Similar questions about the relevancy of the report’s evidence have already emerged in the press.
According to ESPN writer Jayson Stark, “Two attorneys who were surveyed Thursday, both of whom now work in the sports world, say they're extremely dubious that the allegations against Clemens would hold up in court. Not even in a civil case.”
Legal action of that order appears unlikely, because the reports advises Selig to grant most of the players it identifies amnesty. Nonetheless, the Commissioner said he has yet to decide whether suspensions should be imposed.
It remains unclear what, if any, effect this ordeal will have on professional baseball in the future, but the affair has succeeded in putting pressure on the league to act. As Selig himself said, “I have to do something … And I think the sport will be better off.”
Headline Links: The Mitchell Report
The report was based on interviews with more than 700 people and thousands of pages of documents. It also contained 20 recommendations for curbing the use of performance-enhancing drugs in MLB. These suggestions fall under four categories: better drug testing, other forms of investigation, education and treatment.
Source: ESPN
Analysis: Parsing the report
Sports blog Deadspin highlights the report’s more shocking revelations, focusing on a section involving the complicity of MLB Medical Director Dr. Robert Millman: “Essentially, Dr. Robert Millman … told a doctor who had criticized Mark McGwire's use of andro that ‘everyone in baseball is irritated with you’ and ‘if you don't shut up, they're going to sue you.’”
Source: Deadspin
The New York Post examines what the report says about Barry Bounds, discovering that he received advanced warning of two drug tests in 2003 from personal trainer Greg Anderson. Mitchell’s report also reveals that Bonds admitted to Giants owner Peter Magowan that he had taken steroids, but claimed not to know what they were at the time he used them.
Source: New York Post
SportingNews.com’s Mitchell Report Blog provides a team-by-team rundown of the players named by the report with links to player responses.
Source: SportingNews.com’s Mitchell Report Blog
Background: BALCO and beyond
The doping saga now known as the BALCO scandal was first uncovered in 2003 and included leaked grand jury testimony about steroid use from some of the biggest names in baseball, including Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi. BALCO is the acronym for the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, a company whose official business was blood and urine analysis and food supplements.
Source: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Steroid use has loomed over Major League Baseball since the 1990s. In a special report titled “Who Knew?” ESPN Magazine examines the spread and decline of baseball’s doping epidemic by taking a close look at how the practice made its way into clubhouses across the country.
Source: ESPN Magazine
Reactions: Canseco looks for A-Rod, Justice denies allegations and Clemens’ lawyer cries foul
Jose Canseco, whose name appears 105 times in the report, told Fox Business Network that he was surprised that New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez was not mentioned by Mitchell: “All I can say is the Mitchell Report is incomplete. I could not believe that his name was not in the report.”
Source: New York Post
David Justice has denied the doping charges leveled against him by the report, telling ESPN Radio’s Colin Cowherd that despite Mitchell’s findings he never used steroids or HGH. Justice also spoke out about the allegations against Roger Clemens: “I've never seen Roger do anything nor have I ever had a conversation with him [about steroids] … He should be doing what I'm doing. He should be talking about it. If you really didn't do it, say something about it. At least have a conversation about it.”
Source: ESPN
Rusty Hardin, the lawyer for Roger Clemens, criticized the doping allegations made against Clemens, saying that Mitchell “has thrown a skunk into the jury box, and we will never be able to remove that smell … There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances, and yet he is being slandered today.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal Law Blog
Opinion: The report’s shortcomings
ESPN’s Howard Bryant posits that Mitchell’s investigation may have been hampered by a number of methodological problems: “As ESPN.com spoke with baseball people interviewed during the investigation, a common theme emerged: Investigators, while generally cordial, often revealed an alarming lack of knowledge regarding the day-to-day workings of baseball. Instead of focusing on the elements of the game that might make drug use appealing, investigators asked surface-level questions such as which players suffer from back acne and who underwent the most dramatic body changes.” The article goes on to outline further reasons for skepticism.
Source: ESPN
Sports law writer Michael McCann considers whether Mitchell’s directorial position with the Boston Red Sox conflicted with his role in the investigation: “Mitchell has reportedly removed himself from any active involvement with the Red Sox. It has also been reported, however, that he will return to a paid, active advisory role with the team soon after the report is issued. On one hand, Mitchell would seem to have an incentive to refrain from naming any star Red Sox players, particularly those who contributed to the team's World Series victories in 2004 and '07. On the other hand, Mitchell has been entrusted by U.S. presidents and world leaders to negotiate some of the most important peace deals in the 20th century. It seems unlikely he would endanger his extraordinary reputation in order to protect a few baseball players.”
Source: Sports Illustrated
Jayson Stark reflects on the report's likely effect on the reputations of those named, especially considering the nature of Mitchell’s evidence. “Is there any doubt that 99 percent of all Americans already regard George Mitchell's conclusions about [Roger Clemens] as immutable fact, without even examining them closely?" Stark writes. "You probably don't even care that the evidence is more tenuous than you'd think. You probably don't even care that two attorneys who were surveyed Thursday, both of whom now work in the sports world, say they're extremely dubious that the allegations against Clemens would hold up in court. Not even in a civil case.”
Source: ESPN
‘Doping Experts Say Solutions Still May Fall Short’
Although Mitchell’s report provided 20 suggestions for improving professional baseball’s drug testing system, Chief Executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Travis Tygart told The Washington Post that he has his doubts about their efficacy: “Given the history . . . any reasonable person would be skeptical.” Even if Mitchell’s suggestions were applied in their entirety, the Post writes that baseball’s program “could still fall short of international standards … Nearly every major sports federation in the world outside of the four U.S. professional sports leagues has signed on to [the World Anti-Doping Agency’s] anti-doping code.”
Source: The Washington Post
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