Sports Blog @ Sports-Shop.com

By: Jim Vassallo

So, in case everyone lives under a rock, the Mitchell report on steroid use in baseball is due out tomorrow around 2p.m. The league has already reviewed a copy of the report but Commissioner Allen H. (Bud) Selig will not be in attendance for Mitchell’s press conference.

The list, which has been compiled based on the results of an investigation headed by former Senate majority leader, George Mitchell, includes 60-80 names of former and current players who have used steroids. This list could damage not only the reputation of former players but could also destroy the image and reputation of current ones.

The big question surrounding this report is whether or not Selig and his discipline committee will offer up any suspensions or life-time bans for steroid use stemming from Mitchell’s assessment. One problem with this report is that it is based on an investigation of drug companies and former player’s testimonies. It remains to be seen how many of the names on this list have actually tested positive for HGH or any other banned substance in MLB. In my opinion, the only way Selig could suspend active players would be if they had previously tested positive for steroid use.

The press conference, which will be aired on ESPN and ESPNnews, will be followed by a press conference from Selig two and a half hours later. SportsCenter will also have special coverage of the day’s events from 1p.m. to 6p.m.

The release of this report comes only days from one of the biggest holiday seasons of the year. It is interesting to see how many players’ holiday plans will be affected by this document or if they could really even care less. Mitchell’s report, once released, will not even come close to resolving the problem that is steroid use in baseball. It might not even help to weed out the major contributors who supply the drugs to the players. But this could be completely wrong.

Let’s not forget what it was that grabbed America’s attention in the summer and fall of 1998. It was the home-run race between Mark McGwire of the Cardinals and Sammy Sosa of the Cubs. When those two began to inch closer and closer to former Yankee Roger Maris’ all-time record of dingers in a season, the nation and the world paid close attention to every pitch of every at-bat they had.

That summer, MLB experienced fandom that it hadn’t seen since before the player strike in 1994. Fans were finally back into baseball. They were finally believing again in America’s past-time. Who had any reason to doubt that the sport was not back to being one of the nation’s most loved.

Well, the Mitchell report might just drop baseball back down to where it once was before that magical 1998 season. If it does so, it might take the league a lot longer to regroup and regain the trust of its fan-base.

One question fans will be asking themselves come 4p.m. Thursday is where does this list end? Were there players left off of the list for unknown reason? What kind of repercussions will these players face from the league?

The Mitchell report will send shock waves throughout MLB and it might not be the end of name dropping as we know it in the sport.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 1:49 am and is filed under , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.