MLB's steroids era

So, the Mitchell report on steroid use in Major League Baseball is out ... now baseball fans need to figure out what to make of it. If you want to read all 417 pages of the report, you can view it here.

The numbers are staggering: 88 players named in the report, 62 of which were named by one former NY Mets clubhouse attendant; of those on the list, 32 players were active in 2007; 32 players on the list are All-Stars; 29 are pitchers; 16 players bought steroids even after the Feds raided offices in Florida and New York, and nine of the players were named in the BALCO investigation. Amazing.

If you're following this story at all, then you doubt have seen the media frenzy about those players listed in the report as steroid users, two of the biggest names being NY Yankees' pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

Before I go any further, I should note that espn.com's Jayson Stark wrote an excellent piece that puts the report and its conclusions in perspective when he says that many of the allegations against the players are based on circumstantial evidence, especially the "evidence" against Clemens.

Even before I read Stark's piece this morning, I was thinking about this report while driving into work and I wondered what evidence exactly Mitchell and his investigators dug up when compiling their list. After reading more about the report this morning, it appears that at least some of his information is based on circumstantial evidence. Hoo boy.

Look, I'm not naive enough to think MLB players didn't "juice" in the past, there's written evidence in the form of orders and canceled checks to show that players did try to gain an advantage through steroids. And, frankly, I'm not the biggest fan of Roger Clemens, either. I admire his accomplishments as a pitcher and I don't think this report should in any way impact his chances of getting into the MLB Hall of Fame ... I just wish he conducted himself differently and didn't act like a prima donna. I mean, demanding a huge contract for only a few months work?!? He didn't even play a full season last year ... c'mon!

All that being said, I wonder how MLB is going to move on from this. In his press conference yesterday, MLB Comish Bud Selig said they are going to deal with punishing active players "on a case-by-case basis." What?!? Seriously, MLB isn't going to have a uniform way of dealing with players? Yeah, that'll work. You can just hear Major League Baseball Players Association union chief Donald Fehr lining up his lawyers from here. If Selig, et. al., really do go through with their "case-by-case" plan, this is going to get a lot worse before it even begins to get better.

The question is, will it ever get better? Clemens is already vehemently denying the charges, and why shouldn't he? Even if he is found to not have actually juiced at all, will anyone look at him or his accomplishments the same way? If he does get a plaque in Cooperstown, will any true fan ever be able to look at it the same way they would have had Clemens not been accused of using steroids?

And, my feelings about the NY Yankees aside, can you really look at their streak of World Series titles in the late 1990s in the same way? If you look at the list, you'll see it includes 22 current or former Yankees. Wow. Should those WS titles have an asterisk next to them? I don't think so ... too many other players were juicing during that time in baseball, so why should the Yankees be singled out?

Still, it's amazing that that many players were named from one organization. Does that mean that the NY Yankees as an organization sanctioned and/or condoned using steriods? Who knows.

And, of course, there are those on message boards (especially in NY markets) howling that there is a notable lack of Red Sox players named in the report and that Mitchell sits on the Red Sox Board of Directors. Coincidence? Well, take this for what it's worth because I'm a card-carrying member of Red Sox Nation, but I really don't think there's a link ... I think it would be incredibly stupid of Mitchell to leave Red Sox players out of his report because of his affiliation with the team. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but that's my opinion.

And it's not as if the Red Sox aren't represented in the list, there are former Red Sox players named, too ... most notably Mo Vaughn and, of course, Clemens (Vaughn alledgedly took steriods when he was with the Mets).

It's going to be an interesting remainder of the off season and I think we're going to hear about this report for a very long time. MLB baseball, "the national pastime" ...

Good lord, what a mess.