The Mitchell Report

So, the long-anticipated Mitchell report came out today. As promised, it implicated many many major league players as having bought or used steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs. ESPN was kind enough to post a .pdf version of the report here. For an easily formatted list of players it mentions, click here.

I've decided to read the 400 page report. Luckily, there is enough material in footnotes that it is a fairly quick read. I'm about halfway through already.

What I've learned so far:
1. Steroids was a big problem in baseball (duh)
2. It is no longer as big a problem, now that there is testing and severe penalties (duh)
3. Human Growth Hormone is now the drug of choice, since there is no urine test for it
4. The MLBPA is about as crooked as a union could be. If the Mitchell report had been a government sanctioned investigation with subpoena powers, we would know even more. Except that MLBPA would have fought every subpoena and the investigation would be another 5 years from being released.
5. Tony LaRussa is a dill weed. I never liked him before, especially after his DUI, but he is just a weasel. If I get more ambitious, I'll detail why i dislike him so much in a future post.

So, here is my dilemma. I love baseball. However, the Mitchell Report has given me even more disdain for what has been happening in baseball for the last 20 years or so. I'm more disgusted now than I was after the 1994-1995 lockout. And until there is a good, transparent testing system in place that includes HGH testing, I'll have no confidence in the game being clean.

I will defer my final judgement until I finish the Mitchell Report. However, it's a bad day to be a baseball fan.