The Dreaded Report

George Mitchell to present findings

Conference marks end of 20-month search

As Buster Olney explained in his blog, the Mitchell report to be released today(Thursday) will reveal the names of 50-80 MLB players who've used steroids.

Olney also brought up the point that

during the league's 2003 survey testing,

over 100 players tested positive. He

also explained that the generation of

up to 80 names in 20 months of inves-

tigation is only "the tip of the iceberg."

Today could be one of the darkest

hours in baseball history. The list is

said (by the Associated Press) that the

list will include MVPs, All-Stars and

some "very, very high-level names."

None of the names have surfaced in

headlines.

One of the critical aspects of the

investigation were the cooperation

of former Mets' batboy Kirk Radom-

ski. Radomski also served as club-

house attendant for the Mets from

1985-95. Part of his cooperation

deal was to work with Mitchell.

What does it mean for the fans

of baseball? To put it lightly, it is

a disaster.

There will be big names in the re-

port. The fans will get justice from

the report as well, they will get

the answers they've been deman-

ding since the beginning of the

Steroid era.

Baseball fans owe a tremendous

amount of gratitude to George Mi-

tchell for his multi-million dollar,

twenty-month investigation. The

humiliation of the players named

in the report will be satisfying.

It is unfortunate that any player

would decline to the level of
using steroids.

It is also unfortunate that

baseball will have to go through

this procedure. But, it will also

mean that baseball will be clean,

again. If not immediately, it will

mark the end of dirty baseball.

That's hopeful thinking. Alas, the

ideals of playing a game purely

with given talent and skill are in

the past.

As the conference unfolds, I'm

hoping that MLB Commissioner

Bud Selig can consider booting

players out of the league after

a one time offense.