Mitchell Report is Incomplete
Conflict of Interest Renders Mitchell Steroid Report Untrustworthy
The most interesting thing about Boston Red Sox director George Mitchell's report is the amount of Yankees names that appear, and the complete lack of Red Sox players.
George Mitchell, a member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Red Sox, released his Steroid Report on Thursday, December 13, 2007. Based largely on the uncorroborated testimony of two known criminals who were cooperating with Mitchell in exchange for lighter prison sentences for their own federal steroid cases, the report names some very interesting names.
Mitchell's Report May Be Tainted by A Conflict of Interest
First and foremost, George Mitchell had, and still has, a conflict of interest. As an executive of the Red Sox, his interests in making Boston a successful, profitable team are in direct conflict with his role of allegedly rooting out steroid users.
Many prominent people agree that Mitchell's conflict should have barred him from conducting the investigation. John Dowd, who investigated Pete Rose's gambling problems in the late 1980s, said: "Mitchell doesn't have a great track record with me. It doesn't look like he's independent."
Senator Jim Bunning, a Kentucky Republican and baseball Hall of Famer, echoed Dowd's concerns: "While George Mitchell is certainly a man of great integrity, I believe that baseball would have been wiser to pick someone who is not as close to the game and may be able to take a more objective look into the facts."
Mitchell's Steroid Report Is Based on Hearsay and Incomplete Evidence
The second problem with the Mitchell Report is that it is incomplete. He only spoke to two sources, each of whom gave him many names but could only produce corroborative evidence for less than half of them.
Even assuming that the two key witnesses -- Kirk Radomski and Bill McNamee -- were telling the truth, the report is still flawed because it is incomplete. Mitchell acknowledged at the December 13th press conference that his findings do not reflect all of the players who took performance-enhancing drugs. Nevertheless, Mitcheel decided to disclose the names of those players identified by Radomski and McNamee.
As a result, the players whose names appear in the Mitchell Report run the risk of being villified, and some may even find that the Hall of Fame doors are closed to them in the future. Yet, other players who took performance-enhancing drugs might just get away scot-free because Mitchell never came across their dealers. It's a very incomplete report. A first year law student could probably have it thrown out of evidence in a court room.
Oh, What the Hell -- Here are the Big Names
Even knowing all of this about the Mitchell Report, you still probably want to know whose names did appear within it. There were a total of almost 80 players named in the 409 page tome. Many of them were former MVPs and Cy Young award winners. Here are the most famous names on the list.
Barry Bonds: the 7-time MVP allegedly took steroids while with the San Francisco Giants.
Roger Clemens: the 7-time Cy Young Award winner allegedly took steroids while with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees.
Miguel Tejada: The Mitchell Report claims that the 2002 American League MVP took steroids while he was with the Oakland A's.
Jason Giambi: The 2000 AL MVP allegedly took steroids while he was with the Oakland A's and the Yankees.
Andy Pettitte: This 200-game winner is alleged in the Mitchell Report to have taken steroids while with the Yankees.
Eric Gagne: The 2003 NL Cy Young winner allegedly took the juice while he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Kevin Brown: Los Angeles Dodgers.
Mo Vaughn: This 1995 American League MVP is alleged to have taken steroids while he was with the California Angels, but not while he was with Boston. Curious.
Other Prominent Players on List
Mark McGwire: Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals superstar who hit 70 home runs in 1998 is named as a steroid abuser.
Gary Sheffield: New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers outfielder is named in the Mitchell Report.
Matt Williams: San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman. He's now retired, but Mitchell claims that Williams juiced in the late 1990s.
Jose Canseco: Oakland A's, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Devil Rays former superstar has admitted freely to his own steroid use.
Lenny Dykstra: Philadelphia Phillies outfielder alleged to have taken various performance-enahcning drugs in the mid-1990s.
Jeremy Giambi: Oakland Athletics player and Jason's brother has also admitted to taking the sauce.
Rafael Palmiero: Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles slugger who pointed his finger at Congress in 2005 and said: "I never took steroids," tested positive for Winstrol later that summer. That ended his career and destroyed his Hall of Fame chances.
Troy Glaus: 2002 World Series Most Valuable Player alleged to have taken steroids.
Noticeably absent from the list was Sammy Sosa, a player whom many believe took performance-enhancing drugs in the 1990s and early 2000s.
One has to wonder what other names were missing.
