Earlier this week, the Mitchell report was released and I believe that this is one of the biggest lies in American History since Nixon and his metaphorical clown-car of accomplices lied about their involvement in Watergate.
Here is a copy and a list of the players who were named http://assets.espn.go.com/media/pdf/071213/mitchell_report.pdf
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3153509
It is true that baseball has been declining steadily in popularity throughout the past 20-30 years but it still remains the "national pasttime" (although in my opinion that will switch over to football within the next 10-20 years).
What I find amazing about the Mitchell report is the lack of overwhelming evidence about the players and steroids that were named. There are cancelled checks and phone records but once again, like McGwire and Palmeiro's testimonies and Jose Canseco's Pulitzer Prize award-winning novel, it's mostly about the naming of people who Mitchell heard used steroids.
When discussing the Mitchell Report with my father, he found the report reminded him of "Tituba in Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible'" (Tituba was found "cavorting" in the woods but blamed an innocent woman of witchcraft instead).
I mean for most of the report we continue to hear the same names over and over again. With Barry Bonds was there any doubt in people's minds that he took perfomance-enhancing drugs at some point in his career? Here is a photo of when he played in Pittsburgh (http://www.bustedplay.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/bonds.jpg) and here is a photo of him last season in San Fran (http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41668000/jpg/_41668568_bonds416.jpg).
Either he really got into Hostess Snack Cakes with every meal or he went the opposite way of all the low-carb diets that exist today.
Jason Giambi: You're kidding right? George could you explain to me how you got an admitted steroid user on this list because the chances of him telling you that he used illegal substances is only a 100%.
Gary Sheffield? Was there any doubt that his roid-raged self accounted for all the terrible slandering he did against the evil Yankee dynasty and his bouts with beer-throwing fans?
The Rocket, Andy Pettite, Ken Caminiti, Rafael Palmeiro, Jason Grimsley, Mo Vaughn, Miguel Tejada and my least favorite player of all-time David Justice (who I will never forget for impeding with Orioles' catcher Chris Hoiles during a second play at the plate), these guys were always suspected and even caught using steroids so what new information is this?
What does surprise me is the naming of some tiny players who I could not imagine taking steroids. At one point three Baltimore Orioles in a row on the second page of ESPN's names: Brian Roberts, Larry Bigbie and Jack Cust. Roberts still looks like he could compete with my three younger sisters in a female beauty contest and yet not beat them in a three-round boxing match. Bigbie, despite being taller than me was a worse hitter and a weaker thrower than I was in high school. Cust, besides being a big lard who couldn't play the field was not a good enough hitter to find a spot in the Orioles power-deprived lineup.
Add in skinny players like Jerry Hairston Jr. and National's outfielder Nook Logan and you have to question whether these accusations are true or just rumors from the trainers and players who Mitchell received his information from.
Another interesting tidbit of information is that 7 MVPs and 31 All-Stars were named in the report which again brings up the discussion of tainting statistics. Should Bonds be the all-time Homerun leader? Should Clemens or Palmeiro make it into the Hall of Fame with tainted records? What happened to the Gehrigs and the Ripkens? Where is the good that once dominated baseball and made it the ideal sport for young boys in America?
A name not found on the list was Alex Rodriguez, who, despite being a Yankee and therefore a despicable human being in my mind, just signed another mammoth-sized contract. Did the Yankees know some of their big names were being outed? Did they want A-Rod to be another untainted face of the Yankees alongside Derek Jeter?
Is this also why players like Paul Lo Duca and Eric Gagne took less-than-stellar deals to play for sub-par teams? I mean who would actually try to be a Washington National these days (except for the prospect of playing on that brand-new field)?
When I was around 6-7 years old I remember playing organized baseball for the first time and getting hit in the nose after a ball rolled up my glove and arm and into my face. I will never forget that while sitting there, nose bleeding onto my shirt, that this was a fantastic game. With all of these problems facing baseball, there are no longer any similarities to the game that I fell in love with.
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2 comments:
Kyle,
Congrats on the new blog. It's very exciting, and I promise to be a loyal reader. Like any good blog, yours will be a platform for a back-and-forth with your readers. Allow me to take the first swing...
Pretty harsh on Our Game there Chief. Let's not forget the abundance of felons in the NFL and NBA. Let's not forget that Hockey has become a punch line to a bad joke. Soccer is still soccer.
One thing we all need to realize is how much these PEs were woven into the fabric of the game for the past 20 years. They were/are used by the Roberts, the Bigbies and the Custs. Most often they were used by people trying to keep their jobs and stay in the lineup, not by those chasing the records. Minor Leaguers are just as guilty as Major Leaguers. Before it's all said and done I think we'll find out that it's no-name relief pitchers who used PEs most frequently, not sluggers - although sluggers certainly did their share.
It's still a great game and it always will be. While more "fans" (voiced and un-voiced) disapprove of the current state of the game and its players, the game has never been so popular. Football gets the biggest ratings, basketball gets the best young athletes, soccer still gets you the ladies (someone needs to explain this to me at least twice a year). But Baseball will continue to be Our Game, The National Pastime, until such a title is no longer needed/relevant. Football does not and will never mean as much to American sports as Baseball, no matter how many people glue themselves to the TV set with a bowl of guac and a Boggs on Sunday afternoon.
What actually makes baseball great is what makes America great. Baseball has forever been stained by the ugliness of human behavior, as has our country. From General Custer to the Black Sox; from slavery to Ty Cobb; from Senator McCarthy to the indecency with which early black players were treated; from Watergate (to use your example) to Mantle's premature exit due to hard-living; from the Blue Dress to Sammy's corked bat; from GWB and Iraq to steroids: America and Baseball have never been clean. Both have always been great not in spite of their faults, but because of their richness. Their glory and their shame. Their heroes and their goats. For every Gehrig and Ripken there have always been a Cobb and a Bonds. There will always be cheaters. Pitchers doctor the baseball, entire teams conspire to throw a championship, hundreds of players inject drugs into their bodies to simply stay relevant. This is not new. It was there from the beginning, it was there the day that hard grounder bloodied your nose, and it'll be there 50 years from now when you watch your grandson take one off his shin. Baseball reflects the best and the worst in us. The reason why football and basketball will never be anybody's pastime is because there's no metaphor with those sports. The reason why the Mitchell Report hurts is because we CARE. It's still the same game you fell in love with. You're just now getting the whole story.
I love you, bro. Keep writing. Next time I'll keep it brief.
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