The Mitchell Report

Since the Mitchell Report will undoubtedly be available in print form soon, I’m getting a jump. There will be thousands of words devoted to how the fans were betrayed, how the statistics are meaningless, how the players are shams. I’m not going to pipe in on that. To paraphrase the late philosopher, Tug McGraw, 500 years from now, no one will really care anyway.

Nevertheless, this is turning into one of those issues where writers (i.e., ones who normally do not cover sports) of all stripes will report and opine. Here’s one from an unlikely source, The Huffington Report, by Gary R. Gaffney on whether the investigation will create a “Paradigm Shift in MLB Culture.

Defining the problems illegal widespread PED use generated for baseball, will be predictable. Anyone paying attention the past several years to steroid stories in the local sports pages, to Sports Illustrated or ESPN special reports on PEDs, or to the San Francisco Chronicle’s investigative pieces on the developing steroid-dealing BALCO scandal, can outline a general history of steroid use in baseball. Most fans can complete a rudimentary ‘Who’s Who’ of diamond juicers. Nonetheless, the remedy for the PED malady will be more important than names and dates.

Juiced players names will hit the headlines, as discussions will revolve around enlarged biceps, increased skull circumferences, milestone-record asterisks, the high monetary stakes involved in player performance, and Hall of Fame eligibility for dopers. A few players may receive a slap on the syringe. However, monitoring, deterrence, and culture change should be the defining and lasting legacy from Mitchell’s effort. This complex challenge — how to implement changes in a corrupt culture — should determine whether the Mitchell Report simply recounts history, or whether the effort initiates a major paradigm change in the drug-cheating MLB culture.

Here’s another piece from The New York Times. That should suffice for now.

Stay tuned. It can’t be too long until a full-fledged book arrives at a store near you.