Chuck Knoblauch: 98 Career HR*

I am SO about to start this petition to get Chuck Knoblauch’s 98th home run branded with an asterisk.

Honestly though,  if someone gave me $20 million dollars, I’d like to think I could find a more constructive use than the Mitchell report.

Thursday afternoon in a New York City hotel ballroom, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, dropped baseball’s “bombshell”, The Mitchell report. This was baseball’s “report to rule them all” — (c) Lord of the Rings. Mitchell’s report documented 86 different baseball players (to differing degrees) usage of illegal drugs. Some of the old school names in the report? Chuck Knoblauch, Mo Vaughn, Lenny Dykstra…Some of the big names in the report? Miguel Tejada, Eric Gagne, Brian Roberts, Andy Pettitte, and of course, Roger Clemens.

Impressed? Eh, not so much. For starters, baseball spent $20 million dollars so that Mitchell could (re)read Game of Shadows, Juiced (poor Canseco…they wouldn’t even let him in the press conference!), look at some before and after pictures of Roger Clemens, read some BALCO transcripts, and talk to two guys, Brian McNamee; a personal trainer who told federal authorities that he personally provided Pettitte and Clemens with steriods and Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse employee turned steroid dealer whose indictment and guilty plea on federal drug distribution charges last spring supplied key information in the Mitchell report. Now, don’t get me wrong…I am more cynical than 99% of the people that are reading this, but doesn’t it make sense to get a little more…how do you say…EVIDENCE, before you just throw peoples names out like that? You can’t go into court and use, what seems to be hearsay, in most of these cases, and get a court conviction. Yet Mitchell threw these names out to the public, essentially, and possibly unnecessarily putting everyone on trial in the court of public opinion.

And what of the man who was clamoring for this report more than anyone else? Bud Selig (“The Savior”)? Well, for starters, he hasn’t really gotten around to reading this whole “Mitchell Report” thing that the kids are talking about. Although he hasn’t read the whole thing, The Savior is already promising swift and quick retribution,

Selig responded several hours later by strapping a rocket launcher to his shoulder and firing away at Mitchell’s recommendation relative to sanctions. Selig said he would review the revelations on a “case-by-case” basis. “So if action is needed, action will be taken,” Selig said in a respectful but almost defiant manner.

How can you not love Bud Selig? He let the “steroid era” get into a full swing when baseball needed a boost (hello 1994 strike), and now he wants to act like he not only knew nothing about the use of steroids (McGuire-Sosa Home run chase, anyone?), but that only he alone can save baseball. But Bud is missing the whole point…and $20 million dollars. This report was doomed from the start. The steroids era is still too recent, and players, and baseball insiders (except for Canseco and Grimsley) are still unwilling to rat out their baseball brethren. The big names that are mentioned in the report are only there because you ended up with two willing (at least begrudgingly) participants. This report is so far from being comprehensive its not even funny. As Jayson Stark reports,

Even Mitchell concedes himself, early on, that the use of illegal substances was “not limited” to just these names. Hey, ya think?

In fact, according to Sean Forman, of baseball-reference.com’s amazing play index, 5,148 players have made it into at least one major league box score since 1985, the year Radomski went to work for the Mets.

So that means that precisely 1.67 percent of them made it into this report. Shockingly exclusive group, wouldn’t you say?

Bud Selig just paid $20 million for a semi-comprehensive report on whether or not steroids had invaded baseball when he already knew the answer because he was letting steroids into the game more than a decade ago…and now he’s going to “take credit” for cleaning up the game.

So what does baseball do now? Is Clemens shot at the Hall of Fame in jeopardy? Will Kevin Young have to pay back some of that undeservedly large contract he signed with the Pirates in 1999? Will Matt Williams ever grow any hair on his head again? Only time will tell the answer to any of these questions. The only thing I can definitively tell you is that baseball players aren’t exactly the most “internet-savvy” bunch (at least Michael Vick used the Ron Mexico alias…step it up guys).

Newsday: Canseco surprised A-Rod is not on Mitchell’s list

ESPN: McNamee takes center stage with bombshells about Clemens

ESPN: Mitchell report has flaws, but MLB, players need to pay attention

ESPN: Many legacies will be tarnished forever

Deadspin: The Official List: The Complete List of Players Mentioned in the Mitchell Report

Related:

Sports Business Digest: Defining this sports age in one word…Cheaters.

Sports Business Digest: Steroids vs. Everything Else