Punishment For Using Steroids In Baseball? None!

Former United States Senator George Mitchell, despite his storied past as a worker for peace and justice throughout the world, lowered himself by accepting from Major League Baseball the job of investigating the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone by baseball players.

Mitchell was the perfect person for the job, because as a politician he was sure to issue a report that admitted wrong but insisted that nobody be punished, hearkening back to the famous line by Richard Nixon about taking "all the blame and none of the responsibility."

All the exposed players have publicists who know how to manipulate the press, so there will be no admissions of guilt, and the last thing you will hear is adamant denial never followed-up with sworn testimony or recrimination.

Using steroids or any performance-enhancing substance is cheating.

Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades -- commissioners, club officials, the players' association and players -- shares to some extent the responsibility for the Steroids Era. There was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and to deal with it early on."

The media, critics and fans knew all along that there was a problem, but the owners turned a blind-eye to avoid the unpleasant truth (and consequences) and the players' union covered-up to protect its dues-paying members.

Almost one hundred players have been implicated in cheating.

Commissioner Bud Selig said "[Mitchell's] report is a call to action, and I will act."

Unfortunately, Mitchell says there should be no sanctions against offending players because the goal of his investigation was "to bring to a close this troubling chapter in baseball history and to use the lessons learned from the past to" eliminate the use of banned substances.

So, there will no punishment for the cheaters. They will all be allowed to cheat. Nice professional sport you've got there! Major League Baseball now ranks right behind the World Wrestling Federation in the list of professional entertainment organizations displaying sincerity and integrity.

What's most embarrassing about this is not that baseball is turning away from its responsibilities to clean-up its sport and punish the criminals and cheaters it has pegged for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame (Roger Clemens, et al.), but that Americans will continue to watch baseball and pay ridiculously high ticket prices to watch these losers cheat.

From what I can tell, there has not been an honest game of baseball in twenty years.

American consumers have to be the stupidest in the world. They will buy any lie you want to package them, and if it is wrapped in faux-patriotism, you can charge an extra premium.

If no action is to be taken against the cheating players, I hope that Joe Jackson, Pete Rose, and Orlando Cepeda (all deserving honorees) will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, because like baseball players and owners today, they have learned their lessons.

The List of New Players Accused of Using Banned Substances

Chad Allen
Mike Bell
Gary Bennett
Larry Bigbie
Kevin Brown
Alex Cabrera
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Chris Donnels
Matt Franco
Eric Gagne
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Todd Hundley
Mike Judd
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
Daniel Naulty
Denny Neagle
Jim Parque
Luis Perez
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Armando Rios
Brian Roberts
F.P. Santangelo
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Ismael Valdez
Mo Vaughn
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Jeff Williams
Todd Williams
Steve Woodard
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

Previously Linked to Use of Banned Substances

Manny Alexander
Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Ricky Bones
Paul Byrd
Ken Caminiti
Jose Canseco
Paxton Crawford
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Ryan Franklin
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Juan Gonzalez
Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Darren Holmes
Ryan Jorgensen
Wally Joyner
Gary Matthews Jr.
Rafael Palmeiro
John Rocker
Benito Santiago
Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Gary Sheffield
Derrick Turnbow
Randy Velarde
Matt Williams

Major League Baseball is a joke. A bad joke.



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