19 Comments

• 1. Thrower  |  December 14th, 2007 at 2:39 am

  I’m sure there are legal remedies available to players who have been slandered. Let’s see who steps up to exercise them. The guys that I feel sorry for are those who had to take the juice to compete with those who elected to cheat in order to gain a competitive advantage.

• 2. Huck Fillary  |  December 14th, 2007 at 5:37 am

  The guys that I feel sorry for are those who had to take the juice to compete with those who elected to cheat…

  Typical libgressive rhetoric. Those “victims” chose to juice-up.

  Mark, I hardly think it was necessary, at this point, to name names. Especially those of the players who have recently died.

  But, George Mitchell is one of those do-gooder libs, and he needed to “make a difference.” He made a difference, but what will the outcome of his report? I think MLB is in for some turmoil.

• 3. OhioOrrin  |  December 14th, 2007 at 7:13 am

  “Can you name one person you know who stopped watching games, who refused to share a moment at the ballpark with a family member, because some players used steroids?”

  http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1694552,00.html?xid=site-cnn-partner

• 4. OhioOrrin  |  December 14th, 2007 at 7:17 am

  also, where’s the management/ownership list?

  u know, the “professionals” who knew, or reasonably should have known, that players were juiced?

  the “professionals” who EMPLOYED folks who distributed steroids/HGH?

• 5. Rana Quijotesca  |  December 14th, 2007 at 7:24 am

  Mark, I don’t share your sympathy. These people not only gave themselves an unfair advantage just to make a few more million (which isn’t that much for some of these goons), they soiled the reputation of America’s Past Time… They deserve to be humiliated in the public square…

  And Thrower… Slander is spoken; libel is its written counterpart. Not only is it required that the information is false for it to be libel, it is required that the accused knowingly and with malice distributed that information.

• 6. Don Dudley  |  December 14th, 2007 at 7:32 am

  I think the entire steriod commission was a waste of time. I have not been following it as closely as I could as well. I do have a question, under what authority was congress investigating this issue. What law did they attemtp to see if was broken. I am not talking about MLB league ban. What federal law?

  If there is a federal law banning the use of these steroids for all purposes then my comment is why congress and not the US Attorney’s office. And if no law, why use tax payer resources for something that the average tax payer probably does not want examination by the government.

• 7. Don Dudley  |  December 14th, 2007 at 7:35 am

  Oh, Rana, I believe that libel and slander does not require malicious intent for the average person and only for the perosn in the public eye. While baseball players may not be your typical average guy, they may not fall into the catergory of say Paris Hilton or Ted Kennedy for libel/slander law suits. However, there might be governmental immunity for the persons that issued the report.

• 8. neocon  |  December 14th, 2007 at 8:15 am

  How many remember the following?

  >>>>>The White House weighed in on the baseball steroids scandal Wednesday, with spokesman Scott McClellan saying President Bush believed Major League Baseball management and the players’ union should take “strong steps” to help rid the game of illegal performance enhancers. -
  Thursday, December 9, 2004<<<<<<

  And everybody ridiculed Bush for interfering.

• 9. plainjane  |  December 14th, 2007 at 8:32 am

  I like George Mitchell. What he accomplished in Northern Ireland was nothing short of a miracle. But an internal investigation of millionaires investigating millionaires is pure bunk. If it were not for so many young people looking up at their baseball heroes and trying to mimic them and many athletes caught in a steroid rage beating their spouses, I would say who cares in this latest dog and pony show.

  Steroid use is illegal in society and Mitchell says no one should be punished. I scratch my head at that one. Are baseball players not part of society?

• 10. Bigfoot  |  December 14th, 2007 at 9:23 am

  I think it grossly unfair that people have their names included in this report - its not like a trial was held.

  I don’t think you need a have a trial before you can reveal the names of the alleged perpetrators. On the other hand, I’d like to know how much evidence there is against each respective player, so we can evaluate how much each deserves to be named. Have steroids turned up in someone’s tested urine? If so, when and how often? Have hypodermic syringes been found with someone’s fingerprints? Paper documents such as sales receipts? Or is there nothing more than someone’s verbal accusation?

  One other thing I learned watching ESPN is that the investigation also included HGH, which I believe is human growth hormone. While steroids are detectable in urine tests, HGH is not, or so it was reported.

• 11. OhioOrrin  |  December 14th, 2007 at 10:30 am

  Bigfoot - MLB has suspended players for “non-analytical” violations like cancelled checks to BALCO.

• 12. eric  |  December 14th, 2007 at 11:31 am

  I just finished a quick read of the Mitchell report. It is pretty interesting. Appended to the end of the report are nearly thirty pages showing copies of checks that various ballplayers paid to Kirk Radomski (the drug supplier). These guys were illegally purchasing drugs and paying with personal checks.

  I am glad the report listed names. Baseball has been dirty for years and hopefully, this investigation will serve as a deterrent against future use of performance enhancing drugs.

  Also, I want to point out that this was not an investigation by Congress that was paid for with our tax dollars. Mr. Mitchell is the chairman of the law firm DLA Piper. He is no longer a Senator. The investigation cost about $20 million and was paid for by the MLB team owners.

• 13. Mark Noonan  |  December 14th, 2007 at 11:58 am

  eric,

  My problem is that a player could be named in the report without, apparantly, any ability to cross-examine the accusation…in other words, its a kangaroo court, and if there are players listed who are innocent, it doesn’t matter in the slightest at this point - they are forever tarred, their names disgraced. You just don’t do that to a person without a trial. Period.

• 14. eric  |  December 14th, 2007 at 12:07 pm

  Mark,
  I understand your point, but these are only allegations. MLB is going to investigate the particular allegations and either confirm or clear those players names. Have you read the report? It is necessary to list the players involved in the scandal in order to show how rampant the problem existed in MLB.

  If my name was on the list and I had never taken performance enhancing drugs, my defamation lawsuit would be on file Monday morning. As a former Senator and chairman of a law firm as large as DLA Piper, Mr. Mitchell surely has deep pockets.

• 15. Ricorun  |  December 14th, 2007 at 12:15 pm

  Mark: You just don’t do that to a person without a trial. Period.

  Given that sentiment, how do you rationalize participating in tarring politicians on the basis of allegations? At best it would seem to require a certain amount of moral gymnastics.

• 16. FoolYouTwice  |  December 14th, 2007 at 2:25 pm

  Exactly Ricorun. Mark wants to make a living doing the very same thing he criticizes in this post.

  From what I understand all of the players had an opportunity to comment on the allegations in the report, but only two players talked with Mitchell or anyone involved.

  The report also cleary states where the evidence for mentioning a player comes from and whether that evidence goes to show the player used steroids or HGH or whether there are documents linking them to the purchase of these items.

  But I do wonder, have you read the report Mark?

• 17. Joe  |  December 14th, 2007 at 4:49 pm

  All I have to say is… Rich Garces???? He should get his money back. They gave him donuts instead of steroids!!!

  ok… one more thing.
  To be fair, I was pissed that the Repubs held hearings on baseball and football issues a year or two ago. I am equally pissed that the Dems are wasting time on this as well.

• 18. SteaM  |  December 14th, 2007 at 5:02 pm

  if there are players listed who are innocent, it doesn’t matter in the slightest at this point - they are forever tarred, their names disgraced. You just don’t do that to a person without a trial. Period.

  Unless they are people from the middle east, right guys!?

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