Well the Mitchell report on drug abuse in baseball has been released and it isn't good news for the sport. The reports cites rampant abuse of performance enhancing drugs in the 90s and the 00s including steroids, human growth hormone and more exotic substances.
What may be the most interesting thing to see play itself out, after the brutal condemnation of Barry Bonds, is how the baseball community and America as a whole reacts to the inclusion of one of the sports lily-white favourites, pitcher Roger Clemens, on the list. If he is not treated with the same anger; if is not suggested that he be stripped from the record books; if it is not vociferously argued that the be barred from the Hall of Fame then those who argued that there was a racial element to the vilification of Bonds have some evidence to support their position.
In the meantime the list of drug abusers named is available here.
My own team, the hapless Phillies who I love in a sad and desperate sort of way, got off rather lightly with only Lenny Dykstra and David Bell listed. Dykstra is no surprise; who can forget the shots of him with his mouth stuffed full of chewing tobacco, with the juice just dribbling out of his mouth, sneaking out of the dugout for a crafty fag between innings. This was a guy with an addictive streak. As to David Bell, did ever actually play for the Phillies? I can only recall him being on injured reserve for about three years. It would seem that steroids are no good for your back!
More on this later after I get a chance to work through the names.
What may be the most interesting thing to see play itself out, after the brutal condemnation of Barry Bonds, is how the baseball community and America as a whole reacts to the inclusion of one of the sports lily-white favourites, pitcher Roger Clemens, on the list. If he is not treated with the same anger; if is not suggested that he be stripped from the record books; if it is not vociferously argued that the be barred from the Hall of Fame then those who argued that there was a racial element to the vilification of Bonds have some evidence to support their position.
In the meantime the list of drug abusers named is available here.
My own team, the hapless Phillies who I love in a sad and desperate sort of way, got off rather lightly with only Lenny Dykstra and David Bell listed. Dykstra is no surprise; who can forget the shots of him with his mouth stuffed full of chewing tobacco, with the juice just dribbling out of his mouth, sneaking out of the dugout for a crafty fag between innings. This was a guy with an addictive streak. As to David Bell, did ever actually play for the Phillies? I can only recall him being on injured reserve for about three years. It would seem that steroids are no good for your back!
More on this later after I get a chance to work through the names.
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