The Mitchell Report has finally provided the names, so it's time for MLB to punish its cheaters.
It's now been a week since the Mitchell Report was tabled, pointing the finger at 90 past and present players for using performance-enhancing drugs. While some -- Brendan Donnelly, Brian Roberts, Andy Pettitte, Gary Bennett, F.P. Santangelo and Fernando Vina -- have tried to explain themselves, others have released feeble statements of innocence through their representatives.
The one player that everyone had been waiting to hear from is Roger Clemens, the most dominant pitcher of his generation. Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer and also a former Blue Jays strength and conditioning coach, told the Mitchell probe he personally injected Clemens with steroids in a SkyDome Hotel room in 1998, and steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) in 2000 and 2001 while both were with the Yankees. The detail of McNamee's claims leads me to believe that, despite his questionable character, he is telling the truth. And the fact that Pettitte, who has been attached at the hip with Clemens for close to a decade, has already come clean and admitted to using HGH makes one wonder just how wide the drug culture around the game really is.
Clemens recently released a statement refuting all the allegations, saying he has never used performance-enhancing drugs.
But there are only two ways that Clemens can clear his suddenly-tarnished name. One is if McNamee comes out and retracts his statements to the Mitchell probe and says that what he said about Clemens was a lie; or two, Clemens files a libel and slander lawsuit. It's that simple. Anything else and he's presumed guilty, and his first-ballot induction into Cooperstown, or even making the Hall of Fame at all, is seriously in jeopardy.
An even more ominous threat to the Rocket's legacy has now appeared on the horizon. The U.S. Congress is considering calling some of the players named in the Mitchell Report to state their cases, much like they did back in 2005 when Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro came across as fools. Only this time, the questions from U.S. government are going to be a lot more pointed and players skirting the issue aren't going to be tolerated. Not by the congress or the media and certainly not by the fans, who are growing tired of being deceived.
I still hope that commissioner Bud Selig comes down hard on the players named if it's proven they took steroids or HGH since the time players and owners agreed to the current drug policy in 2002. If any of these players are guilty then they must be suspended for at least 50 games. It's time for the leadership of the game to punish the cheaters. Pete Rose is exactly right when he says that these players are "making a mockery of the game." Rose is forced to wear the Scarlet Letter for gambling on his team to win while managing, yet these guys allegedly sold their collective souls to the devil all in the name of fame and fortune.
It will be interesting to see if any punishment at all comes from Selig, though it's hard to penalize anyone whose playing career is over. Perhaps, if it's all proven to be true, the only real recourse, as Curt Schilling has suggested, is for stars like Clemens and Barry Bonds to be forced to give back their Cy Young and MVP awards they won from the time the alleged injections started taking place. I'm not sure that would have any effect on the arrogant Bonds, but that would certainly cut to the core for Clemens, a pitcher who has always prided himself on his place within the rich history of the game.
The game many of us grew up loving has taken a hit from which it will never recover. Oh sure, the fans will return en masse; they always do. But the whispers and finger-pointing will never go away. Certainly not until a couple of generations of ball players can show up for work without some outside chemicals coursing through their veins.
Sad.
