Op-Ed: Why The Baseball Steroids Report Is Useless

A report was recently released naming baseball players that are suspected of having used illegal steroids and enhancers during their career. Some names will surprise you. But really, does it matter?

The Mitchell report was finally released today and it named some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball, past and present, as players who had used "illegal" performance-enhancing drugs while playing. "Illegal" is put in quotations because that depends on who you side with. If you side with the player's union, those drugs weren't illegal until they made you test for them in 2002. If you side with Mitchell's findings, he shows that the 1971 drug policy by the MLB states it is illegal to use drugs without a prescription by a doctor, and was re validated in 1991. If you side with me, I could care less because baseball is an American tradition that has been marred since almost its inception. Face it, this was one of the biggest sports going on in the early 1900s, and it was ruined by gambling. Baseball was popular because, theoretically, it was a game made relying on a combination of some guy in charge's strategy accompanied with a skilled once-every-five-games player and a smattering of half-athletes. Something for everyone was there for baseball to watch in America, and foreigners, minorities, and women just had to stay on the side and watch. Of course, it evolved. As time went on, the MLB began to accept minorities and-guess what?- they were threatened! More gambling and betting ensued. For a brief moments in its history, players like Lou Gherig, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, and Fernando Valenzuela added some levity and real reasons to root for teams and players besides "that's my home team". And, of course, more scandal ensued. You think Pete Rose was a one-time fluke, and no one else on a team bet? Probably not, given the history of baseball. Or was anyone suspicious when Barry's neck and Mark's arms grew 3 foot around in a matter of years? I think it was obvious. Most football players are already big. Soccer stars didn't swell like that. NBA players come in already tall. So a skilled baseball player "trying to get ahead" was a pretty obvious standout. But we just didn't say anything then because, again, no one trusted baseball in the first place. So now the report comes out and-surprise!- more stars are alleged to have been doping! And what do we say? Not much of anything. It is kinda weird to see a couple of pitchers on there, but they were attributed to using Human Growth Hormone, which if it turns out to be true means they kept their arms as fresh as spring chickens. Honestly, we're not surprised. I'd hate to take away from the skill of the players, because it doesn't matter how big you are: hitting a round object with another round object with only seconds to figure out how is pretty hard to do. That's why failing seven out of ten times in baseball is a good batting average. Throwing your arm out of your shoulder socket 100 times every five games has to be tough, too. But we're not surprised people did things to get ahead because baseball just hadn't enforced ANY kind of discipline for so long. It is tradition for someone to do something sneaky in the MLB. We can't even trust if Curt Shilling's leg was truly bleeding the night he pitched in the World Series!!! Is it that bad a man must be accused of having fake blood in his ankle and NOT coming out of the game? What's next? Gibson's "bum" knee wasn't bum after all? Buckner INTENTIONALLY muffed a ball in '86? Sosa's claim that he's only eaten Flinstone Vitamins is not true? Wait, let's hold on that last one. So again, I say we shouldn't be surprised, given the history of baseball scandal. Even the NBA ref scandal has come and gone because the muck-ups in the NBA regularly get suspended and there aren't any performance-enhancing drugs that can make you play better defense against Shaq. The NFL has random-tested so much, the only guy who seems to get away with anything is Ricky WIlliams, and we actually LIKE him! Even the PGA will have more steroid scandal than the NFL. But baseball? It's no surprise.