Word: steroids
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...after much breathless speculation, George Mitchell named names. Eighty six, in fact, in his long-awaited report on steroid abuse in baseball released Thursday. Among them: 55 hitters, 31 pitchers and 33 active players on a list that ranged from legends (Barry Bonds) to all-stars (David Justice, Eric Gagne, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield and Miguel Tejada) to staples of the transaction column (Josias Manzanillo, Nook Logan...
...reported that Clemens and Andy Pettitte, another star of the Mitchell report, were among the players former pitcher Jason Grimsley (yup, he's in there too) accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. But for whatever reason, after his denials, most people largely gave Clemens a pass. The "suspected steroid user" label never really stuck to Clemens, like it did to Bonds and others, despite the fact that, like Bonds, he continued to defy his age and rack up amazing numbers well into his forties...
...That's very good news for a players like Clemens and Pettitte, who, according to the Mitchell report, used steroids before 2003. Why? Because up until that year, despite the fact that it technically banned the substances, baseball had no drug testing, and no steroid penalties. So if Roger wants to make yet another comeback, he will likely lose no time, and pay, for his drug...
...George Mitchell was essentially acting as an agent of the commissioner during the entire process. But from the beginning, Mitchell faced a major obstacle: he had no subpoena power. Plus, he was facing a bitter players union, which felt it had already bent over backward to allay concerns about steroid use, twice agreeing to open up the 2002 collective bargaining agreement to strengthen penalties for drug users. Predictably, the players union balked. Frank Thomas and Jason Giambi were the only active players who talked to Mitchell's team; the others didn't even go so far as to issue denials...
...boss stunk. "To me, the most interesting question is - are there prosecutors chomping at the bit here?" asks Michael Shapiro, a criminal defense attorney. "Has Mitchell presented them cases on a silver platter?" At his press conference, Mitchell stressed that prosecutors have more important concerns than punishing individual past steroid users, and that there is no evidence that prosecutors would jump on this. But if any of the players are fingered as passing on steroids to their teammates, which could potentially mean more than just possession, it could be a different story...