the mitchell report

A lot can be said about what transpired earlier today. Here are a few of my thoughts.

• The list of names is pretty weak. Some of these 80 guys have already been implicated through other avenues. Some people were missing like Sosa or even McGwire.
  
• The timespan of the players stretched back over a decade which means an average of 8 players a year were definitely doing steroids. Wow, big news.
• I was hoping for some bigger names too. Most of the guys listed aren't even ten-year guys let alone all-stars.
  
• The absence of Red Sox players is suspicious given that Mitchell is one of their board members.
  
• Also, isn't it ironic how the report stresses the need for an independent testing agency and implies the inherent benefits of such independence when an independent investigative body could have done a much better job of investigating steroids in baseball with the 20 million dollars the U.S. government wasted. Two journalists in San Fransisco did a more thorough and efficient job with less resources and power than a whole team of government men.
  

I don't think much will come of all of this in the way of punishments or record alterations. But a great thing about baseball is that history is a big deal. People will remember baseball over the last 15 years with a lot of love and appreciation. It was an entertaining stretch to say the least. A lot of god competition went on and significant milestones were achieved. And in many ways our enjoyment and memories won't change much because of the cloud of steroids. And that is good. But we will never forget the cloud. And thirty years from now when we are talking baseball with our grandkids we will remember these days fondly, but we will also remember them with the knowledge that things weren't right. Whatever happened in the past 15 years will forever be associated with cheating. We don't forget baseball context. When we look at the accomplishments of those in the dead ball era they are seen through the lens of the dead ball era. When we look at the accomplishments of those in the early years of baseball they are appreciated and admired but still looked at through the lens of early years baseball. The war era is viewed with that in mind, and so on. On one level our enjoyment of the game won't be affected at all. On another level our perspective on this era will be forever affected. And all of baseball is to blame for it. I don't feel bad for the MLB. I don't even feel bad for the fans. The only guys I feel bad for are the ones who had the character to resist the temptation and whose careers were affected by distorted competition and whose careers will be unjustly judged through contextually adjusted perception.