My Thoughts On The Baseball Steroid Controversy

So the Mitchell report came out today detailing his 2 year 20 million dollar investigation into the use of steroids in baseball. His findings were shocking...there IS rampant steroid abuse in baseball! Really? I had no idea? I mean I thought it was natural for guys to become better athletes when they hit 35 years plus. Or for guys domes to grow 5x the normal size. I really thought Mcgwire and Sosa hit all those home runs legit. And you mean Bonds may have lied when he said he never knowingly took steroids?

Look, all this report did was put names/faces on the drugs. Even the most casual fan knew something was going on. We as fans didn't care because we love power in sports. Whether it's our guy hitting the long ball or our ace topping 100mph and racking up 10 K's a game, we want to see impressive human feats. No matter how they may or may not have been achieved. The owners turned a blind eye because after the strike they would do anything to gets butts back in the seats and $$$ in their pockets. And the players, what did they care? If it meant a fatter paycheck for them then who cares. After all, steroids weren't "illegal" in baseball until a few years ago.

As a lifetime die-hard baseball fan I'm not shocked about any of this. There was only one name on the list I was sadden to read about and that was Andy Pettitte. Pettitte has always come across as a man of great character and to see him have to stoop to this level to add a few more years and millions to his career disappoints me.

Baseball will move on, these players will have to live the rest of their lives (and their great grand kids lives) being labeled cheaters.

Below is the complete list as mentioned in the Mitchell report of all the guys he found used steroids. Some are active, some not, some already dead, and some are...errrr were going to be Hall of Famers. I'm sure this isn't a complete list by any means but maybe it's a start to cleaning up this great game.

NEW NAMES

Chad Allen
Mike Bell
Gary Bennett
Larry Bigbie
Kevin Brown
Alex Cabrera
Mark Carreon
Jason Christiansen
Howie Clark
Roger Clemens
Jack Cust
Brendan Donnelly
Chris Donnels
Matt Franco
Eric Gagne
Matt Herges
Phil Hiatt
Glenallen Hill
Todd Hundley
Mike Judd
David Justice
Chuck Knoblauch
Tim Laker
Mike Lansing
Paul Lo Duca
Nook Logan
Josias Manzanillo
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Bart Miadich
Hal Morris
Daniel Naulty
Denny Neagle
Jim Parque
Luis Perez
Andy Pettitte
Adam Piatt
Todd Pratt
Stephen Randolph
Adam Riggs
Armando Rios
Brian Roberts
F.P. Santangelo
Mike Stanton
Ricky Stone
Miguel Tejada
Ismael Valdez
Mo Vaughn
Ron Villone
Fernando Vina
Rondell White
Jeff Williams
Todd Williams
Steve Woodard
Kevin Young
Gregg Zaun

PREVIOUSLY LINKED

Manny Alexander
Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Marvin Benard
Barry Bonds
Ricky Bones
Paul Byrd
Ken Caminiti
Jose Canseco

Paxton Crawford
Lenny Dykstra
Bobby Estalella
Ryan Franklin
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Juan Gonzalez

Jason Grimsley
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Darren Holmes
Ryan Jorgensen
Wally Joyner
Gary Matthews Jr.
Rafael Palmeiro
John Rocker
Benito Santiago

Scott Schoeneweis
David Segui
Gary Sheffield
Derrick Turnbow
Randy Velarde
Matt Williams

** Players in bold are guys that at one time were considered major stars in MLB. Some HOF canidates and some former MVP's.

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