The Mitchell Report

We all know that the famed Mitchell Report has came and is now gone, but its effect on baseball will last for generations. But did it do all that it was set up for? First of all most of the names that came out we either already knew about, we could assume or they were of players that even die hard fans like myself have never even heard of. Another thing wrong with it was that with the new performance enhancing drug rules in place, none of the players mentioned will be in any trouble. (Except of course Roger Clemens but that is about perjury now.) The tests will now be beefed up to nearly once a month at random, and the players will not be tipped off the day of because they will happen as soon as they get to the ballpark. The new drug policy will be overseen for the first time by an outside administrator, which is very good news for baseball because they are finally recognizing the problem that they had. The second big addition to the testing policy is that the top 200 prospects will be tested at random just like the Major Leaguers. (This has already caught one victim Braves prospect, Jordan Schafer, here). However the suspensions to Jay Gibbons and Jose Guillen will not be assessed. Another very good thing that this new policy will institute will be that the Players Association and MLB will up their efforts to educate young children on the dangers of PED use. This may be the most positive addition to the MLB drug policy because up until a few years ago no effort was made to educate the children of the game, which are of course the future of America’s National Pastime. This new movement maybe a little to late for Bud Selig and Donald Fehr to enhance their image, throughout history. They will both be known as the men who turned a blind eye to steroids but at least now they are making an effort to change that. The new policies can be found here.