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The Mitchell Report

The Mitchell Report

February 25, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The newsletter that drops into your inbox like an infield pop fly with Luis Castillo playing second.

That replay still hurts to watch.

Let's dive in.

This is part three of a three-part series about the steroid era.

If you missed part two - you can read it here.

Today' story is about a landmark investigation that shook the world of Major League Baseball in '07.

The Mitchell Report was the crescendo of the steroid era; afterwards nothing was the same.

Just to give you a quick recap of the timeline here:

2003: BALCO is raided and Victor Conte admits providing many high-profile athletes with PED’s.
2005: José Canseco releases his tell-all book, Juiced, in which he admits his own steroid use and snitches on several former teammates.
2006: The book, Game of Shadows, further details the BALCO scandal and exposes loads of information collected from hundreds of interviews.
Around the same time that Game of Shadows is released, Bud Selig appoints George Mitchell to lead an independent investigation into baseball’s steroid problem.

What Mitchell found over his 20-month investigation was pretty shocking.

On December 13, 2007, the findings were released to the world.

The 409-page report included a player from every position, including: 31 All-Stars, seven MVPs, and two Cy Young Award winners.

There was 89 names in total, including some of the biggest stars in baseball at the time.

Bud Selig's reaction to the report:

Kirk Radomski was one of the key witnesses for Mitchell's investigation, along with trainers Brian McNamee and Larry Starr.

Kirk was a former batboy and Met’s employee who gave investigators a lot of the names that the public didn’t know about.

He was facing up to 30 years in prison for distribution of a controlled substance and money laundering.

When they offered him a plea bargain, Kirk started singin' like Adele after a breakup.

Being on the other side definitely paid off for Kirk - he walked away with five years probation, and a fine for $18,575.

Here's a handful of a players named in the report:

Barry Bonds
Rick Ankiel
Jason Giambi
Troy Glaus
Roger Clemens
Gary Sheffield
Mike Stanton
Gary Matthews Jr.
Jose Guillen
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Paul Lo Duca
Eric Gagne
Andy Pettitte
Paul Byrd
Miguel Tejada
Lenny Dykstra
Rafael Palmeiro
Chuck Knoblauch

Suddenly, the public had a detailed look at the extent of the cheating throughout the league.

The report also broke down the culture of PED use that had developed in baseball during the 1990s and 2000s.

Basically, a lot of players felt like they had to juice in order to stay competitive, and there wasn't much in the way of testing or penalties to deter them.

Not to mention, PED use was pretty common in other sports at the time, so it became normalized.

In the wake of the report, the MLB implemented a number of new measures designed to eradicate steroids from the sport.

These measures included the introduction of more rigorous testing and penalties, as well as increased education for players on the dangers of PEDs.

Some players also faced legal consequences as a result of their PED use, including perjury charges for lying to Congress about their involvement and use of PEDs.

There were a few things that were a bit sus though.

For example, George Mitchell was the director of the Red Sox front office, which many people thought was a conflict of interest.

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were not mentioned in the report despite their alleged PED use.

In addition, no members of the Brewers, who were formerly owned by Bud Selig, were mentioned in the report.

In the years since the release of the Mitchell Report, MLB has made strides to make the game drug free.

It was a necessary step in cleansing the sport and addressing the issue of PED use, but let's be honest, its something that will always be a part of the game to some extent.

Since sports have existed, athletes have always looked for an edge.

You know the saying...

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Cletus "Boots" Poffenberger went 10-5 as a rookie, and the Tigers were pretty stoked about him initially.

Unfortunately, he had a bad drinking habit, and became known for not showing up to work.

Tiger's owner, Walter Briggs Sr., went as far as hiring a private detective to follow Poffenberger and report back on his whereabouts.

In his sophomore season, Boots wasn't nearly as good, and Detroit sent him down to the minors.

In '40, he played with the Nashville Vols, who were voted the 47th best minor league team in MiLB history.

The Mitchell Report

STRANGE NAMES

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