US: Baseball steroid report--reflection of a diseased social order

Most American newspapers gave the report banner headlines. Its author, former US senator, federal prosecutor and special envoy to Northern Ireland George Mitchell, had stressed in the report that, while there had been a “great deal of speculation” over which players would be named, he hoped that “the media and the public will keep that part of the report in context and will look beyond the individuals to the central conclusions.”

Of course, nearly every media outlet did the exact opposite, splashing the names and photographs of players identified as steroid users across their front pages. The New York Times even led its sports page with the headline “Naming names,” a phrase historically identified with the anti-communist witchhunts of the McCarthy era.

While 89 current and former major league players are named by Mitchell, the evidence gathered in his more than 400-page document—which took 20 months and cost $25 million—consists largely of media reports, the admissions of steroid use by players who are already out of the game and allegations made by dubious informants. One is a former New York Mets’ clubhouse attendant, Kirk Radomski, who cooperated with the investigation as part of a plea bargain over his own conviction on illegal steroid distribution, and the other a former Yankees trainer, Brian McNamee, who acted similarly to avoid prosecution.