Fastball Fans

One year after the Mitchell Report came out and shook the foundation of Major League Baseball forever — Goerge Mitchell, whom the report is named after — is considering his landmark work a success.

Fox Sports: “There is an awareness of the problem and a focus on dealing with it,” Mitchell said as he sat at the end of a long conference table in the offices of his law firm in Midtown Manhattan. “I think they have come a long way and deserve credit, both the clubs and players association, and I hope they continue.”

During the 30-minute interview, Mitchell did not criticize baseball’s actions, or for that matter, any inaction, in the 11 months since the report was issued. Mitchell said he was encouraged by how the commissioner’s office and the players union had worked together to accept many of the recommendations he had made on improving the sport’s drug-testing program and said he expected more improvements as the program evolves in coming years.

In regard to his controversial decision to use the report to publicly link dozens of current and former players to performance-enhancing drugs, Mitchell said he had no regrets..

“I believed it was the right thing to do,” he said. “I believed it then and I believe it now.”

Yes, the Mitchell Report has more or less done it’s job — cut down the drug use in the sport, or the appearances of it. The numbers of the drug users are down, and it looks like baseball is starting to move on from the so-called Steroid era.

However, until MLB starts testing for HGH, I think much of the success of the Mitchell Report is moot.

Do I think the sport has been cleaned up? Maybe. I also think the players may have gotten very scared, or in some cases — a tad bit smarter.

No matter what I think, this report was needed and perhaps has helped the sport for the better.