A Sad Day in Baseball: The Mitchell Report Names Names

George Mitchell (foreground) released his report to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig (background).  (photo: nydailynews.com)

For 28 minutes I sat and listened to George Mitchell introduce his report.

This wasn't the Q&A, it wasn't a recap or overview—just the introduction.

Twenty-eight minutes...

As Mitchell began to bore me, I decided to start scrolling through the official report, to see it with my own eyes.

Just when I thought my heart had sunk to an all-time low, I came across the Kirk Radomski/Brian McNamee section—the meat of the report.

As I scrolled through the report, tears almost came across my eyes as I saw the names of some of my childhood heroes: Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Mo Vaughn, Todd Pratt, Miguel Tejada, Paul Lo Duca, Kevin Brown, Eric Gagne, just to name a few.

I loved David Justice—I thought he was one of the real good guys. His smile seemed so warm and comforting to any little leaguer who was nervous about approaching him for an autograph.

Roger Clemens was the man. I collected his baseball cards dating back to his Red Sox days. I even used those plastic slip-covers to protect his cards—it was the utmost respect a kid could give a major-leaguer.

As I continued to read, I thought I would find an elegantly written report, but no—who knew such simple sentences could make me feel so bad:

Andy Pettitte (left) and Roger Clemens (right) each are mentioned in the Mitchell Report for using performance-enhancing drugs.  (Photo: AP/David Phillip)

"Radomski said he made one sale to Justice, which occurred after the 2000 World Series. Justice played for the Yankees that year. Justice paid Radomski by check for two or three kits of human growth hormone. Radomski said that he cashed this check. Brian McNamee recalled that Justice asked him about human growth hormone in 2000 or 2001, while McNamee and Justice were both with the Yankees. According to McNamee, Justice admitted in this conversation that he had obtained human growth hormone from Radomski."  (pg. 189)

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