Drug report won’t break baseball
TEXT OF STORY
Scott Jagow: Today, the long-awaited Mitchell Report on steroids finally comes to light. People who’ve seen the report say it exposes a “serious drug culture within baseball.” It names more than 60 current and former players linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
Former Senator George Mitchell releases his findings at 2 p.m. Eastern. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig will hold a news conference after that. Then what? Steve Tripoli has more.
Steve Tripoli: Los Angeles Times baseball writer Bill Shaikin says the tone of the report will dictate baseball’s direction after today.
Bill Shaikin: If it turns into a blame game, it’s going to deteriorate into a mess between the owners, the players, their union and Commissioner Selig. If the report offers some concrete suggestions as well, that may help clear up the sport for the future.
Shaiken says neither path is likely to hurt baseball’s bottom line. After all, there was no big shock after widely-covered congressional hearings on drug use awhile back.
Shaikin: If you look at baseball’s business since then, the revenues have only gone up to record levels. Attendance has gone up to records levels.
And no one’s decided to stop watching ball games.
Will teams treat tarnished players differently? Here’s one clue: The Kansas City Royals just threw $36 million at free agent Jose Guillen knowing he was about to be suspended for drug use. He got 15 days.
I’m Steve Tripoli for Marketplace.
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