Mitchell Report

The 300+ page Mitchell Report was released this afternoon, concluding an 18-month investigation of steriod use in MLB. The document mentions Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, Paul LoDuca, Eric Gagne, among others. I downloaded the PDF and just searched for "Pettitte" since he's one of my favorites. From what I've read, Andy Pettitte was given human growth hormone to speed up the recovery of his elbow. He did not use steroids on a regular basis to make himself pitch at faster speeds. I hope that's taken into consideration when this report is fully analyzed by the commissioner. Without doing any reports or investigation, it's pretty easy to tell who's been using steriods regularly. Clemens, Tejada, LoDuca and Gagne are all wide, bulky guys. If you look at each of their photos over the years, you'll noteice that they got significantly larger over time. Pettitte is not overly bulky like these other guys.

The report also talks about Lenny Dykstra, one of my favorite pre-strike players. Again, without reading anything, just looking at his muscle mass increase tells the whole story. I didn't want to believe this one because he was one of favorite players, but also because Dykstra always hit for precision and not power. Even after he bulked up, he wasn't considered a power hitter. He hit for average and used his speed. Still, if this report is true, then it's disappointing to hear this about one of my sports heroes.

Related Links: List of Players, Report Download (mitchell_report.pdf)