Former Senator George Mitchell will release the results of his 20-month investigation into drug use in baseball at a news conference this afternoon.
The report is expected to include names of 60 to 80 players linked to performance-enhancing substances. Some of the names are expected to be MVP's and All-Stars in the game.
The study was ordered by Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and will have the names of players that used performance enhancing drugs in the past. The results will embarass those users and bring their names out into the open. But results will bring more bad publicity to baseball as well.
I'm as curious as the next person to at least hear the names of those guilty. But baseball has already put stiffer penalties in place for those caught from this point forward and assuming that testing process is legit, the league should be able to crack down on future users. The price to pay for getting caught now is substantial, which should clean the game up on its own.
Bud Selig also probably knows by now that the customer will be back regardless of what kind of problem is unveiled in Mitchell's investigative report. Baseball made record profits last season and attendance numbers continue to grow, which only means that whatever the public says, they mean the opposite. Fans voice disappointment with the cheating in baseball, yet they continue to flock out to the ballparks in record numbers.
