The following is a list of every baseball player whose name is listed in the Mitchell Report:
Marvin Bernard
Barry Bonds
Bobby Estalella
Jason Giambi
Jeremy Giambi
Benito Santiago
Gary Sheffield
Randy Verlarde
Lenny Dykstrka
David Segui
Larry Bigbie
Brian Roberts
Jack Cust
Tim Laker
Todd Hundley
Hal Morris
Mark Carreon
Matt Franco
Rondell White
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Chuck Knoblauch
Jason Grimsley
Greg Zaun
David Justice
F.P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Ryan Franklin
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Merker
Adam Piatt
Miguel Tejada
Jason Christansen
Mike Stanton
Stephen Randolph
Jerry Hariston Jr.
Paul Lo Duca
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernando Vina
Kevin Brown
Eric Gagne
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett Jr.
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark
Nook Logan
Rick Ankiel
Paul Byrd
Jay Gibbons
Troy Glaus
Jose Guillen
Gary Matthews Jr.
Jose Canseco
Jason Grimsley
Darren Holmes
John Rocker
Scott Schoenweis
Ismael Valdez
Matt Williams
Steve Woodard
David Bell
Naturally, the names that get the most attention are the famous ones. The revelations that Roger Clemens, Andy Pettite, Matt Williams and so on have had careers tainted by the use of performance-enhancing drugs are the news. Right?
Because few people even know most of the names on this list, they see little of what it means. But, as a lifelong baseball fanatic, I know a lot about nearly everyone on the list. The funny thing is that nearly half the names are people whose careers barely existed. Nook Logan, recently non-tendered by the Washington Nationals, is one of these. His career to date spans 321 major league games, in which he managed 111 hits to 182 strikeouts, with only two career home runs. Bart Miadich is even more impressive. Miadich pitched in twelve games over three years for the Angels, giving up nine earned runs in twelve career innings, for an earned run average of 6.75.
Even the majority of noteworthy names lead to questions. Catcher Paul Lo Duca, recently of the New York Mets and now of the Washington Nationals, has had a long career and played on a World Series winner. Lo Duca is known as an excellent game-calling catcher, and his most noteworthy offensive skill is a very low strikeout rate. Paul Byrd of the Cleveland Indians was first attached to the steroid controversy during the American League Championship Series this past October. Byrd is a journeyman pitcher whose longevity in the major leagues is due to one factor alone: his extremely low walk numbers make up for his sub-90 mph fastball.
Now, perhaps steroids and human growth hormone were the difference between these players getting a shot at the major leagues while other players did not, just like perhaps steroids and HGH were the reason that Lo Duca was a marginal starter, while last season Ramon Castro was the backup catcher for the Mets. And perhaps these drugs were the reason why Pettite, along with players like Chuck Knoblauch and Rondell White, were stars albeit not Hall of Fame players. But as Congress starts to bloviate about the undermining of "America’s game" and the urgent need to take action, let us not lose sight of the facts of the Mitchell report: most of the players which it demonstrates used steroids and HGH didn’t get much out of it. A couple of years at the margins of the major leagues at best. And we can balance that against the consequences to themselves and their health of using these substances in the first place, which are considerable, as well as with the consequences the report itself brings to bear.
It ought to be easy enough to see why our Congress has far more important things to do outside of policing baseball. But we need to bear in mind that even within baseball itself, these players did not, by and large, have much of an impact on the game.