- Richard Todd, Dec. 13, 2007 (the day the Mitchel Report was released)

It is difficult to write about the George Mitchell report on performance enhancing drugs in baseball, but not for the reasons you might imagine. The facts are what they are, and while some matters may still be up in the air for legal reasons, what we suspected has now had a very substantive statement of fact applied to it. Drug use is real, and wide spread, in the MLB.

However, we as coaches, players and parents in the amateur ranks should be much less concerned with what the report says about MLB players past and present than about the impact it should have on the our game. In fact, he did make that point in introducing the report: the real damage done by those who take steroids or HGH (human growth hormone) is that they are depriving everyone else from succeeding. That is the definition of cheating.

Some might question his statement that 3-6% of high school players taking some form of enhancement equates to 100,000 of our youth. In truth, about 500,000 H.S. age kids are playing and 6% of those would be 30,000. But if you wanted to include college and other non H.S. affiliated youth teams, the number might be that staggeringly high.

It wouldn't matter if the number was only 10,000, or 1,000, or 100, or less. What does matter is that this is everyone's problem. Anyone who cheats is not only damaging their own bodies (and that damage is higher at younger ages), but there is a very good possibility that un-caught cheaters are getting playing opportunities and advancement that they clearly don't deserve.

Sadly, by the time those cheaters get caught - and if new standards and testing methods are improved, they will - the damage is done, not only to themselves, but to those non-cheating players who have lost out on a varsity slot or a tournament trophy or a college scholarship.


There is a book everyone should read called "Winners Never Cheat". It's not about baseball, it's about business ethics - about the life most of us will be involved in once we have left our baseball dreams behind. It will help you understand how having a good moral compass, and an ethical perspective on the world, will help you in every goal you pursue. That's made more difficult when so many "role models" are negative. And none of us helps if we ignore the realities - in baseball and life.

Consider that in the context of what we are teaching young baseball players now. We may not be active participants in abuse, but are we passively tolerant of the behavior? Is that any less a fault?

We can assume that steroid and HGH abuse is someone else's problem to solve. But it's not, it's ours. Yours and mine.

I admit to personal failure in this regard and that's why this is difficult to write. No, I never cheated, nor did I ever condone such cheating - that I know of. But I have to ask myself if I was naive? Did I ever consider that some of my star players at age 18 or 15 or younger might have been using and abusing? In truth, I did not. The possibility never entered my mind. Well, now it must.

The next time I - and you - walk into a practice facility, or onto the field, or even just sit in the stands at an amateur ballpark, we cannot - should not - do so without our eyes wide open.

In a way that's very unfortunate - a sad commentary on the times we live in; it's not how we want things to be. Maybe not, but so what. Get over the wishful thinking. All those suspected cheaters had to come from somewhere, and we should never assume they are only on the opposition teams. We need to be vigilant. A sad truth if we are to get past the steroid era and return the game to its purity and status.

WebBall will seek ways to do what we can.

We will devote time and effort to education, but we will also look at how we might have wrongly impacted the process by condoning the wrong behavior and the wrong role models. So, we will be vetting our pages for references to any of the named players. and we will immediately de-list any products or services that include an endorsement by anyone who might be a negative role model.

I don't like to do that because I don't think the ideas expressed are wrong simply because the player cited as an example has done wrong. Nor do I believe that any products we've recommended have been directly involved in the cycle of abuse. But I'd rather be vigilant as we all must be.

I welcome your comments.