Mitchell Report Due Thursday

Posted by James Lincoln Ray Dec 9, 2007

George Mitchell's long-awaited report summarizing the results of his investigation of performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball comes out this week. I can't wait to see the results.

For one thing, I am very curious to see which players (and indeed, just how many players) names will be in the report. But I have a lot of specific questions that I would like to see answered. such as:

Will George Mitchell, a member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Red Sox, actually name the names of any players on his team?

How will Congress respond to the report? Will it have more credibility with U.S. lawmakers because Mitchell, a former senator from Maine, is a member of their pack?

Or will it be viewed with skepticism because of Mitchell's close affiliation with the Red Sox?

Will anyone in the big sports media even bother to explore Mitchell's apparent conflict of interest?

What will it say about Barry Bonds?

Will the report fully divulge the names of those who provided the information? Will anyone look to the credibility of these sources, or will the public be too excited about the witch hunt aspect of the whole thing to bother with such banalities?

What is it going to say about Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? Will the Mitchell Report contain anything that will keep both players out of the Hall of Fame forever?

What punishments, if any, will the Mitchell Report recommend?

Finally, what will be the effect on the National Pastime? The game is arguably more popular than ever, but will the Mitchell Report alienate fans by divulging what some believe was (and still may be) widespread drug use by players over the past decade?

Hopefully, all of these questions will be answered. We shall see.