George Mitchell turned down a seat on the Supreme Court and negotiated a peace in Northern Ireland but he secured his place in history this week when he named baseball’s last twenty years “The Steroid Era.” I call it “Better Cheating through Chemistry.”
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Senator Mitchell is getting some flak by people ignorant of the difference between the criminal justice system and ordinary civil investigations. Much, if not all of it, is unjustified.
For instance, Senator Mitchell correctly draws conclusions from the fact that the players to whom steroid use has been attributed refused to talk to him. Mitchell was not a prosecutor; only an investigator hired by a private party — Major League Baseball — to conduct an investigation. He had no subpoena power and could not indict anyone. Had he had that power he would not have been able to draw conclusions from the players’ silence nor could he have commented on their silence. But his was not a criminal court of law and the players’ Fifth Amendment privilege not to incriminate themselves did not apply. Obviously, the players’ lawyers told them not to talk to Mitchell, but that is because their statements to Mitchell might have started a criminal investigation by law enforcement. It is perfectly appropriate that they chose not to talk to him; it is perfectly appropriate for him to draw conclusions from that fact.
Plus, his report is full of evidence that the players he named cheated. Mitchell had documentary evidence such as cancelled checks, receipts, etc. He also had the oral testimony of people who sold or injected the drugs. Some sports writers have complained about that oral testimony, calling it “hearsay.” It isn’t. But even if it was, it is still evidence and evidence from which a skilled trial lawyer — which Mitchell once was — can draw conclusions. We aren’t required to agree with his conclusions but that does not make them off-base.
As I have said before, Henry Aaron is still the home run king. Now we know that Roger Clemens is not the best pitcher in baseball’s history. And we know that baseball’s statistics for the last couple of decades should be thrown out at the plate.
In the case of Mitchell v. Clemens, Bonds, et al., the court rules in favor of Mitchell.
Tags: Barry Bonds, baseball, baseball statistics, Better Cheating through Chemistry, Geroge Mitchell, Hearsay, Henry Aaron, HGH, Roger Clemens, steroids
