Sports Training

Nearly two years after Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig asked former United States Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to conduct an investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in MLB, Senator Mitchell’s report is expected to be released in the coming days. While Senator Mitchell and MLB officials haven’t yet announced when Mitchell’s report will be released from a public relations perspective, this Thursday November 29 would be the perfect day.

The MLB Winter Meetings begin next Monday. Presenting the report during the Winter Meetings would turn the focus of the Winter Meetings to the Mitchell Report. Offering the report after the Winter Meetings wouldn’t make much sense. The media might be ‘angry’ if after heading to Nashville for next week’s Winter Meetings, MLB announced one of the most important and potentially controversial reports in recent years immediately following the Winter Meetings. Two days from now works perfectly. While we’re living in a 24-hour, seven days-a-week news cycle news and sports reporting world, if the report is unveiled Thursday, the results will be everywhere Friday; the weekend sports fans’ focus will be on this weekend’s college and NFL games. That said, what may make sense from a public relations perspective may not make sense to Major League Baseball when it comes to the Mitchell Report.

Prompted by the revelations in the best selling book Game of Shadows (excerpts from the book appeared in Sports Illustrated in March 2006), on March 30, 2006 Selig announced he had authorized an investigation into reported steroid use by Major League Baseball players associated with the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO). Selig made it clear Senator Mitchell and his team of investigators would have complete autonomy in their investigation.

"Nothing is more important to me than the integrity of the game of baseball," Commissioner Selig said at the time. "The unique circumstances surrounding BALCO and the evidence revealed in a recently published book have convinced me that Major League Baseball must undertake this investigation.

"Senator Mitchell is one of the most respected public figures in the nation. His career in public service is beyond reproach and his integrity and leadership ability are beyond question. Major League Baseball is fortunate and pleased to have a person of such high character and acclaim to lead this investigation."

Senator Mitchell said on that day: "I accept the responsibility placed on me by the Commissioner in full recognition of the seriousness of the many issues raised by the task. The allegations arising out of the BALCO investigation that Major League players have used steroids and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs have caused fans and observers to question the integrity of play at the highest level of our national game. These allegations require close scrutiny."

For those who may have forgotten, the probe originally was only going to focus on events since September 2002, when the sport first began testing for performance-enhancing drugs, but Selig and Mitchell have the authority to expand it.