The Besthoff Report

It’s a chapter of baseball history many of us want to forget, for many different reasons. As a member of the news media, for being asleep at the switch, or just turning a blind eye, as a fan, for doing the same thing…and as a fantasy baseball manager, for reaping all the benefits of the “Steroid Era” and never, or rarely questioning this huge jump in stats for certain players.

I want to say this. I believe what former Senator Mitchell says about his report, that the players named represent “the tip of the iceberg.” I cannot tell you how many players I have noticed that have had precipitous dropoffs in their output. In some cases, it can be written off as old age. But usually that happens more gradually with players. Over the years, my team, The Scorpions, had many players either named in the report or suspected of using steroids and HGH … so here is the roster for:

“The Besthoff Report”

• Mark McGwire
• Sammy Sosa
• Roger Clemens
• Jay Gibbons
• Mike Lansing
• Jerry Hairston
• Jim Parque
• Kent Mercker
• David Segui
• Randy Velarde
• Gregg Zaun

To be honest, I always had suspicions about McGwire and Sosa … remembering again they were not named in the Mitchell Report. But they have been the subject of much, as we call it, “media speculation.” Both these guys were great sluggers in their own right long before they were suspected of using “the juice” … which brings many of us baseball fans to the next question: Should these players be penalized for using the stuff when considering their Hall of Fame status?

At first blush, you might say yes. Then consider this: We really don’t know all the players who used the juice, and we will never really know. In fact The Mitchell Report names a lot of the alleged violators…who were accused by only one person … so it’s the players’ word against someone else’s, and we’re going to crucify these guys for that?

People have said to me what about Barry Bonds? I mean, it appears he did something to change his body…and it looks like that may soon be proven in court. Let’s wait and see. And if it is proven in court, then what? If baseball writers decide to keep him out of the Hall of Fame, what about the others (Clemens) that have been named but whose cases may never come up in court?

I think what will happen in the end is Bonds and the others will get in the Hall … and probably deserve it, based at least on their “pre-juice” stats. The time they played in though, will always be written off as The Steroid Era … and that’s fine … because even if Major League Baseball never puts an asterisk next to someone like Bonds … there probably always will be one, at least, in my mind.

More on the Mitchell Report