The Mitchell Report makes for fun games

Jeff did a great job covering the serious aspects of the Mitchell Report. It is no surprise to me that somewhere around 15 of those players played for New York at some point, considering the biggest testimonials came from New York trainers. As Jeff also mentioned, we knew players such as Clemens, Pettitte, Tejada and Bonds among others were going to be listed.

But can't there be some fun to this madness? This is our version of McCarthyism, or the Salem Witch Trials. This is the society of baseball fans' chance to throw caution to the wind and flat out accuse people of using substances.

I had a conversation with my Dad over the summer, and we sat at a dinner table and started to list players we thought could be on it. Not simply a "point-your-finger-at-someone-for-being-successful" type deal, but rather, track Jose Canseco and other openly admitted steroid users and see where they go and who, based on inconsistent numbers, injury patterns, or physical appearances they may have impacted.

This is an abbreviated list of players I came up with that day. Some were not listed until today and some have still not, and may never be listed, seeing as I have no proof except some logic and a hunch about any of these guys.

• Albert Belle (played in Baltimore, all of them are suspects)
• Brian Roberts (ditto)
• Geronimo Berroa (played with Canseco and McGwire in Oakland)
• Brady Anderson (still waiting and I'm positive he was on it)
• Glenallen Hill (thank you Mr. Mitchell)
• Rondell White (ditto)
• Ron Karkovice (way too much acne, way too much power on the White Sox)
• Paul Konerko (numbers)
• Todd Hundley (thank you Mr. Mitchell)
• Troy O'Leary (teammates with Jose Canseco and...)
• Mo Vaughn (very proud of this one, though I thought he would have done it with Canseco in Boston)
• Paul Sorrento (the whole mid 90s Mariners and Orioles teams broke all the home run records; does this surprise anybody?)
• David Segui (to be fair, I had not heard he admitted to it when I accused him)
• Jay Buhner (still waiting)
• Eric Gagne (numbers followed by injuries, along with physical stature)
• Rico Brogna (still waiting)
• Nomar Garciaparra (this was my daring guess based on numbers, physical stature and now injuries, I'm kind of surprised he wasn't listed.)
• Ivan Rodriguez (part of the Texas teams whom I suspect, Canseco played there too)
• Juan Gonzalez (ditto)
• Rusty Greer (I'm pretty sure he has since admitted to it)

That's just a sample. It's much harder for me to try and think of pitchers on it because I'm not really sure what to look for, but I personally was pleased I caught some on the list ahead of time.

The sad part of all of this is I'm not sure if I made a roster of all steroid users, they would even be that good of a team. I mean, I could include Bonds and Clemens, but at what point of their careers?

Players I found surprising:

• Kevin Brown (maybe I was concentrating too much on his time with the Yankees, when his body was already falling apart)
• Nook Logan (has anybody looked at the guy?)
• Chuck Knoblauch (at first I was shocked, but now I know why he liked throwing the ball into the stands so much....He was too powerful)
• Denny Neagle (again, too many Yankees memories to think he could have benefitted from anything that "enhances" abilities.
• Mike Stanton (just plain weird to think about)
• Randy Velarde (didn't benefit)
• Darren Holmes (same type of guy as Stanton)

Your turn. Who have you suspected before? Did they make the report? Do you still suspect them? Any surprises on the Mitchell Report whether you thought they would be on or not on it?

List of players in the Mitchell Report

Finally, I part you with this: The best moment of Jose Canseco's career: