The steroid scandal: How will it affect our national pastime?

Published: 2007-12-21

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When former Sen. George Mitchell issued his 409-page report Dec. 13 on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, it brought a fresh round of controversy to the sport. Two House panels announced Dec. 18 they would conduct hearings in mid-January on the latest steroid scandal. Congress last looked at steroids in sports in 2005 after the publication of former big leaguer -- and admitted steroid user -- Jose Canseco's book, "Juiced," which named several top players as steroid users, many of them former teammates of his. The Mitchell report, written at Major League Baseball's behest, named more than 90 current and retired ballplayers as drug users. George Eichorn, a Catholic who is executive director of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association and sports editor for the weekly Detroit Monitor, said the report's details are distressing in that "these are players that young people and fans of all ages looked up to."

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