Shooting up at the ball game

The Mitchell report condemns the players of Major League Baseball but the shame should be shared by the administrators, owners and managers. The scale of the wrongdoing is such that most involved were cheats, fools or collaborators.

There is no way the records can be wiped and history re-written. The answer is simple. From Opening Day 2008 MLB should publish its banned substance list, introduce frequent and random testing and punish transgressors with immediate life bans for the players and an extra game in the lost column for the teams.

Why is this the answer? Simple, it costs the cheats and their employers money.

For the record Mr Bonds stood at the plate just 8 times when Mr Clemens was on the mound. In the juiciest of contests Mr Bonds struck out twice, was walked five times and hit by a pitch once. It is unlikely that this record will need revising in the future.