The American Spectator

p> UNLEVEL PLAYING FIELD br> Re: Paul Beston’s Steroids and the Culture of Narcissism : /p>

Senator Mitchell’s Report told us nothing we, the public, didn’t already know. That it included names made it salacious. The heroes are just like us, see?

Baseball is their business, their livelihoods, and they are in competition with each other to stay in business. That they would avail themselves of anything and everything to assure they retain their positions is not news. People in business do it everyday.

That players earn fantastic sums of money is not what separates them from the public that worships their records and achievements. Entertainers in every other venue earn sums over long careers far greater than do any one player in a career lasting but a few years. That the playing field, no pun intended, is unlevel is more the issue. There’s not a sandlot player alive who hasn’t thought, “If I had done steroids, maybe I could have made it to The Bigs, too.”

p>This was not mentioned in the column. The fans respect achievement, but not if the ability to achieve is tilted towards those whose talents are augmented artificially. br> — Laney Bormel br> Parkton, Maryland /p>

George Mitchell used to be a Senator.