Have you ever wondered what happened to the other names identified in the Mitchell Report? All we hear about now is on Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds. What about Jay Gibbons? Gibbons used to be an outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles and had even hit a three-run home run in a game against the Cleveland Indians in 2005. Unfortunately, his name was dampened by 2 unproductive seasons. It became worse because around that time, he was also named in the Mitchell Report for using anabolic steroids along with fellow athletes. Gibbons admitted to having used human growth hormone but he had medical reasons for it. He was suffering from a wrist injury. Amidst apologizing and trying to get back in the game, Gibbons was ostracized.
From The Miami Herald:
But Gibbons was caught in the worst of scenarios. Coming off two injury-riddled seasons, his production had fallen off. Once the steroid allegations arose and he was levied a 15-game suspension, it became that much easier for the Orioles to waive him near the end of spring training, despite owing him almost $12 million.
And it became so much harder for another team to justify signing him.
‘The first week I got released, you talk to your agents and it’s, `You’re going to get a big-league job, just hold on and wait,’ ” Gibbons said. ‘Then it went to, `We’ll get you a Triple A job,’ to ‘We’re calling Japan,’ to ‘We can’t find anything.’ ”
Just finding a job would be enough for Gibbons right now. He even went as far as writing a personal letter to all major-league general managers who, unfortunately, had all turned him down. Gibbons is an example of the tragedy that arose from the Mitchell Report whose legitimacy is still debatable.
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