Foul balls?

Re “A dark day for the game,” Dec. 14

Just as in the Black Sox scandal of the early 1900s, every single person involved in baseball’s current drug controversy should be banned from baseball for life. For the integrity of our nation’s national pastime, the ban must include not only the players named in the Mitchell Report but everyone associated with the problem, including owners who knew and simply ignored it.

Then-Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis had the courage to impose a lifetime ban from baseball on those White Sox players involved in the Black Sox scandal, and current Commissioner Bud Selig must do likewise: Every single player involved must go. Only then can we feel assured that this insidious mockery of our national pastime no longer exists.

Bill Mouzis

Lake Balboa

American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the definitive word on athletes -- they cheat. Fitzgerald’s protagonist, Nick Carraway, in “The Great Gatsby” watched the fictional golf legend Jordan Baker cheat while playing golf. Baker’s cheating resulted in her losing Carraway’s romantic interest. What matters is not that some athletes cheat, but how we respond to the discovery of their dishonesty.

If we continue to bestow wealth, trust and honor on the cheaters, then the devastating message that is conveyed to society in general and to youth in particular will diminish all our lives. The cheaters should never see the inside of the Hall of Fame unless they buy a ticket to go there for a visit. Pete Rose won’t see the Hall of Fame because he bet on baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds. The steroid cheaters should not occupy the same hallowed ground with Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle or Hank Aaron.

Mark M. Williams

Pasadena

Former Sen. George Mitchell’s report is a conviction of a large number of professional athletes without any attempt at a fair trial of the charges, and it is based on “ratting” by clubhouse stool pigeons.

Obviously, Mitchell has not cleansed himself of his political background. This report, naming names, is unfair and against our American principles.

Greg Parkos

Venice

“Just win, baby” is the credo for our capitalistic society, so we shouldn’t be surprised to see athletes, politicians, businessmen, religious leaders and even students use and abuse every weapon at their disposal to achieve their goals. If we don’t like the results, we have to speak up, vote for and put our hearts, minds and energy into better government, law and order, honesty and fairness. Or we can just continue to get what we pay for.

Hal Rothberg

Calabasas

This just in! Baseball players take performance-enhancing drugs! Well, duh!

Ed Coonce

Encinitas