The best gift in sport’s Christmas stocking was the report this month that officially took the wrapping off US baseball’s worst-kept secret – the drug culture at its core.

Former senator George Mitchell’s document laid bare what most had long suspected, as spectators had begun to need tin hats as the home runs rained down on them. He revealed claims of widespread doping in the game for a decade, and named stars such as Barry Bonds among 78 players who had taken performance-enhancing substances.