New York ? Mind you, we’re probably way ahead of ourselves here – by at least two years – but baseball’s long-overdue investigation of potentially widespread steroid abuse in the ’90s is not the Mission Impossible many skeptics believe it to be.

And once it is completed, there are, in fact, severe punitive measures the commissioner can take against those found guilty – in particular, Hall-of-Fame eligibility – which the players union has no jurisdiction to grieve.

As for the investigation itself, it won’t be easy, especially without immediate subpoena power, as commissioner Bud Selig’s appointed steroids bloodhound, former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, acknowledged Thursday. Nevertheless, one person with first-hand experience in both drug investigations and the inner workings of baseball believes that Mitchell, with help from federal authorities, can get the job done.

“It is doable,” asserted Jack Lawn, who, before serving as Chief Operating Officer of the Yankees from 1990-96, was an FBI agent for 27 years and headed up the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for both Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr. for eight years. “The subpoena power will be a problem, but this will likely be a two-pronged process. The initial round is the gathering of information and evidence. There’s a lot out there within the law enforcement community.

“As far as the interviewing process within baseball is concerned, in my mind, the trainers are key. They know more than almost anyone else what goes on in the clubhouse and what players are taking what.

“After that, Mitchell will have to take his information to a grand jury, and get the U.S. Attorney’s office involved. The bottom line is, Major League Baseball needs to clear the air on all of this. The Players Association also hasn’t done a good job, but whether it’s Mitchell or someone he appoints, they need to sit down with (union general counsel) Gene Orza who I always found to be a reasonable person.”

Lawn might get a differing view about that from MLB officials. But you have to wonder, given his vast experience and connections in law enforcement and drug control, why Lawn wasn’t tapped by Selig for a prominent role in the investigation. Unlike Mitchell – whose directorship with the Red Sox and chairmanship of Disney (which through its subsidiary, ESPN Original Entertainment is producing Barry Bonds’ “Bonds on Bonds” documentary) has brought about strident conflict-of-interest charges – Lawn can add “totally independent” to all his impressive credentials.

Once the investigation is concluded and assuming Mitchell is able to deliver certified juicers to Selig’s table who broke federal laws, there is both precedent and sufficient cause under his “best interests of baseball powers” for the commissioner to place the offenders on the same ineligible list (which includes consideration for the Hall of Fame) as Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Federal offenses are thus grounds for the ultimate baseball punishment and there is also that clause in Hall-of-Fame eligibility rule five citing “integrity, sportsmanship and character.”