Homegrown talent and store-bought superstars — the Yankees formula for success for their 27th World Series championship claimed Wednesday with a Game Six victory over the Philadelphia Phillies that returned the team to the winners’ circle for the first time in what seemed to Yankee Nation like an endless nine years of waiting.

A bottomless checking account for free agents is not the only thing making the Yankees great.

Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada, four pillars of the Yankee teams that won four Fall Classic titles in five years starting in 1996, all came up through the farm system and were still thriving on the October/November stage in 2009.

Young fireballers Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes were developed by the Yanks, as was second baseman Robinson Cano.

There is no question, however, that the New York high-rollers have a big advantage in their gambles to hit the jackpot with the right free-agent signings, and the Yankees have been vilified in some quarters for outspending the competition to win their titles.

Their 2009 payroll of $200-plus million was about $100 million more than the Phils. More than $420 million in off-season free agent signings netted the Bronx Bombers CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira.

Baseball’s highest paid player, Alex Rodriguez, mans the middle of the batting order, and Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui single-handedly overpowered the Phillies in the Series clincher with a record tying six RBIs.

Meanwhile, TV ratings for this World Series were the highest in recent years.

So the Yankees back to winning — good or bad for baseball?

PHOTO: New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia holds the MLB World Series championship trophy while being sprayed with champagne in the locker room after the Yankees defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 of the 2009 Major League Baseball World Series in New York November 4, 2009. The victory was the 27th World Series win in Yankees history. REUTERS/Mike Segar

“The cat - mmrrrooowwwrr - is out of the bag!” - Seinfeld’s Cosmo Kramer upon the realization that his first name had finally been revealed.

Alex Rodriguez (click link for video), Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are among the players linked to performance enhancing drugs. The cat, is most definitely out of the bag.

When MLB players agreed to participate in a 2003 test survey to see if baseball did indeed have a PED problem, the players were assured that the results would be kept confidential. However, after the results were seized by federal agents during the BALCO investigation, some of the names that tested positive have been outed.

The question now, is what to do? Instead of a new name being leaked every few months followed by the inevitable, ensuing debate on what needs to be done to fix the problem, it’s time for baseball to deal with this once and for all.

How about this for a solution — after the conclusion of the 2009 World Series, Major League Baseball needs to hold a one-week grace period. Any player who has ever taken a banned substance during their professional career is allowed to come forward, admit to their foolish behavior and all will be forgiven. The ‘guilty’ will not have their records erased, or even asterisked. Their past indiscretions will not affect Hall of Fame eligibility. Their status will not be questioned by the media after this date. One week of hell for the player and then it’s over.

Too easy, you say. Why would any player admit to this when they’ve been able to skate by so far?

Here’s the catch. At the end of this grace period any player found using PED’s in the future, or if a positive test from the past surfaces, that is it. LIFE TIME BAN! No exceptions, no reprieves. You lose all rights as a ball player. The offending person is banned from ever playing, coaching or even being the team’s mascot.

To make this work, MLB will have to set-up special PED division. It will have an up-to-the minute list of banned substances and experts on hand for consultation. If a player wants to take cold medication or some form of creatine powder, they should be able to contact this office at any time and get an immediate ruling on a product. If this PED division ok’s a substance, a player can take it knowing that they’ll be fine. No more excuses from players saying they took a banned substance unknowingly.

Is this solution perfect? Of course not. But baseball has to act, and act quickly.

The deference once shown to the stars of America’s favorite pastime has given way to widespread cynicism when records are shattered, especially since Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa engaged in a spirited race in 1998 to break Roger Maris’s single-season record of 61 home runs, a chase that gripped the country with excitement.

In a bid to remove clouds of suspicion chronicled in the book Game of Shadows, Major League Baseball commissioned the “Mitchell Report”. While baseball is not the only sport facing problems, it’s the only sport so invested in an image of sweet American innocence.

Last week, a congressional committee announced it will revisit Sosa’s testimony after a newspaper reported he had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 (Alex Rodriguez’s name was also leaked from the same supposedly anonymous survey of 104 players who tested positive in 2003, but that’s a totally different topic).

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s review came shortly after Sosa told ESPN’s Spanish-language service, that he’s about to formally announce his retirement and “calmly wait” for his induction into baseball’s Hall of Fame, for which he will become eligible in 2013.

Meanwhile, Pete Rose, who’s never been suspected or convicted of using banned substances, remains persona non grata at Cooperstown despite holding some impressive records: all-time Major League leader in hits (4,256), three World Series rings, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves, the Rookie of the Year Award, and made 17 All-Star appearances at an unequaled five different positions (2B, LF, RF, 3B, and 1B).

Twenty years ago, Rose agreed to permanent ineligibility from baseball amidst accusations that he gambled on baseball games while playing for and managing the Reds.

In this context, should those suspected of having taken drugs be banned from entering Cooperstown?