Dec 13, 2007 12:37 pm US/Pacific
Mitchell Report Names Baseball Steroid Users
Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada and Andy Pettitte Some Of Best Known Players Identified
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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George J. Mitchell points to a reporter as he announces results of his 20-month investigation into performance-enhancing drug use in baseball at a press conference in New York.
Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images
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Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens is one of the first names to emerge Thursday from the Mitchell report. (File)
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
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Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte another one of the names to emerge Thursday from the Mitchell report. (File)
AP
Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada and Andy Pettitte were named in the long-awaited Mitchell Report on Thursday,
an All-Star roster linked to steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs that put a question mark - if not an asterisk - next to some of baseball's biggest moments.
Barry Bonds, already under indictment on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about steroids, and Gary Sheffield also showed up in baseball's most infamous lineup since the Black Sox scandal.
The report culminated a 20-month investigation by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, hired by commissioner Bud Selig to examine the Steroids Era.
"Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades - commissioners, club officials, the players' association and players - shares to some extent the responsibility for the steroids era," Mitchell said. "There was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and to deal with it early on."
Eric Gagne, Jason Giambi, Troy Glaus, Gary Matthews Jr., Jose Guillen, Brian Roberts, Paul Lo Duca and Rick Ankiel were among other current players named in the report. Some were linked to Human Growth Hormone, others to steroids.
Clemens was singled out in nearly nine pages, with much of the information on the seven-time Cy Young Award winner coming from former New York Yankees major league strength and conditioning coach Brian McNamee. More than a dozen Yankees, past and present, were among the 75-plus players identified.
"According to McNamee, from the time that McNamee injected Clemens with Winstrol through the end of the 1998 season, Clemens' performance showed remarkable improvement," the report said. "During this period of improved performance, Clemens told McNamee that the steroids 'had a pretty good effect' on him."
McNamee also told investigators that "during the middle of the 2000 season, Clemens made it clear that he was ready to use steroids again. During the latter part of the regular season, McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone from a bottle labeled either Sustanon 250 or Deca-Durabolin."
Mitchell urged Selig to hold off on punishing players in the report "except in those cases where he determines that the conduct is so serious that discipline is necessary to maintain the integrity of the game."
Several stars named in the report could pay the price in
Cooperstown, much the way Mark McGwire was kept out of the Hall of Fame this year merely because of steroids suspicion.
"Former commissioner Fay Vincent told me that the problem of performance-enhancing substances may be the most serious challenge that baseball has faced since the 1919 Black Sox scandal," Mitchell said in the 409-page report.
"The illegal use of anabolic steroids and similar substances, in Vincent's view, is 'cheating of the worst sort.' He believes that it is imperative for Major League Baseball to 'capture the moral high ground' on the issue and, by words and deeds, make it clear that baseball will not tolerate the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs."
Kevin Brown, Benito Santiago, Lenny Dykstra, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice and Mo Vaughn were among former players named.
"We identify some of the players who were caught up in this drive to gain a competitive advantage," the report said. "Other investigations will no doubt turn up more names and fill in more details, but that is unlikely to significantly alter the description of baseball's `steroids era' as set forth in this report."
Mitchell is a director of the Boston Red Sox, and some questioned whether that created a conflict.
"Judge me by my work," Mitchell said. "You will not find any evidence of bias, special treatment, for the Red Sox or anyone else. That had no effect on this investigation or this report, none whatsoever."
Giambi, under threat of discipline from Selig, was the only current player known to have cooperated with the Mitchell investigation.
"The players' union was largely uncooperative for reasons that I thought were largely understandable," Mitchell said.
PLAYERS NAMED IN THE REPORT INCLUDE:- Chad Allen
- Rick Ankiel
- David Bell
- Mike Bell
- Marvin Benard
- Gary Bennett, Jr.
- Larry Bigbie
- Barry Bonds
- Kevin Brown
- Paul Byrd
- Jose Canseco
- Mark Carreon
- Jason Christiansen
- Howie Clark
- Roger Clemens
- Jack Cust
- Brendan Donnelly
- Chris Donnels
- Lenny Dykstra
- Bobby Estalella
- Matt Franco
- Ryan Franklin
- Eric Gagne
- Jason Giambi
- Jeremy Giambi
- Jay Gibbons
- Troy Glaus
- Jason Grimsley
- Jose Guillen
- Jerry Hairston, Jr.
- Matt Herges
- Phil Hiatt
- Glenallen Hill
- Darren Holmes
- Todd Hundley
- David Justice
- Chuck Knoblauch
- Tim Laker
- Mike Lansing
- Paul Lo Duca
- Exavier "Nook" Logan
- Josias Manzanillo
- Gary Matthews, Jr.
- Mark McGwire
- Cody McKay
- Kent Mercker
- Bart Miadich
- Hal Morris
- Daniel Naulty
- Denny Neagle
- Rafael Palmeiro
- Jim Parque
- Andy Pettitte
- Adam Piatt
- Todd Pratt
- Adam Riggs
- Brian Roberts
- John Rocker
- F.P. Santangelo
- Benito Santiago
- Scott Schoeneweis
- David Segui
- Gary Sheffield
- Miguel Tejada
- Ismael Valdez
- Mo Vaughn
- Randy Velarde
- Ron Villone
- Fernando Vina
- Rondell White
- Jeff Williams
- Matt Williams
- Todd Williams
- Steve Woodard
- Kevin Young
- Gregg Zaun
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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