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Steroids Flood Baseball, Mitchell Says; Clemens Named (Update5)

By Danielle Sessa and Mason Levinson

Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Major League Baseball players and management ignored a flood of drug use in the sport, according to findings of a 20-month investigation that said All-Stars such as Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Miguel Tejada used steroids or human growth hormone.

Former Senator George J. Mitchell, appointed by baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to conduct the probe, recommended that the league use an outside agency for drug testing and create its own team to investigate steroid use that has tarnished the sport at the same time the game's record books have been rewritten and attendance and revenue have reached all-time highs.

``The use of steroids in Major League Baseball was widespread,'' Mitchell said. ``The response by baseball was slow to develop and was initially ineffective.''

He urged Selig not to punish those mentioned in the report unless they were involved in ``serious'' violations.

Selig said at a later news conference that he would deal with active players mentioned in the report ``on a case-by-case basis.'' He also said he would eliminate an advance-notice window on drug tests and push research on testing for human growth hormone.

The 311-page report, along with 23 pages of canceled checks, also cited current and former players such as Chuck Knoblauch, Lenny Dykstra, Mo Vaughn, Paul Lo Duca, David Segui, Rondell White, Eric Gagne, Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds, the career home-run leader who was indicted on charges of obstructing justice when he denied knowingly using steroids before a U.S. grand jury.

`Collective Failure'

``Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades - - commissioners, club officials, the players association, the players -- shares to some extent in 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.''

There was no immediate response from union chief Donald Fehr, who has a news conference scheduled for later today. Fay Vincent, Selig's predecessor as commissioner, declined to comment.

Reaction from Capitol Hill was swift, with two U.S. House panels announcing hearings on steroids. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said it would hear from Selig, Fehr and Mitchell on Dec. 18, while a Commerce subcommittee said it would hold hearings Jan. 23.

``The Mitchell report is sobering,'' Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said in a joint statement with ranking minority member Tom Davis. ``We look forward to their testimony on whether the Mitchell report's recommendations will be adopted and whether additional measures are needed.''

Players Silent

Dykstra declined to comment, and other players named weren't immediately available for comment. Randy Hendricks, an agent for Clemens and Pettitte, said he would comment after reading the report.

Selig now must determine what, if any, disciplinary procedures will be imposed, as he's already done with several players before today's report. The investigation was limited to events before September 2002, when the league and players union agreed to ban performance-enhancing drugs.

``I urge the commissioner to forgo imposing discipline on players for past violations of baseball's rules on performance- enhancing substances, including the players named in this 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,'' Mitchell said.

Robert Kheel, who teaches sports law at Columbia University, said the report would be a useful foundation for future efforts at monitoring performance-enhancing drugs.

``I don't see it as the end,'' Kheel said in a telephone interview.

Dr. Gary Wadler, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said the report was a step in the right direction while short on details.

No `Home Run'

``I don't think they hit a home run today,'' Wadler said in an interview.

Mitchell's report said much of his information came from a criminal investigation involving Kirk Radomski, a former New York Mets clubhouse worker, and a probe by state prosecutors in Albany, New York. He lacked the power to force testimony and said that hindered his work.

Clemens, with a record seven Cy Young Awards as the best pitcher in his league, and Pettitte used drugs with the help of a former New York Yankees strength trainer, Brian NcNamee, Mitchell said.

``Clemens approached McNamee and, for the first time, brought up the subject of using steroids,'' the report said. ``Clemens said that he was not able to inject himself, and he asked for McNamee's help. Later that summer, Clemens asked McNamee to inject him with Winstrol, which Clemens supplied.''

Clemens's Use

Winstrol is a brand name for the steroid stanozolol. Mitchell said Clemens received four injections over several weeks in 1998, and more once he moved to the Yankees in 2000 and 2001. Clemens also was injected with human growth hormone in 2000, the report said.

Mitchell said Pettitte approached McNamee in 2002 looking for help ``to speed his recovery'' from elbow tendonitis.

``McNamee traveled to Tampa at Pettitte's request and spent about 10 days assisting Pettitte with his rehabilitation,'' Mitchell said. ``McNamee recalled that he injected Pettitte with human growth hormone that McNamee obtained from Radomski on two to four occasions.''

The investigation followed a decade of speculation that coincided with bigger players and higher home-run totals.

Revenue, Attendance

That period also brought the sport unprecedented income and popularity. Revenue more than tripled, to $6 billion this year from $1.78 billion in 1996, the first full season after the players' strike that wiped out the 1994 World Series. Attendance climbed to 79 million fans from 60 million.

Selig appointed Mitchell after a book, ``Game of Shadows,'' reported that Bonds used steroids. A year earlier, Congress heard testimony from players Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro on drug use in the sport.

Bonds was indicted on Nov. 15, three months after he broke baseball's career home run record, for lying to a federal grand jury about his steroid use. The former San Francisco Giants outfielder pleaded not guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice charges on Dec. 8.

More than a dozen major-league players have been suspended for violating baseball's performance-enhancing drug policy since the sport began punishing first-time offenders in 2005.

``Everyone in Major League Baseball should join in a cooperative and sustained effort to bring the era of steroids and human growth hormone to an end, and to prevent its recurrence, in some other form, in the future,'' Mitchell said. ``That's the only way this cloud will be removed from the game.''