Big Baseball Names Named in Steroids Report, Better Drug-Testing Sought
Updated: Although baseball fans are still awaiting official word of what George Mitchell says in the report to be released this afternoon concerning steroids use in Major League Baseball, word has leaked of some of the high-profile players allegedly on the list of at least 50 who have used steroids or other performance-enhancing substances.
Among them: pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, reports CNN, in a roundup of other coverage. However, “only one name is sure to be on Mitchell’s list—David Segui, who retired in 2004 after 15 seasons,” the news agency reports. “Segui has admitted to using steroids and human growth hormone during that time.” The New York Times says a former trainer gave Mitchell information about Clemens and Pettitte.
WNBC, in New York, which initially posted an unofficial list of players named by Mitchell, and then took it down, after it was claimed to be inaccurate, promises to post the official list as soon as possible. The unofficial list that the station obtained initially “contains multple MVP and Cy Young award winners” and “is littered with names of All-Stars past and present,” the station writes.
“In recent years, some of the league’s biggest stars have been linked to using either anabolic steroids or human growth hormone, including sluggers Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Ken Caminiti and, topping the list, all-time home run leader Barry Bonds,” reports amNew York—although it doesn’t claim that these players are named in Mitchell’s report.
Players—even those who have retired—who are found to have violated the rules of the game could potentially face major disciplinary action, reports Sports Illustrated. However, some wonder whether, as a practical matter, it will make any difference in a sport in which steroids are apparently so prevalent.
“Billed as a landmark endeavor in a sport whose record books have been rewritten by ballplayers on The Juice, the Mitchell report may point plenty of fingers. But will it solve any of baseball’s problems?” writes the National Post, a Canadian newspaper. “Mitchell will name 60 to 80 players. The question is, what can Major League Baseball do about it?”
The answer to that question, says the Washington Post, is plenty. The Mitchell report “will lay blame at all levels of the sport for a widespread drug problem and call for drastic changes in the league’s drug-testing program, according to sources briefed on the investigation,” the newspaper writes.
More details of the investigation by Mitchell, a former prosecutor and U.S. senator who now works for DLA Piper, are discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post.
Updated at 12:56 p.m. CST.
