Steroids A Mainstay In Baseball's Lineup
Mitchell said the problems didn't develop overnight and there was plenty of blame to go around.
"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."
"The illegal use of performance-enhancing substances poses a serious threat to the integrity of the game," the report said. "Widespread use by players of such substances unfairly disadvantages the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the validity of baseball records."
Canseco, whose book "Juiced" was cited throughout, was mentioned the most often - 105 times. Bonds, already under indictment on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about steroids, was next, at 103.
A total of 20 Yankees, past and present, were identified. Players were linked to doping in various ways - some were identified as users, some as buyers and some by media reports and other investigations.
Former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski also provided information as part of his plea agreement in a federal steroids case.
Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive for steroids, was among the former players named. So were Kevin Brown, Benito Santiago, Lenny Dykstra, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Mo Vaughn, Wally Joyner and Todd Hundley.
Mike Stanton, Scott Schoeneweis, Ron Villone and Jerry Hairston Jr. were among the other current players identified.
"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, especially because none of their prime players were in the report.
"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, and Frank Thomas were the only current players known to have cooperated with the Mitchell investigation.
"The players' union was largely uncooperative for reasons that I thought were largely understandable," Mitchell said.
Union head Donald Fehr made "no apologies" for the way they represented players.
"Many players are named. Their reputations have been adversely affected, probably forever," he said. "Even if it turns out down the road that they should not have been."
Certainly a lot of people read the names. The report was downloaded 1.8 million times off MLB.com in the first three hours after it was posted.
About two hours after the report was released, two congressmen at the forefront of Capitol Hill's involvement in the steroids issue asked Mitchell, Selig and Fehr to testify at a House committee hearing Tuesday.
Also, a Congressional subcommittee will hold a hearing on Jan. 23 relating to steroid use in professional sports.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. "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."
Mitchell recommended that the drug-testing program be made independent, that a list of the substances players test positive for be issued periodically and that the timing of testing be more unpredictable.
Baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez says if there is truth in the Mitchell report, it will be a "huge black eye" for the game of baseball. Katie Couric speaks with Rodriguez on 60 Minutes this Sunday, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
"The illegal use of performance-enhancing substances poses a serious threat to the integrity of the game," the report said. "Widespread use by players of such substances unfairly disadvantages the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the validity of baseball records."
Canseco, whose book "Juiced" was cited throughout, was mentioned the most often - 105 times. Bonds, already under indictment on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about steroids, was next, at 103.
A total of 20 Yankees, past and present, were identified. Players were linked to doping in various ways - some were identified as users, some as buyers and some by media reports and other investigations.
Former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski also provided information as part of his plea agreement in a federal steroids case.
Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive for steroids, was among the former players named. So were Kevin Brown, Benito Santiago, Lenny Dykstra, Chuck Knoblauch, David Justice, Mo Vaughn, Wally Joyner and Todd Hundley.
Mike Stanton, Scott Schoeneweis, Ron Villone and Jerry Hairston Jr. were among the other current players identified.
"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, especially because none of their prime players were in the report.
"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, and Frank Thomas were the only current players known to have cooperated with the Mitchell investigation.
"The players' union was largely uncooperative for reasons that I thought were largely understandable," Mitchell said.
Union head Donald Fehr made "no apologies" for the way they represented players.
"Many players are named. Their reputations have been adversely affected, probably forever," he said. "Even if it turns out down the road that they should not have been."
Certainly a lot of people read the names. The report was downloaded 1.8 million times off MLB.com in the first three hours after it was posted.
About two hours after the report was released, two congressmen at the forefront of Capitol Hill's involvement in the steroids issue asked Mitchell, Selig and Fehr to testify at a House committee hearing Tuesday.
Also, a Congressional subcommittee will hold a hearing on Jan. 23 relating to steroid use in professional sports.
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Now they''re #1 in juiced players... Clemens, Pettitte, I count at least 22 current or former pinstriped supermen.
All their achievements are now tarnished and the Yankees'' four World Series championships can kiss my drug-free *ss!!
More evidence that George Bushit is a lying cockroach!
I couldn''t agree more with you.
Mandatory, random drug testing is what keeps the friendly skies safe and many other businesses to boot. I think it''s criminally irresponsible that we don''t have drug testing in our schools and in many other areas of society.
and congress is worried over sports?
this is sick
If we legalize and tax all the drug sales that are poisoning our kids we could do away with our national debt in short order.
Did you know that there are tens of millions of our kids having their health, educations and futures destroyed by all the drugs we allow in our High Schools, Junior High Schools and Grade Schools? Yes, that%u2019s right, I said "allow" we could stop it but we don''t cause there''s just too much money in it.
$$$$$$$$$$$$ BILLIONS $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Sorry, WRONG! You can definitely take an overdose of steroids. Did you mean to say that it probably won''t immediately kill you when you overdose? That would be true. HOWEVER, didn''t you hear about the professional wrestler, Chris Benoit, who got "roid rage" from the excessive amount of steroids he was taking and killed his wife and kid, and then himself? This happened just 6 months ago!
"Roid Rage", caused by taking too many steroids, causes paranoia, depression and violent, explosive outbursts. It''s just "wishful thinking" on your part to say, "your[sic]... not going to hurt anyone."