Former Senator George Mitchell, who led the investigations, said several All-Stars were suspected of using steroids and human growth hormones and called for the MLB to outsource drug-testing and form an investigative arm to pursue allegations of drug use.
MLB head Bud Selig said he embraced all the recommendations made and said ‘it was important for Baseball to face the issue of steroids head on”.
Mitchell's report concluded that there was evidence that all 30 Major League clubs were affected by the use of banned substances. “For more than a decade there has been widespread illegal use of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances by players in Major League Baseball in violation of federal law and baseball policy” he said.
Those linked to suspected drugs use include some of the sport's biggest stars: Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Eric Gagne, Miguel Tejada, David Justice, Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte.
All the players were invited to respond to the allegation, although whether they will face disciplinary action is unclear, especially as many of them no longer play in Major League teams.
Commissioner Selig said the report is ‘a call to action’ and would take the following three steps. “First … Senator Mitchell has made twenty recommendations, all of which I embrace. In fact, we have already adopted one of the recommendations and have eliminated the 24-hour notice that testers were giving clubs….
“Second… I will deal with the active players identified by Senator Mitchell as users of performance-enhancing substances. I will also review the comments made by Senator Mitchell about club personnel and will take appropriate action…
“And third… I will continue to be proactive about proposing new ways to detect and rid our sport of the use of performance-enhancing substances.”
