Clemens, Pettitte named in Mitchell Report

Yankees pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte are the most prominent players identified as users of performance-enhancing drugs in the Mitchell Report, which was released Thursday afternoon.

Former Met Paul Lo Duca, who was recently signed by the Washington Nationals, also was identified.

But the most stunning aspect of the report, which was completed by the former Senator George Mitchell, is the great detail he goes into Clemens' past, which was based on eyewitness testimony by his longtime trainer Brian McNamee. Considering how quickly the public opinion of Mark McGwire turned on him, Clemens' Hall of Fame status now has to be in serious doubt.

Clemens, who was singled out in nearly nine pages with 82 references by name, vehemently denied the allegations in Mitchell's report through his attorney, Rusty Hardin.

"The use of steroids in sports is a serious problem, it is wrong and it should be stopped," Hardin said in a statement. "However, I am extremely upset that Roger's name was in this report based on the allegations of a troubled and unreliable witness who only came up with names after being threatened with possible prison time."

Pettitte declined to comment, but his agent, Randy Hendricks, also issued a statement.

"I have advised Andy that as an active player, he should refrain from commenting until we have had an opportunity to speak with his union and other advisors," Hendricks said. "At the appropriate time, he will have something to say."

Commissioner Bud Selig held a news conference later in the afternoon and said he will use the Mitchell Report to help clean up his sport.

Many players with former ties to the Mets also are named, which makes sense considering that Mitchell relied so heavily on former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski. Part of Radomski's plea agreement with the federal government after he was charged last year was to cooperate with Mitchell's investigation into baseball's steroid problem.

Those players include Lenny Dykstra, Todd Hundley, Chris Donnels, Mark Carreon and Josias Manzanillo. Lo Duca also is connected with Radomski, as is former Yankees reliever Ron Villone, according to the report. In all, there are 12 past and present Mets named.

Eighteen past and present Yankees are on the list. Former Yankees Kevin Brown, Mike Stanton, Rondell White, Glenallen Hill, Chuck Knoblauch and David Justice are among those implicated in the report.

In total, the report names 88 players, both past and present, including seven MVPs. The report is 409 pages followed by four appendixes, including copied checks and FedEx receipts.

The main sources for Mitchell's information are Radomski and former Yankees strength coach and longtime Clemens and Pettitte trainer McNamee, who was threatened by the government with litigation for his role if he did not cooperate with Mitchell.

After Mitchell details each player's steroid use, he states how he tried to contact them so they could explain, defend or deny the charges, but no active player except Jason Giambi spoke with Mitchell. At his news conference Thursday, Mitchell said, "The players were largely uncooperative, for reasons that were largely understandable."

There are also no prominent Red Sox players mentioned in the report, which is at least somewhat curious because Mitchell refused to resign from his role as part of the Red Sox management team during this investigation. Mitchell denied giving any special treatment to the Red Sox because of his title.

"There is no evidence of bias or special treatment to Red Sox in this report, or anybody else, because there isn't any," Mitchell said. "That had no effect."

McNamee told Mitchell that Clemens took peformance-enhancing drugs during the 1998, 2000 and 2001 seasons. Those drugs include Winstrol in 1998, "testosterone from a bottle labeled either Sustanon 250 or Deca-Durabolin that McNamee had obtained from Radomski" and human growth hormone in 2000, and "Sustanon or Deca-Durabolin" in 2001.

The report states McNamee admitted to injecting the drugs into Clemens' buttocks on various occasions.

Pettitte, according to the report, first asked McNamee about human growth hormone during the 2001-02 off-season and McNamee said he discouraged him. But Pettitte experienced an elbow injury early the next season and asked McNamee again about HGH.

McNamee, the report then states, traveled to Tampa, where Pettitte was rehabbing, and "injected Pettitte with human growth hormone that McNamee obtained from Radomski on two to four occasions."

Hundley is the biggest Mets player to appear on the list, and the report states he started taking steroids in 1996, the year he set the record for most home runs by a catcher with 41. His previous high was 16.

The report states, "Radomski stated that, beginning in 1996, he sold Deca-Durabolin and testosterone to Hundley on three or four occasions. At the beginning of that year, Radomski told Hundley that if he used steroids, he would hit 40 home runs. Hundley hit 41 home runs in 1996, having never hit more than 16 in any prior year. After the season, Radomski said, Hundley took him out to dinner."

Hundley is listed in the address book seized from Radomski's house.

Hundley also referred Lo Duca to Radomski while they were Dodger teammates, according to the report. "Radomski estimated that he engaged in six or more transactions with Lo Duca," the report states. Copies of checks Lo Duca wrote are listed in the appendix.

Brown is referred to Radomski by Lo Duca when they were Dodgers teammates, the report states. In their first phone conversation Radomski said they spoke for "one to two hours" about HGH and described Brown as "very knowledgeable." (Brown majored in chemical engineering at Georgia Tech). Radomski estimated he sold Brown HGH five or six times over a two or three-year span, and Brown used to buy multiple kits of HGH. Brown, according to the report, would overnight as much as $10,000 cash to Radomski's doorstep.

Agents seized an Express Mail receipt dated June 7, 2004. That's interesting because that very same week Brown, then in his first year with the Yankees, hurt his back, an injury that bothered him the rest of the year.

Selig said he will deal with the 20 recommendations made by Mitchell. He said he will also deal with the active players identified by Mitchell, and will continue to propose ways to rid his sport of steroids.

"(Mitchell's) report is a call to action," Selig said. "And I will act. I will continue to deal with the issue of performance-enhancing substance abuse."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.