The Mitchell Report Names 89 Players Linked to Performance-Enhancing Drugs

On December 13, 2007, former United States Senator George Mitchell released his 409-page report on the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone in Major League Baseball. The document, the product of a 20-month investigation commissioned by Commissioner Bud Selig, named 89 players and described what Mitchell called "a serious drug culture" that touched every one of the 30 major league teams.

The names included some of the sport's biggest stars. Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, was linked to repeated use of steroids and HGH. Andy Pettitte, his longtime teammate on the Yankees and Astros, was also named. So were Miguel Tejada, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, and Eric Gagne, among dozens of others.

The report drew heavily on the testimony of two key witnesses. Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse attendant, and Brian McNamee, a personal trainer who had worked with Clemens and Pettitte, provided detailed accounts of drug distribution and use. Their cooperation gave the investigation specifics that earlier inquiries had lacked.

Mitchell recommended strengthening the league's testing program, increasing penalties for violations, and investigating the institutional failures that had allowed the problem to grow. He also urged the sport to move forward rather than pursue retroactive punishment for every player named.

The public reaction was intense. MLB.com recorded 1.8 million downloads of the report in the first three hours after it was posted. Congressional hearings followed in early 2008, where Clemens and McNamee testified with contradictory accounts.

The Mitchell Report did not end the debate over performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. But it forced the sport to confront publicly what many insiders had known privately for years. The era's statistical records remain contested, and several players named in the report have been denied entry to the Hall of Fame by voters.