Clemens, Bonds, Tejeda named in Mitchell Report
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - Roger Clemens turned out to be Exhibit A in the long-awaited Mitchell Report, an All-Star roster linked to steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs that put a question mark - if not an asterisk - next to some of baseball's biggest moments.

Barry Bonds, already under indictment on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about steroids, Miguel Tejada and Andy Pettitte also showed up Thursday in the game's most infamous lineup since the Black Sox scandal.

The report culminated a 20- month investigation by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, hired by commissioner Bud Selig to examine the Steroids Era.

Seven MVPs showed up and in all, 80-some players were fingered, enough to put an All-Star at every position.

No one was hit harder than Clemens, who denied the allegations. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner was singled out in nearly nine pages, 82 references by name. Much of the information on Clemens came from former New York Yankees major league strength and conditioning coach Brian McNamee.

''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.''

While the records will surely stand, several stars could pay the price in Cooperstown, much the way Mark McGwire was kept out of the Hall of Fame this year merely because of steroids suspicion.

''If there are problems, I wanted them revealed,'' the commissioner said. ''His report is a call to action, and I will act.''

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.''

Mitchell recommended that the drug-testing program be made independent, that a list of the substances players test positive for be listed periodically and that the timing of testing be more unpre- dictable.

Eric Gagne, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi, Troy Glaus, Gary Matthews Jr., Paul Byrd, Jose Guillen, Brian Roberts, Paul Lo Duca and Rick Ankiel were among other current players named in the report - in fact, there's an All-Star at every position.

Some were linked to Human Growth Hormone, others to steroids.

Only Bonds was mentioned more than Clemens, 103 times, most of it recounting previous reports.

More than a dozen 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.

''According to McNamee, from the time that McNamee injected Clemens with Winstrol through the end of the 1998 season, Clemens' performance showed remarkable improvement,'' the report said. ''During this period of improved performance, Clemens told McNamee that the steroids 'had a pretty good effect' on him.''

McNamee also told investigators that ''during the middle of the 2000 season, Clemens made it clear that he was ready to use steroids again. During the latter part of the regular season, McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone from a bottle labeled either Sustanon 250 or Deca-Durabolin.''

''It is very unfair to include Roger's name in this report,'' said Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin. ''He is left with no meaningful way to combat what he strongly contends are totally false allegations. Hehas not been charged with anything, he will not be charged with anything and yet he is being tried in the court of public opinion with no recourse. That is totally wrong.''