Report urges independent drug program

NEW YORK, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Dozens of baseball players, including seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, were implicated Thursday in a doping report released in New York.

The 20-month investigation led by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, D-Maine, also called for Major League Baseball to establish an independent drug-testing program and an investigation division in the baseball commissioner's office.

The more than 400-page report spread blame for the use of performance-enhancing substances across the broad -- starting with the Commissioner's Office and the players' union but including team officials and the players themselves.

"The use of steroids in major league baseball was widespread," Mitchell said. "The response by baseball was slow to develop and initially ineffective."

While the minority of players who used illegal substances were responsible for their actions, "they did not act in a vacuum. Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades ... shares in the responsibility."

Mitchell recommended Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig not punish players named in the report unless their actions were so egregious that disciplinary action was necessary to maintain the game's integrity.

A former New York Yankees trainer told Mitchell he injected Clemens with a substance and the pitcher's performance improved.

Current players named in the report include Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejeda, Paul Lo Duca and Eric Gagne. Some were alleged to have used human growth hormone and others steroids.