Baseball drugs scandal hits home

The reputation of one of America's most popular and lucrative sports was in tatters yesterday after dozens of present and former major league baseball stars were named and shamed over widespread drug use. Some of the sport's biggest heroes have been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs, including New York Yankees pitchers Andy Pettitte (left) and Roger Clemens (right), San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds and Houston Astros shortstop Miguel Tejada. In total 86 players are named by the 409-page report, which is likely to prompt a revealuation of the sport's stars and a fresh look at long-established records.
  
The man behind the investigation - the biggest-ever into the sport's drug scandals - is George Mitchell, the former senator who played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process. He spent 20 months speaking to more than 700 people players including 60 former baseball players and researching 115,000 pages of documents.
 
The New York Times is sanguine about the report, dismissing it as "steroid-bloated", saying baseball will survive but its fallen heroes will not. Of Clemens, the most prominent player implicated by Miller, it says the Hall of Fame inductee will now  be "forever remembered for his butt" after the report detailed how former New York Yankees strength trainer Brian NcNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone.

Meanwhile left-hander Pettitte, one of baseball's best-loved pitchers, will be remembered for allowing himself to be injected with human growth hormone by former St Louis Cardinals power hitter Mark McGwire. McGwire's historic home run surge late in his career has also come into question due to his connection to the steroid scandal. ·