The Mitchell Report: No Current Cubs Named; Sosa's Name Absent; Former Cubs Named; Karchner Wouldn't Name 1999 Cubs Users

Based on a quick review, there are no current Chicago Cubs players linked to performance enhancing substances in the Mitchell Report. There are, however, a number of former Cubs discussed, along with rumored acquisition target Brian Roberts. Sammy Sosa's name is absent, other than a brief mention that he declined to answer Mitchell's questions.

Larry Bigbie told Mitchell that "Roberts admitted to him that he had injected himself once or twice with steroids in 2003." Roberts declined to meet with Mitchell.

Much of the rest of the information concerning former Cubs comes from former New York Mets trainer Kirk Radomski:

  • Radomski sold performance-enhancing substances to former Cubs catcher Todd Hundley, according to Radomski. Hundley declined to meet with Mitchell. One of Hundley's teammates with the Dodgers, Chris Donnels, stated he had "extensive discussions with Hundley about his performance enhancing substance use and about Radomski while they were teammates."
  • According to Radomski, Matt Franco purchased steriods from him on one occasion in 2000. Franco denied the allegation and denied ever knowing or hearing of Radomski.
  • According to Radomski, Rondell White purchased performance enhancing substances from him beginning in 2000.
  • Glenallen Hill admitted that he purchased performance enhancing substances from Radomski in 2000 or 2001, but denied ever using them.
  • According to Radomski, former Cubs catcher Todd Pratt purchased steriods from him while Pratt was a member of the New York Mets.
  • According to Radomski, former Cubs relief pitcher Kent Mercker purchased one kit of human growth hormone from him in October 2002.
  • According to Radomski, he sold human growth hormone to Jerry Hairston, Jr. on two or three ocassions during 2003 and 2004.

Additionally, former Cubs reliever Matt Karcher provided the following information to Mitchell:

Karchner said that during spring training in 1999, he observed two of his Chicago Cubs teammates inject themselves with steroids in an apartment that Karchner was sharing with them. Karchner declined to identify the players. He said that one of the players brought the steroids to the apartment but was afraid of needles and therefore asked the second player to administer the shot. The second player injected the first player with steroids in the buttocks and then injected himself. Later that season, Karchner was offered steroids by certain of his Cubs teammates. Karchner would not disclose the names of players who offered him steroids, but he said that the conversations he had with them involved the general cost of steroids and discussions of “stacking” to build lean muscle necessary for pitchers. Karchner did not report either of these incidents to anyone at the time.

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Not Necessarily..............

Today on WSCR, several of the hosts and other on-air station personnel stated that Sosa, Mark Prior & Kerry Wood were all on that list. Granted, I can't find their names either, but it seems unlikely that they would be named on air unless there was reason to believe that either they would be named soon or that there was credible evidence against them. After all, if those were false accusations, that would be ample grounds for a libel suit.

unlikely?

it seems unlikely that they would be named on air unless there was reason to believe that either they would be named soon or that there was credible evidence against them.

That hardly seems unlikely to me at all. Someone at the station gets a list, they run with it on the air. This kind of thing happens all the time. Sorry to be a jerk about it, but where have you been the last few years, when the national steroid conversation has been fueled mostly by rumor and conjecture?

When I was in Dallas (moved to Chicago last week! Woohoo!), the guys on The Ticket flatly stated numerous times that Sosa was a steroid user. What was this based on? Well, gosh, he's just so much bigger than he used to be.

Or, forget sports radio. What about the case of Mark McGwire? He's not named in the report either. The evidence against him, to say the least, is sketchy, and based mostly on his suspected motives for his behavior in front of Congress. Mind reading, in other words. Have you never heard matter-of-fact statements from media types about his "cheating?"

WSCR Source

Here's the website where I think that WSCR got its info. Notice that its taken down and replaced with an apology:

http://www.wnbc.com/news/14849131/detail.html

This morning, prior to the time in which the Mitchell report was made public, WNBC.com published a list of ballplayer names that we expected to appear in the report. There were a number of discrepancies between our list and the Mitchell report, and we mistakenly listed several players that did not appear in the report.

WNBC.com regrets the error and sincerely apologizes for providing the incorrect information. The official Mitchell report can be found at the following link:

RE: WSCR Source

A lot of news organizations fell victim to the hoax of the early report.

Sosa featured in Tribune blog...


From the Chicago Tribune SportsBlogs...

Sammy Sosa escapes Mitchell Report

Ryan Jaster @ 1:43 p.m.

Quote:
For a guy whose name is always listed among the suspected steroid abusers, former Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa has never been directly linked to a scandal.

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_whatsgoinon/2007/12/sammy-sosa-es-1.html

If you have the time, be sure to read thru the reader comments after this article.

Also, check out Sosa's 2007 stats:

21 hr's and 92 rbi's.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sosasa01.shtml

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The irony : Sosa was traded for Jerry Hairston, Jr.

The irony of this was that Sosa was traded for Jerry Hairston, Jr.


It kind of reminds me of the Madlock for Murcer trade.


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