Blogging the Mitchell Report: Part 1

So I'm reading through the Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball, available to download in its entirety as a PDF on CNNSI.com (download here -- 6.5 MB, 409 pages). And as I'm reading through the report and writing down the names, I realized I should be blogging as I'm reading. Not because I'm going to beat the media outlets, but more because I think the media outlets are just going to post a list of names named with no context. And from reading the first few pages, this is not a black-and-white "he clearly did it, he clearly did not" report.

I may have to break this up into multiple posts, but you can get to a collection of all the posts by clicking here.

So here's what I've come up with so far, with page citations from the report if you want to go check it out for yourself (note, the page numbers at the bottom of each page are not even close to the page numbers for the PDF, so I'm including both.):

Manny Alexander (former Oriole, the incident cited in the report was from when he was with Boston in 2000): Report page 91, PDF page 139.

"On June 30, 2000, a clubhouse employee of the Boston Red Sox, Carlos Cowart, and a friend of his were sitting in Manny Alexander’s parked sports utility vehicle when they were approached by Massachusetts state police officers. Alexander, then a utility infielder with the Red Sox, was away with the team. The officers suspected that the car had been stolen, but, in fact, Alexander had loaned it to Cowart while the team was away.
During a search of the vehicle, police discovered two hypodermic needles and a bottle of anabolic steroids in the glove compartment. At least one news report stated that the steroids were in an envelope addressed to Alexander, although we were not able to confirm that assertion. The police applied for two criminal complaints against Alexander, for possession of Class E anabolic steroids and for possession of hypodermic needles. Neither Cowart nor the friend who was with him was charged with any offense. On February 28, 2001, the charges against Alexander were dismissed for 'insufficient evidence having been presented after hearing.'"

Ricky Bones (another former Oriole, albeit only for a year, the incident cited in the report was from when he was with Florida in 2000): Report page 92, PDF page 140.

"In late June 2000, a clubhouse attendant with the Florida Marlins brought a paper bag to the club’s athletic trainers that had been found in the locker of Marlins pitcher Ricky Bones. The bag contained over two dozen syringes, six vials of injectable medications – stanozolol and nandrolone decanoate, two anabolic steroids that are sold under the names Winstrol and Deca-Durabolin, respectively – and a page of handwritten instructions on how to administer the drugs. Soon thereafter, the athletic trainers returned the bag and its contents to Bones at his request."

Alex Cabrera (from when he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2000): Report page 94, PDF page 142.

"Sometime in mid-September 2000, a clubhouse employee with the Arizona
Diamondbacks discovered a bottle of anabolic steroids and several hundred pills in a package that had been mailed to the Diamondbacks’ ballpark in Phoenix. Clubhouse attendants knew that the package had been intended for Alex Cabrera, then a player on Arizona’s major league roster, who had been searching for the package for several days."

Juan Gonzalez (the first big name on the list, the incident was from when he was with the Cleveland Indians in 2001): Report page 95, PDF page 143.

"On the evening of October 4, 2001, Canadian Border Service officers working at Toronto’s international airport discovered steroids, syringes, and clenbuterol in an unmarked duffel bag during an airport search of luggage that had been unloaded from the Cleveland Indians flight from Kansas City. Ted Walsh, the Indians equipment and clubhouse manager who was present during the search, recognized the bag as one that had been sent down to be included with the luggage by Cleveland outfielder Juan Gonzalez when the Indians left Kansas City. On prior trips, Gonzalez had included bags for members of his entourage with his own bags, and Walsh had the impression that this was the case with some of the bags he sent down to be packed for the Toronto flight.
...
Thereafter, Davidson, Haynes, and other officials watched the luggage as Joshue Perez, a member of Juan Gonzalez’s entourage, claimed the duffel bag."

Rafael Palmeiro and Jason Grimsley for incidents you already knew about. I won't even bother to cite them because they were actually suspended by MLB, so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that they showed up in the report, but there's another couple former Orioles.

More to come...