Dec 13, 2007 2:23 pm US/Central
Former Cub: I Saw Teammates Inject Steroids
Several Others Who Once Played For Cubs, White Sox Implicated In Mitchell's Baseball Steroid Report
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Matt Karchner pitched for the White Sox from 1995 until 1998, and for the Cubs from 1998 until 2000.
AP
A former Cubs pitcher said in the Mitchell report that he had watched two teammates take steroids while playing with the Cubs.
Matt Karchner pitched for the Cubs from 1998 to 2000, and before that for the White Sox from 1995 until 1998. He told the Mitchell investigative panel that he saw two Cubs teammates take steroids in 1999 while in an apartment with them during spring training. He claimed that one player injected the steroid's into the other's buttocks, then injected them into his own body.
He would not identify the players, according to the report.
Karchner also told the panel that he was offered steroids by Cubs teammates, but would not disclose their names either.
Numerous others who played for either the Cubs or White Sox during their careers were also named in the report, but in all but one case, their alleged purchases of drugs did not happen while they were playing in Chicago.
The exception was former White Sox pitcher Scott Schoeneweis, who was alleged to have received six shipments of steroids from U.S. Cellular Field's Signature Pharmacy while with the White Sox in 2003 and 2004. Major League Baseball officials concluded that his actions did not warrant discipline, the report said.
Other one-time Chicago players implicated in the report included former Cubs outfielder Glenallen Hill, who was named by former New York Mets clubhouse staffer and substance supplier Kirk Radomski, and admitted to buying performance-enhancing substances. He also played in Toronto, Cleveland, San Francisco, New York and Anaheim and last season was the first base coach for the Colorado Rockies. But Hill denied ever using the substances and would not name names of others who had, the report said.
Former Cubs infielder Matt Franco was implicated by Radomski, who was a supplier of illegal performance-enhancing substances while each was playing for the Mets, according to the report. But Franco denied ever buying or using a performance-enhancing substance, the report said.
The report also said Radomski had told the commission he sold performance-enhancing substances to former Cubs catcher Todd Hundley, infielder Jerry Hairston Jr., and outfielder Rondell White, none of whom would speak to the commission.
Former Cubs catcher Todd Pratt and pitcher Kent Mercker and former White Sox pitcher Jim Parque were also implicated by Radomski, but none responded to requests to speak to the commission, the report said.
None of those implicated by Radomski were playing in Chicago at the time he said they bought performance enhancing substances from them.
Other local players mentioned in the report are: former Cubs catcher Benito Santiago; former Cubs outfielder Gary Matthews Jr.; former Cubs first-baseman Rafael Palmeiro.
Another former Cubs player, pitcher Ismael Valdez, was implicated in a November article in the San Francisco Chronicle as buying human growth hormone and other drugs to balance out the side effects of the steroids. Valdez played for the Cubs and six other teams from 1994 until 2005, and was with the Seattle Mariners at the time of the alleged purchase.
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