Union seeks clarification by Mitchell

NEW YORK – A lawyer for baseball players says George Mitchell never told the union before last week that he was willing to show its members evidence of doping allegations against them.

Mitchell, who has spent 1 1/2 years investigating the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, said Friday that he asked players to meet with him “for the purpose of directly providing them with the evidence about the allegations and to give them a chance to respond.”

Union general counsel Michael Weiner said Tuesday that Mitchell only informed players of that stance during a meeting last week and in a letter Friday. Weiner wrote to the former Senate Majority leader from Maine on Tuesday asking him to clarify his position and to provide his timeframe for completing the investigation.

“He certainly had not suggested prior to last week that the purpose of asking these players to come in was to provide them with evidence, provide them with anything,” Weiner said.

Until now, Mitchell has provided players only with general notice that they have been accused, giving them the year of the alleged conduct and the team they were playing for at the time. He has not told them of the substances they are accused of using.

Active players generally have refused to meet with Mitchell, who is a director of the Boston Red Sox. The only active player known to have met with him was the New York Yankees’ Jason Giambi, who did so only after commissioner Bud Selig threatened discipline for remarks in a newspaper interview.