George Mitchell caught Roger Clemens with his pants down – literally.
The former Yankee pitcher and seven-time Cy Young winner was the biggest New York player – and one of the top names in the sport – exposed yesterday as a steroid user in the former Senate majority leader’s sweeping report.
Clemens’ buddy Andy Pettitte, a left-handed pitching star who just re-upped with the Yankees for 2008, also was fingered in Mitchell’s report, as a user of human growth hormone.
In all, more than 80 players – including seven MVPs and two Cy Young winners – were outed in the report. There was an All-Star at every position.
Home-run king Barry Bonds’ inclusion comes as little surprise, as do Jason Giambi’s, ex-Yankee Gary Sheffield’s and admitted HGH user and Cleveland Indian pitcher Paul Byrd’s
Other big names in a lineup as infamous as the Black Sox are Eric Gagne, Troy Glaus, José Guillen, Gary Matthews Jr. and Rick Ankiel.
New York played a leading role in the report, with 22 current or former Yankees and 17 current or former Mets identified as users.
Clemens and Pettitte were identified to Mitchell by Brian McNamee, personal trainer for both players and a former Yankees assistant strength trainer.
But it was the 45-year-old Clemens, a 354-game winner who had been a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame, whose reputation and legacy Mitchell’s report most damaged. Nearly nine of the 409 pages center on Clemens, and he is mentioned 82 times. Yesterday’s report could be enough to keep him out of the Hall.
According to the report, McNamee cooperated after the feds threatened him with prosecution.
He spoke with Mitchell’s probers three times, saying Clemens’ steroid use began in 1998 when he played for the Toronto Blue Jays and continued after he became a Yankee in 1999.
The section on Clemens includes these passages:
* “Later that [1998] summer, Clemens asked McNamee to inject him with Winstrol, which Clemens supplied. McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times in the buttocks over a several-week period with needles that Clemens provided. Each incident took place in Clemens’ apartment at the SkyDome.”
* “From the time that McNamee injected Clemens with Winstrol through the end of the 1998 season, Clemens’ performance showed remarkable improvement. Clemens told McNamee that the steroids ‘had a pretty good effect’ on him.”
* “During the middle of the 2000 season [with the Yankees], Clemens made it clear he was ready to use steroids again. During the latter part of the regular season, McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone.”
* “McNamee stated during this same time period he also injected Clemens four to six times with human growth hormone.”
* “Clemens advised McNamee in August 2001 that he was again ready to use steroids. Shortly thereafter, McNamee injected Clemens with Sustanon or Deca-Durabolin on four to five occasions at Clemens’ apartment.”
Rusty Hardin, Clemens’ attorney, issued a denial from the pitcher last night.
“Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive,” he said. “There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances, and yet he is being slandered today.”
McNamee also told Mitchell that he supplied Pettitte with human growth hormone in 2002 while the pitcher was recovering from elbow tendonitis.
Pettitte’s agent, Randy Hendricks, who also represents Clemens, said Pettitte not comment until he consults with the players union and advisers.
Mitchell’s report was the culmination of a 21-month investigation that cost Major League Baseball more than $20 million.
“Widespread use by players of such substances unfairly disadvantages the honest athletes who refuse to use them and raises questions about the validity of baseball records,” the report said.
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who hired Mitchell in March 2006, said he will take the recommendations seriously and work with the Players Association to get them implemented.
“If there are problems, I wanted them revealed,” Selig said. “[Mitchell’s] report is a call to action, and I will act.”
Players-union boss Donald Fehr blasted MLB and the report’s architect for leaving him in the dark until its release.
“Doing that says something about the bargaining relationship [between baseball and the players], but they did what they did,” he said.
Mitchell’s two star witnesses are from Long Island.
McNamee, who gave up Clemens, Pettitte and former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch, lives in Rockaway Point and is a former NYPD officer.
The other informer is Kirk Radomski, a former Met clubhouse attendant who ratted on dozens of players he supplied with steroids and HGH.
The Manorville resident cooperated with Mitchell as part of a plea deal.
Mitchell also received evidence gathered by feds in a raid of Radomski’s home. Included were canceled checks and shipping and phone records.
No active players under suspi cion cooperated with Mitch ell except Giambi.
Some of the higher-profile current and former Yankees named were: Clemens, Pettitte, Knoblauch, Can seco, Giambi, Sheffield, David Justice, Kevin Brown and Ron Villone. Current and former Mets named included: Lenny Dykstra, Todd Hundley, Mo Vaughn, Paul Lo Duca and Scott Schoeneweis.
“If Kirk Radomski walked up to me, I wouldn’t know him,” Justice said yesterday. “I don’t know who he is.”
And then there’s reliever Mike Stanton, who has pitched for both Big Apple teams.
“I have done absolutely nothing wrong. I never met Radomski. I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup,” Stanton told The Post. “The report is outrageous and unfair.”
Two congressional panels have already called hearings on the Mitchell Report, one on Tuesday and one on Jan. 23.