Source of Mitchell report has Long Island ties

BY JIM BAUMBACH | jim.baumbach@newsday.com

December 14, 2007

One of two major sources in the Mitchell Report investigating baseball's steroid problem is a well-known fitness guru to Major League prospects on Long Island, a graduate of St. John's University and a resident of Breezy Point.

Brian McNamee, 40, who admitted in the Mitchell Report he injected Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte with performance-enhancing drugs, played baseball at St. John's and majored in athletic administration before working as a New York City cop.

McNamee left the force after three years to be a batting practice pitcher for the Yankees, a job a friend of his from St. John's helped him get. According to someone who was there at the time, he often worked out with players, and a coach suggested he look into becoming a trainer.

McNamee got a master's in sports science from Long Island University and was hired by the Blue Jays as their strength coach in 1998, a year after Clemens was awarded the American League Cy Young Award with his best season in several years.

It was in Toronto that McNamee began working closely with Clemens, and, according to the Mitchell Report, injecting him with steroids. Clemens was traded to the Yankees in 1999 and a year later the Yankees hired McNamee at the urging of Clemens, although according to a source his pay was deducted from Clemens' salary. He soon started working with Pettitte on the side, too.

The Yankees did not retain McNamee after the 2001 season, but he continued to train pro and amateur athletes, even with the Mitchell Report hanging over him. Clemens and Pettitte worked with him through this past season.

Former Yankees and Mets pitcher C.J. Nitkowski considered taking steroids after the 2001 season but decided against it, based partly on a conversation with McNamee.

Nitkowski, who played baseball at St. Johns and met McNamee through campus connections, said he had just hired McNamee and was working out with Clemens and Pettitte in Clemens' gym when he privately asked McNamee about steroids. Standing far enough away so no one else could hear, McNamee "educated" him on the effects of steroids, both positive and negative. But, Nitkowski stressed, McNamee did not encourage him.

"I was really giving it serious consideration," Nitkowski said. "I already asked a lot of questions in the clubhouse. He just separated fact from fiction, told me what was true and what was just clubhouse talk. He weeded through all of that for me, but at no time was he like, 'Hey, you need to do this because this is going to help your career.'"

Nitkowski, now playing in Japan, said he still plans to employ McNamee in the wake of the Mitchell Report. McNamee cooperated with Mitchell to avoid being pursued by the federal government for his involvement with illegal steroids. He declined to comment yesterday.