Dan Naulty - Mitchell Report

Mitchell Report

George J. Mitchell contacted Naulty in January 2007 as part of his investigation of performance-enhancing drug use by Major League Baseball players. He is first mentioned on page 232 of the Mitchell Report, and is very candid with his admissions. He is one few former and current baseball players interviewed by investigators to admit to using steroids, beginning in 1993 as a minor leaguer and continuing through his major league career. He also admits to using human growth hormone for one year, 1998, to recover from the groin injury. Naulty attributed his willingness to openly discuss his drug use to the remorse he felt. He told investigators, "if I could give back a little bit of something good, then I would like to."

Shortly after the Mitchell Report came out, Naulty wrote an article for the New York Daily News detailing his drug use. He said he had access to, but did not use, steroids as far back as high school. Shortly after being drafted, he realized that in order to compete, he needed to throw harder, and add muscle to his thin 6'6" frame. Thus, he began taking anabolic steroids and amphetamines, and soon went from 185 pounds to 240, and added ten miles per hour to his fastball. The 1998 groin injury he attributes to having added more muscle to the major tendon in his groin than it is equipped to handle. Therefore, shortly after his trade to the Yankees, he began taking HGH.

The negative impact of his drug use hit him later in his career when he thought about the fact that he took a roster spot from another player who was competing naturally. He fell into alcoholism, and began having severe mood swings from all the testosterone in his body. He claims that the night the Yankees won the World Series, he went out partying with friends, and was contemplating suicide by the end of the night.