(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-12-14 09:37

NEW YORK - American Major League Baseball's long-awaited doping report exposes a "serious drug culture" within the league, "from top to bottom," identifies top players and calls for increased testing by an outside agency to clean up the game, the Associated Press learned on Wednesday.

Roger Clemens leaves the field during the third inning of Game 3 of their MLB American League Division Series game in New York October 7, 2007. Some of the biggest players in Major League Baseball, including Clemens, were named in the Mitchell Report, a far-reaching investigation on performance-enhancing drugs believed to be threatening the credibility of one the most popular U.S. sports. [Agencies]

The investigation conducted by former US Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will include names of 60 to 80 players linked to performance-enhancing substances and plenty more information that exposes "deep problems" afflicting MLB, one of two sources with knowledge of the findings told the AP. Both sources said the report would not address amphetamines.

The two sources were familiar with discussions that led to the final draft but did not want to be identified because it was confidential until its scheduled release on Thursday. They said the full report, which they had not read, totaled 304 pages plus exhibits.

One person familiar with the final version would only speak anonymously but described it as "a very thorough treatment of the subject" and said some aspects were surprising. He said the report assigns blame to both the commissioner's office and the players' union.

MLB's "not going to love it, the union's not going to love it," he said.

The report comes at the end of a year when San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds broke the US career home-run record, only to be indicted on charges of lying to a federal grand jury about doping.

One source said that while the report will cite problems "top to bottom", it also will expose "deep problems, the number of players, high-level MVPs and All-Stars", as well as clubhouse personnel who allowed steroids and other banned substances in clubhouses or knew about it and didn't say anything.

None of the player names had leaked out Wednesday night.

The rest of the report, the sources said, will focus on recommendations that include enhanced year-round testing and hiring a drug-testing company that uses the highest standards of independence and transparency.

Mitchell, a Boston Red Sox director, planned to release his report at 2 pm (1900 GMT) on Thursday at a news conference in New York City.