Judge keeps names of steroid-linked baseball players private

Sept. 14, 2007

NEW YORK (AFP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that the names of up to 23 Major League Baseball players who could be linked to the latest US steroid scandal will remain private.

US District Judge Thomas Platt ruled that while the names are available to former US Senator George Mitchell, who heads an investigation for Major League Baseball, they will not be revealed to the public.

The names are those who former New York Mets clubhouse visitor Kirk Radomski says he supplied with performance-enhancing drugs. Two newspapers had hoped to unseal the names, saying giving them to Mitchell was making them public.

Radomski agreed to a plea deal in April requiring him to cooperate with Mitchell's panel, which was assembled 18 months ago to look into doping allegations against major leaguers over the past decade or so.

In the written decision, the court ruled that people whose names were not made public remain crucial in the ongoing investigation, as do people linked to those named.

A grand jury in San Francisco continues to investigate all-time US major league home run king Barry Bonds on tax and other charges related to the BALCO steroid scandal.