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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Illegal steroids have been in wide use in Major League Baseball for more than a decade and used by some of the game's top stars, former Sen. George Mitchell said in releasing a report Thursday.

"Those who have illegally used these substances range from players whose major league careers were brief to potential members of the Baseball Hall of Fame," Mitchell said.

"This has not been an isolated problem involving just a few players or a few clubs," Mitchell said. "Many players were involved. Each of the 30 clubs has had players who have been involved with such substances at some time in their career."

Mitchell said while action should be taken against the most egregious abusers, it will be in baseball's best interest to put the past behind it.

"The commissioner should give the players and everyone else the chance to make a fresh start," Mitchell said. "That's what baseball needs."

Dozens of current and former major league baseball players, including Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, Yankee teammate Andy Pettitte, sluggers Mo Vaughn and Gary Sheffield and reliever Eric Gagne, are named as being linked to steroid use in the report.

CNN is in the process of seeking comment from all named players and their clubs.

The report describes how Clemens got injections of the steroid Winstrol in Clemens' apartment in Toronto's Skydome in 1998, according to Brian McNamee, named in the report as a possible distributor of steroids.

McNamee "injected Clemens approximately four time in the buttocks over a several week period with needles that Clemens provided," the report states.

"During this period of improved performance, Clemens told McNamee that the steroids 'had a pretty good effect' on him," the report says. What are anabolic steroids? »

McNamee injected Clemens with testosterone and human growth hormone after Clemens moved to the New York Yankees in 2000, the report says.

McNamee also became Pettitte's personal trainer in 1999, the report says.

"McNamee recalled that he injected Pettitte with human growth hormone ... on two to four occasions" in 2002 to help Pettitte recover from elbow tendonitis, the report says.

While steroid use was wide, it was far from the norm, Mitchell said.

"The illegal use in baseball of these substances also victimizes the majority of players who don't use them," Mitchell said.

"One former player told us that one of the biggest complaints among players was that a guy is using steroids and 'he's taking my spot,' " Mitchell said.

The former Senate majority leader said the players are setting a bad example for the nation's young athletes who look up to them.

"Hundreds of thousands of our children are using" performance enhancing drugs, he said. "Every American, not just baseball fans, ought to be shocked into action by that disturbing truth."

Mitchell embarked on his multimillion-dollar task at the behest of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, who felt an inquiry was necessary after reading "Game of Shadows."

The book was written by two San Francisco newspaper reporters who chronicled the alleged drug use of home-run king Barry Bonds. "Game of Shadows" is credited by some with prompting congressional hearings in which lawmakers chastised pro baseball for its weak drug-testing policy.

Bonds, who faces federal perjury and obstruction charges for allegedly lying in 2003 about his steroid use, set the record for career home runs this year -- 762. He hit 73 home runs in 2001 to top Mark McGwire's 1998 record. Before the McGwire-Sammy Sosa race -- which McGwire won with 70 homers to Sosa's 66 -- Roger Maris' record of 61 home runs in a season had stood for 37 years.

Mitchell's investigation was a difficult one because he had no subpoena power, meaning he had no way to force players or witnesses to cooperate with his investigation. Video Watch how fans are divided by Mitchell's quest »

Because players would not cooperate, it is believed Mitchell used two sources to compose his list of offenders: Kirk Radomski, a former New York Mets clubhouse attendant accused of selling steroids, and the results of an ongoing investigation into a Florida anti-aging clinic accused of selling performance-enhancing drugs.

An investigation of the clinic's records showed that it had sold performance enhancers to several Major League Baseball players, some of whom have been named. Radomski agreed to cooperate with investigators after pleading guilty in April to illegally distributing performance-enhancing drugs.

David Segui, who retired in 2004 after 15 seasons, is on Mitchell's list of players linked to steroids. Segui has admitted to using steroids and human growth hormone during that time.

Segui, who played for seven teams in his pro career, told The Baltimore Sun that he refused to help Mitchell because he didn't want other players to think he was talking about them.

Baseball didn't begin testing for steroids until 2003. In a CNN interview, Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratories Co-Operative, said pro baseball's drug-testing policy is a farce.

Conte said the World Anti-Doping Agency lists 60 stimulants as banned substances, only half of which are recognized by Major League Baseball. By not including the other 30 substances on the list, baseball is essentially promoting their use, he said.

To date, Rafael Palmeiro, who is the fourth player in major league history to amass 500 home runs and 3,000 hits, is the highest profile athlete to fail a drug test. His failed drug test came in 2005, five months after he told a congressional committee he had never used steroids.

Despite the steroid controversy, Major League Baseball enjoyed record revenues of $6 billion this year, and for the fourth year in a row, the league set a total attendance record

Coolieboi

snappp, toronto's own grag zaun and troy glaus are on the list