Paul Byrd met with Selig's office re criminal drug use "DURING THE (2007) SEASON"--Howard Bryant,12/11/07; MITCHELL: HAD NO "KNOWLEDGE ABOUT BYRD"

(ESPN.com): "During the season, St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Rick Ankiel, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr.

• and Indians pitcher Paul Byrd spoke to league officials after they were implicated in a criminal steroid and growth hormone investigation.

It is not known if those players were interviewed by Mitchell's staff."***

• From ESPN.com article by Howard Bryant, 12/11/07, "Friction and Fractures Erode Faith in Mitchell's Investigation."

Page 242 (pdf) of the Mitchell Report said the following about the "alleged internet" group which included Paul Byrd (posted on this blog 2/27/08):

• "The Commissioner’s Office conducted its own disciplinary interviews of the players who were still active at the time of the reports about their alleged possession or use.

***Players agreed to the interviews on the condition that the information they provided would not be shared with me by the Commissioner’s Office....

• Neither I (George Mitchell) nor any member of my investigative staff had any prior knowledge of any allegation about Byrd."

Reference: Words in quotes from Mitchell Report, pages 242, 243 , 245, and 246. (pdf)

• (Question: If Mitchell didn't know anything about Byrd until October 21, how did Howard Bryant know?)

From Howard Bryant's 12/11/07 article:

• " Some of the interviewees expressed a concern that a league representative sat in on the interviews,..."

...To some, the presence of an MLB official in the interviews also called into question Mitchell's independence,"

• (Uh-Oh.. oh, fudge, just deny it....) sm

(Howard Bryant): "...although Selig's spokesman, Richard Levin, told ESPN.com that no representative from the commissioner's office was present for any interviews. "

• (But...) sm

(Howard Bryant): "However, Levin acknowledged that Thomas Carlucci, an early member of the Mitchell team and consultant to Major League Baseball, sat in on random interviews."

• ("Random" interviews are different from "interviews?") sm

(Howard Bryant): "As Mitchell does, Carlucci also has preexisting ties to baseball.

• He is an attorney with Foley and Lardner, formerly the law firm of current baseball president DuPuy.

Selig has long been a client of the Milwaukee-based firm.

• "We conducted hundreds of interviews, and at many of them no MLB representative was present," said Clarke, the DLA Piper spokesperson. "MLB lawyers were present for interviews of the commissioner and his staff and for interviews of club employees."" (from ESPN article by Howard Bryant, 12/11/07)

********************************* And in these interviews with George Mitchell,

• Bud Selig never mentioned Paul Byrd according to Mitchell.

He said in his report (quote above) he knew nothing about any Paul Byrd "allegation" until the ALCS San Francisco Chronicle article.

• Accepting that Byrd's testimony with the commissioner's office would not be shared with Mitchell, this would mean (taken on its face) that Selig never even mentioned Byrd's name to him. Is this behavior legal?

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