George Mitchell was hired by baseball commissioner Bud Selig in March 2006 to lead the investigation of steroids in baseball. At the time, the investigation included accusations against slugger Barry Bonds as he approached the all-time home-run record.

Some people have criticized Mitchell’s leading this effort because he is also a Boston Red Sox director. At the time of his appointment to lead the investigation, Mitchell was also chairman of The Walt Disney Co., the parent company of ESPN.

Selig’s appointment of Mitchell came after the publication of "Game of Shadows." That was a book by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters about Bonds' alleged steroid use.

Baseball did not have an agreement to ban steroids until September 2002. The league did not have testing with penalties until 2004 and did not ban HGH until 2005, when it also instituted a suspension for a first positive test.

Mitchell, a former senator from Maine, was majority leader in the U.S. Senate from 1988 to 1994. He was also considered as a possible Supreme Court justice and secretary of state.

Mitchell received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on March of 1999 for helping to bring together Protestant and Catholic leaders in Northern Ireland to sign the 1998 Good Friday Accord.