NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell released his long-awaited report on steroids in Major League Baseball on Thursday, blaming ownership and the players' union for tolerating performance-enhancing drugs. COMMENTS:

TODD SCHLIFSTEIN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF REHABILITATION MEDICINE AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE:

"What these players do, whether they like it or not, has a trickle-down effect to other people or society in general. ... It has a cascading effect downward."

"There's more at hand here than who is cheating and what records. ... The bigger issue is the millions of people who are using these substances, who are getting them illegally, using them illegally, getting them from questionable sources and taking unknown health risks."

BOBBY DOERR, 89, HALL OF FAME PLAYER FROM THE BOSTON RED SOX:

"It's a very sad day for baseball. It's sad to think that these young kids look up to their heroes and their heroes are letting them down."

"It's hurting the game to think that guys like that are doing that. It's going to hurt these guys before they get in (to the Hall of Fame)."

"I was afraid to take an aspirin, for crying out loud."

STEVE PHILLIPS, ESPN ANALYST AND FORMER NEW YORK METS GENERAL MANAGER:

"It is a slap in the face and a punch in the gut."

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE JOE BIDEN:

"We've been down this road before. Sen. Mitchell's report today confirms our ongoing suspicion that baseball's leadership has not taken the necessary steps to end steroid use. This report makes clear that baseball's existing drug testing scheme isn't working."

PETER GAMMONS, LEADING BASEBALL COLUMNIST AND ESPN REPORTER:

"It gives baseball an opportunity to get out from underneath a cloud. I don't really believe that (Baseball Commissioner) Bud Selig thought that George Mitchell was going to come down as hard as he did, but he did. But it's a good thing. We've been living in this subterfuge of 'this guy's using, this guy isn't.' We didn't really know. Now we have pretty good idea of the usage. ... What it said to the Players Association, to ownership, to general managers is, 'Look, this culture existed, let's move on from the drug-testing policy we have now and really clean up the sport. It's a part of baseball history. Let's move forward.'"

LEE MACPHAIL, 90, THE OLDEST LIVING MEMBER OF THE BASEBALL HALL OF FAME:

"It's troublesome and we have to do everything we can to correct it."

JAY HOFFMAN, FORMER NFL PLAYER AND STEROID USER NOW CHAIRMAN OF THE HEALTH & EXERCISE SCIENCE DEPARTMENT AT THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY:

"I'm not sure how much impact there will be because a lot of the people named, the rumors about their use has existed for quite a while.

"Without a doubt, it will discourage players from using anabolic steroids because there can be testing. It probably will not affect the use of human growth hormone because that's still undetectable. What you are seeing right now is if players are using something, they're using growth hormone."

TOM BUCHANAN, DEFENSE LAWYER AND CO-COUNSEL FOR BASEBALL'S INVESTIGATION OF PETE ROSE:

"Sen. Mitchell and his staff know well the libel laws, as well as the impact on a player's reputation to even be mentioned as a possible user of steroids. That being said, it would be libel per se, considering that steroid use is a crime, to falsely accuse a player of steroid use. So one must assume that MLB and Sen. Mitchell and his staff would never make such an allegation without strong, credible proof."

BRIAN SOCOLOW, PARTNER IN LOEB & LOEB'S SPORTS LITIGATION DEPARTMENT IN NEW YORK:

"It seems quite thorough and demonstrates the investigators gained evidence from all the sources that they could and in some cases obtained evidence that has not been disclosed before and adds to the understanding of the extent of the steroid problem.

"Because there are quite a few players or former players that were named, many of which had not surfaced previously, there are now a number of players who face potential criminal or civil consequences from their alleged steroid use." (Reporting by Daniel Trotta, Lewis Krauskopf and Adam Tanner; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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