“Everyone involved in baseball … shares responsibility for the steroid era.”

—Former Sen. George Mitchell

That includes the Red Sox, who, despite strong indications that pitchers Eric Gagne and Brendan Donnelly used performance-enhancing drugs, brought both players to Boston this world championship season.

Consider this excerpt from the Mitchell report made public yesterday: “When the Boston Red Sox were considering acquiring Gagne, a Red Sox official made specific inquiries about Gagne’s possible use of steroids. In a Nov. 1, 2006 e-mail to a Red Sox scout, general manager Theo Epstein asked: ‘Have you done any digging on Gagne? I know the Dodgers think he was a steroid guy. Maybe so. What do you hear on his medical?’

“The scout, Mark Delpiano, responded: ‘Some digging on Gagne and steroids is (an) issue. Has had a checkered medical past throughout career, including minor leagues. Lacks the poise and commitment to stay healthy, maintain body and reinvent self. What made him a tenacious closer was the max effort plus stuff … Mentality without the plus weapons and without steroid help probably creates a large risk in bounce-back durability…’ ”

Despite that, Epstein made a trade with the Rangers for Gagne just before the Aug. 1 deadline, sending young lefty starter Kason Gabbard, who was 4-0 at the time, and promising outfielder David Murphy, a former first-round pick of the Sox who hit .340 in 43 games after moving from Triple-A Pawtucket, to Texas.

Then there was this on Donnelly, a right-handed reliever obtained last winter from the Angels who was 2-1 in 27 games, with a 3.05 earned-run average, for Boston before undergoing “Tommy John” elbow surgery in August:

“In considering whether to trade for Donnelly in 2007,” it was written in the Mitchell report, “Red Sox baseball operations personnel internally discussed concerns that Donnelly was using performance-enhancing substances. In an e-mail to vice president of player personnel Ben Charington (sic) dated Dec. 13, 2006, Zack Scott of the Red Sox baseball operations staff wrote of Donnelly: ‘He was a juice guy but his velocity hasn’t changed a lot over the years… If he was a juice guy, he could be a breakdown candidate.’ Kyle Evans of the baseball operations staff agreed with these concerns, responding in an e-mail that: ‘I haven’t heard many good things about him w(ith) significant steroid rumors.’ ”

Yet those concerns didn’t stop the Sox from dealing for Donnelly, sending minor-league lefty pitcher Phil Seibel to Los Angeles for the veteran reliever.

So why did the Sox make those deals?

Was winning more important than doing the right thing? Is it possible that, if a major-league team were to abstain from using drug abusers, they would be unable to field a competitive team? Was it a case of the Sox thinking: “If everyone else is doing it, we have to do it, too?” — a rationale many players likely embraced to justify their own use of performance-enhancing (and, consequently, salary-enhancing) drugs?

There are so many questions being asked in the wake of the Mitchell report, and so few definitive answers.

While Donnelly and Gagne played only minor roles, at best, in the Sox’ success this season, the organization’s willingness to sign such players should be a concern to Boston fans.

Two former Sox stars, pitcher Roger Clemens and slugging first baseman Mo Vaughn, were implicated in the Mitchell report, although there was no evidence that either player used performance-enhancing substances during their years in Boston.

Kirk Radomski, a personal trainer and former Mets employee who has entered a guilty plea to a charge of selling anabolic steroids, told Mitchell that he sold Vaughn, the American League MVP in 1995, human growth hormone in 2001.

Brian McNamee, a former strength and conditioning coach with the Blue Jays and Yankees, told Mitchell that he gave Clemens steroid injections in Toronto in 1998, and then, after both he and Clemens had moved to New York, gave the pitcher shots of steroids and human growth hormone.

But steroid abuse apparently was widespread, running the gamut from superstars to journeymen.

Former Red Sox pitcher Paxton Crawford admitted in an article published in ESPN: The Magazine in June, 2006, that, while playing for Boston in 2000 and 2001, he used steroids and human growth hormone.

The Mitchell report noted that, in that article, Crawford “described an incident in which syringes he had wrapped in a towel were spilled onto the floor of the Red Sox’ clubhouse, which he said caused laughter among his teammates.”

This long ago ceased to become a laughing matter.

It is sad that the national pastime has sunk to this disgustingly low level. It is disappointing, but hardly surprising, that the Red Sox were part of a problem that remains pervasive throughout baseball.

The steroid era may be nearing an end, but there currently is no reliable test for HGH, and athletes seeking an edge can avail themselves of the latest “designer drugs,” which are, at present, largely undetectable.

The owners, eager for revenues, turned a blind eye for much too long to evidence of drug abuse by their players, who, in turn, were primarily concerned with putting up numbers that would increase the numbers on their paychecks.

Fans, too, have been complicit in tacitly condoning such abuses, turning out in record numbers to cheer for their artificially enhanced heroes.

Everyone in baseball must share the responsibility. It now remains to be seen what all parties involved will to do correct the problem.

jdonalds@projo.com