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Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman cleared of HGH allegations; James Harrison will meet with investigators

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Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard and Washington’s Ryan Zimmerman cooperated with a Major League Baseball investigation into allegations that they used human growth hormones, and their names have been cleared.

In the NFL, Pittsburgh’s James Harrison, Green Bay’s Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers and free agent Mike Neal have not fully cooperated with a league investigation into similar allegations, and now they are facing possible suspension.

Those six players are among the athletes that pharmacist Charlie Sly claimed used HGH in an Al-Jazeera America documentary. Sly later recanted those claims.

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The MLB said in a statement Friday that its investigation “did not find any violations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program by either Howard or Zimmerman.” The two players saw value in the league’s investigation and did what they could to help, the statement said.

“The accusations from Al Jazeera came out of nowhere, and I was shocked and outraged by their false claims,” Howard said in a statement. “I welcomed the investigation by Major League Baseball as an opportunity to clear my name. I was fully cooperative and transparent in the process, and MLB’s findings validate what I have said publicly.”

Zimmerman said: “I understand why Major League Baseball found it necessary to explore this matter, and I appreciate that MLB, after a thorough investigation, was able to publicly affirm my innocence.”

The four aforementioned football players have refused to be interviewed for their league’s investigation into the matter. The NFL has said they have until Aug. 25 to do so or else they could be suspended indefinitely.

“I’m not going to answer questions for every little thing some Tom, Dick and Harry comes up with,” Harrison told reporters Tuesday. But he did indicate that he would follow advice from the NFL Players Assn. on how to handle the situation.

On Thursday NFLPA attorney Heather McPhee sent a letter to the NFL, saying Harrison would meet with investigators at 5 p.m. on Aug. 30 at the Steelers’ facility, but would only answer questions that pertained to the portion of the Al Jazeera piece that had to do with him.

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“When it came down to it, [if] I got the suspension, the bigger outcome wasn’t really worth it,” Harrison told reporters Thursday night. “I wouldn’t be on the team, it would hurt the team, it would hurt my teammates and coaches, so it was easier to [agree to] do the interview.”

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