One source briefed on the meeting said there were "no surprises," meaning the questions most likely were limited to Giambi's personal use, and that, as previously agreed, he was not asked to name names.

Mitchell was joined at the meeting in Manhattan by attorneys from his firm, DLA Piper, who have been conducting interviews in their investigation into baseball's doping history; also present were MLB senior vice president Rob Manfred; MLB Players Association general counsel Michael Weiner; Giambi's agent, Arn Tellem, and his personal attorney, Brian O'Neill, according to Major League Baseball. MLB officials refused to comment on the meeting, and Tellem said in an E-mail that he would not comment other than to confirm that Giambi had met with investigators.

Manfred is expected to report back to his boss, commissioner Bud Selig, who then will decide whether Giambi cooperated to his satisfaction. Giambi still may face a fine for his steroid use.

Giambi was quoted in USA Today in May as saying, "I was wrong for doing that stuff. What we should have done a long time ago was stand up — players, ownership, everybody — and said: `We made a mistake.' We should have apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone forward. . . . Steroids and all of that was a part of history. But it was a topic that everybody wanted to avoid. Nobody wanted to talk about it."

While it had been reported that Giambi confessed his steroid use to the BALCO grand jury in 2003, he had never offered such an explicit public admission. Selig ordered Giambi to meet with MLB attorneys to discuss his comments, and then issued a two-week deadline for Giambi to agree to speak to Mitchell or face punishment, which most likely would have been a suspension.

The union responded by saying that Selig had no right to force Giambi to speak to Mitchell, and no right to punish him, as baseball had no policy in place to punish steroid users before 2004. But sources said Giambi, currently on the DL with a foot injury, wanted to "put the whole thing behind him" and agreed to speak on the condition that he would not name other players as steroid users.

The entire Giambi affair has been a tune-up bout for a possible battle between MLB and Barry Bonds. If a federal grand jury indicts Bonds for perjury this month, Selig is expected to suspend him, even though baseball's collective bargaining agreement does not address whether a player may be suspended for an indictment.

Bonds has said he would meet with Mitchell but cannot because of the ongoing perjury and tax evasion investigation. If, however, the grand jury is dismissed without charges being brought, Selig may order Bonds to cooperate.

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