Twenty months into his investigation of steroid use in Major League Baseball, former Sen. George Mitchell for the first time has obtained voluntary cooperation from an active player. According to a source familiar with the investigation, the player, whom the source did not name, volunteered to speak with Mitchell in the coming weeks, ending the wall of silence Mitchell had encountered in trying to get active players to cooperate without the leverage of subpoena power. The source described the player as one of several players Mitchell wanted to question because of their previous public comments opposing steroid use not because the player was connected to any steroid use of his own. The source said the interview with the player was scheduled to take place "very soon."