Could there be a bigger embarrassment in pro sports than the lack of stringent drug testing in MLB prior to last Thursday?


Updated: Mar. 8, 2005, 7:59 PM ET

Report: House presses for testimony on steroids

ESPN.com news services


NEW YORK -- Former Oakland Athletics sluggers Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi were among seven current and former baseball stars that a congressional committee plans to subpoena as soon as Wednesday to testify about steroids.

Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Frank Thomas also were asked last week to testify. Thus far, only Canseco and Thomas have said they were willing to appear.

"We hope subpoenas won't be necessary, but we are prepared to move forward with subpoenas [Wednesday] if we receive information that witnesses are not willing to appear voluntarily," David Marin, a spokesman for House Government Reform Committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis, said Tuesday.

The Baltimore Sun first reported on the subpoenas earlier Tuesday on its Web site.

According to reports, Barry Bonds, whose role in baseball's steroids scandal has been questioned for the last year, has not yet been subpoenaed.

Lawyers for the baseball commissioner's office and players' association attempted to negotiate a joint response to the committee, which last week invited the players and several officials to appear at the March 17 hearing.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, union head Donald Fehr, baseball executive vice president Sandy Alderson and San Diego general manager Kevin Towers also were asked to testify.

Giambi testified before a federal grand jury investigating steroids in 2003 and, according to a report by the San Francisco Chronicle in December, told the panel he had used steroids. Giambi has not denied the report but has refused to publicly discuss steroids, citing advice from his lawyers.

Giambi was granted limited immunity by prosecutors for his grand jury testimony. Because of the ongoing investigation, it is possible the Justice Department, the committee and Giambi might have to negotiate an immunity agreement before he would answer questions from the congressional panel.

If he is granted immunity and testifies publicly, the Yankees potentially could use any admissions as grounds to attempt to void his contract, which has four years and $82 million remaining.

In his book released last month, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big," Canseco admits using steroids and alleges that McGwire often injected the drugs with him. Canseco also said he introduced steroids to former Texas Rangers teammates, including Palmeiro.

Palmeiro, McGwire, Ivan Rodriguez, Bret Boone and others named by Canseco have denied using the performance-enhancing drugs.

Also Tuesday, the parents of two amateur players who committed suicide were added as witnesses.

Taylor Hooton, a cousin of former major leaguer Burt Hooton, was 17 when he hanged himself on July 15, 2003, and his parents think the suicide was due to depression that followed Taylor's end of steroid use. Rob Garibaldi, who played for the University of Southern California, was 24 when he shot himself on Oct. 1, 2002, and his parents also think his death was related to steroids.

"I believe it is important for the committee to hear from medical experts and impacted families on the scope of the steroid problem nationwide," Davis said.

Three medical experts also were added: Dr. Gary Wadler of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institutes of Health and Dr. Kirk Brower of the University of Michigan Medical School.

"These witnesses have voluntarily agreed to share their expertise and experiences with the Committee, and I hope the players and league officials will follow suit," said Rep. Henry Waxman, the ranking Democrat on the committee.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

I think that in the end Congress will have to subpeona(sp?) Sosa, etc. to appear. Somehow i doubt that they will go voluntarily

I would guess most of them will take the 5th anyway.

No such thing as the 5th if Congress grants immunity.

Really?

Can they give them immunity from being publicly humiliated?

Too late for that in some cases....

Looks like MLB is trying to cover something up. Hmmm...who would of thunk it?

Report: McGwire linked to 1990s steroid probe

March 12, 2005
NEW YORK (Ticker) - Former home run king Mark McGwire, one of seven players subpoenaed to next week's congressional hearing on steroid use, reportedly has been linked to a steroid investigation from the 1990s.

Meanwhile, another report said Major League Baseball is trying to change the list of players called to testify, which includes McGwire, whistle-blower Jose Canseco and five current players.

The New York Daily News, citing unidentified FBI sources, is reporting in Sunday's editions that McGwire's name arose a number of times in a huge investigation in the early 1990s that led to 70 convictions.

The report said McGwire was not a target and was not investigated. However, two steroids dealers caught by the investigation told the Daily News that a third dealer gave steroids to McGwire and Canseco.

According to the report, a man named Curtis Wenzlaff injected McGwire with steroids several times at a California gym, an informant revealed to the newspaper.

McGwire's regimen included injecting himself in the buttocks every three days with two testosterone substances and weekly with another, an informant told the Daily News.

McGwire, who shattered the single-season homer record by belting 70 with St. Louis in 1998, repeatedly has denied using steroids.

Wenzlaff told the newspaper he had no comment about McGwire but said he transformed Canseco from a novice to an expert in steroid use. Representatives for the former teammates told the Daily News the sluggers did not remember meeting Wenzlaff.

Canseco's recently released book, "Juiced," a tell-all about steroid use during his days in baseball, has been dismissed as sensational by some current players but notes occasions when he injected McGwire with steroids when they played together for the Oakland Athletics in the early 1990s.

Baseball did not have a steroid policy in place until earlier this year.

In the other report, the San Francisco Chronicle cited unidentified sources with knowledge of negotiations between baseball's executives and the House Government Reform Committee to change the players subpoenaed to testify.

Active players called to testify are Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa and Frank Thomas. Subpoenas also were issued to four baseball officials - Players Association chief Donald Fehr, MLB Baseball executive vice presidents Rob Manfred and Sandy Alderson and San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers.

Sources told the Chronicle that baseball executives were trying to change the list so players could avoid the embarrassment of answering questions about steroid use. In exchange, baseball would have to consider using the Olympic drug-testing agency for its recently implemented steroid program.

Any witnesses appearing before the committee can exercise their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Absent from the witness list is home run king Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, who has been embroiled in controversy since reports surfaced that the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative - supplied him and other athletes, including Giambi, with steroids.

Bonds, who hit 73 homers in 2001 and is 52 shy of Hank Aaron's all-time record, testified to a grand jury in December 2003 that he used a clear substance and cream but maintained he did not know they were steroids.

Nothing would surprise me regarding players using steroids. However, I think the whole House Committee looking at steroids is is a waste. These congressmen pushing this are publicity hounds and aren't really trying to address the problem. Congress has much bigger things to worry about than the use of steroids by athletes, even by young athletes. The use of alcohol in this country is a much bigger issue than steroid use and quite frankly alcohol leads to more deaths in this country than the side effects of steroids. Of course, since so much money is made off of alcohol none of the Congressional grandstanders wants to come close to touching its impacts. Why hasn't this committee called any NFL players to testify? One would think that if this committee was really trying to gain an understanding on the prevalence of steroid use they'd question some NFLers as well. If these guys think that NFL players grow to the sizes they do without using steroids or other performance enhancing substances they are burying their heads in the sand.

I agree that congress should stay out of this. I just find it interesting that baseball is trying to get them not to subpoena certain players.

As far as baseball players vs football players...it's just the hot topic at this point in time. Soon the congressmen will have something different to grab their attention and baseball will be forgotten for awhile. Nevermind them saying they are so interested in baseball because of their antitrust exemption. It's just an opportunity to get their faces on the evening news.

What? Congress trying to protect their phoney baloney jobs? Hrumph! Hrumph! Hrumph!

Let me see, Congress is so concerned about steroids but didn't invite football players to testify? Seems to me, the last I checked the Carolina Panthers were an NFL team.

============================================================

GM aware of investigation
Associated Press


COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Investigators probing an alternative medicine doctor want to speak to at least nine current or former members of the Carolina Panthers about possible illegal steroid prescriptions, a Columbia newspaper reported.

Dr. James Shortt, a West Columbia physician, is under investigation for allegedly prescribing steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, The State said in Sunday editions. The newspaper based its story on court records and sources speaking on condition of anonymity.

Federal agents subpoenaed the Panthers for the addresses and contact information of several players as part of the probe.

"We've known about the investigation into Dr. Shortt for a short period of time and we are still trying to retrieve enough information to comment on it," Carolina general manager Marty Hurney said Sunday. "We certainly are not aware of any of our players testing positive for steroids."

Sources familiar with the investigation told the newspaper that some of the players were on the Panthers team that competed in the 2004 Super Bowl. Neither the paper nor Hurney revealed the identities of the players.

The newspaper said a sworn statement from Dave Lawrence, a State Law Enforcement Division agent, said Shortt has been under investigation since May 2004 when a Columbia bodybuilder told the Drug Enforcement Administration that Shortt had a reputation for readily prescribing steroids for patients in exchange for $1,000.

Four months later, authorities raided Shortt's Health Dimensions office and Congaree Pharmacy near the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. State and federal agents seized computer data, at least 21 boxes of patient and medical records and 256 audio cassettes, search documents obtained by The State show.

The kid probably had to pay $200 for the signature....

To all, While I wholeheartedly agree that the motives of congress are certainly not pure. Of course, when are they ever? However, in this instance I agree with Olbermann. Let's get all of the truth now by whatever means necessary. Only by uncovering, exposing and then purging all the sins can we then proceed with a clean slate and begin rebuliding our beloved national pastime. In addition, the new penalties must be swift and painful. Best regards, Cle

Baseball's Watergate

MSNBC News
By Keith Olbermann

NEW YORK— One of the nation's most astute politicians once warned that it wasn't the crime that did you in, it was the cover-up. It was Richard Nixon, and he said it before Watergate, and unfortunately for him, he forgot it during Watergate.

Somebody should listen to his words now— and that somebody is the Commissioner of Baseball, Allan H. “Bud” Selig.

In its 125 years as a professional sport, his industry's leaders have made a lot of amazing mistakes. Three owners in New York mutually banned radio broadcasts of their teams' games in the '30s because they had concluded— in a precise inversion of reality— that those broadcasts would drain attendance. In the quarter century before Jackie Robinson, the leagues actively fought integration. And, warned in 1975 by an arbitrator to make a compromise with the players' union, because he was about to strike down the contract language that enabled them to keep their players as perpetually indentured servants, the owners told him to take a flying leap, that they'd challenge him in court and win and there'd never be free agency.

But, judged even against this backdrop of a century and a quarter of almost non-stop alternating near-sightedness and absolute blindness, baseball is making its worst mistake yet— it is threatening to challenge in court a Congressional Committee’s right to subpoena seven players, three executives, and the union chief, to testify about steroid use.

You do not have to be a lawyer or an ethicist to realize that the arguments against the subpoenas are ludicrous. They're based on the premise that to possibly reveal the names of players who have used steroids or human growth hormone, illegally, without doctors' prescriptions, would violate a confidentiality agreement between the owners and the players' union. This premise is akin to organized crime leaders seeking to stop congressional testimony because it promised that it would keep the names of its hit men secret.

But even if baseball had a legitimate argument, it shouldn't use it. All it will accomplish by this defiance is to take what is still a relatively back-burner issue among its customers, and give it the appearance of a total stonewall, a complete cover-up, a four-alarm fire of guilty conscience that could not be more damaging than if it proved all the players of the last 20 years had been injected with steroids personally by Bud Selig himself.

Baseball is launching its own version of Watergate. Not the break-in, but the cover-up.

In 1920, the industry faced its greatest crisis. Evidence burst out of courtrooms and confessions that eight members of the Chicago White Sox had received bribes, or had guilty knowledge of those bribes, to deliberately lose the previous season's World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. With the thousand murmured rumors of game-fixing that dated back to the 1890's suddenly shouted aloud, the end of the sport in this country was foretold. The eight players were acquitted in court— under circumstances that were dubious at best. Yet the man appointed by the owners to the then-newly created office of Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, expelled all eight players from the game— including at least three prospective Hall of Fame stars. And though the twin controversies— the game-fixing and especially the expulsions— linger to this day, the game not only survived, it grew exponentially.

Just fifteen years ago, another brave Commissioner, Bart Giamatti, permanently suspended the man who was probably the sport's most recognizable name, Pete Rose, after he confessed to gambling, and was accused of wagering on baseball, and even on the outcomes of his own team's games. Not a month has passed since, that Rose's status hasn't been loudly debated. And the game not only survived, but it again grew exponentially.

Yet steroids— which now cloud every towering home run, and thus the result of every game in every season since the late '80s— are not to be talked about under oath. What kind of message does this send to the fans? There can be only one: that steroid use, and management's knowledge of it, must be so pervasive that it is absolutely imperative to the survival of the sport, to keep any kind of confirmation that any player ever used any steroid, an absolute secret. Worse still, the secret must be more of an imperative than was the crookedness of the 1919 World Series, or the wagering habits of Pete Rose, or any of the other crises that the industry has faced since 1871.

Baseball could sooner survive the revelation that Jose Canseco's accusations in his book "Juiced" were the mere tip of the iceberg, than it could the perception that it has something so big to hide. And if, as Curt Schilling of the Boston Red Sox fears, the Congressional inquiry turns into a “witch-hunt”? Baseball has not only survived witch-hunts— it has frequently conducted its own, and found witches of every stripe and kind imaginable. And it's always been stronger after the violators were revealed, and either rehabilitated or removed.

To prevent the testimony— to insist that not only should the chips not fall as they may, but that there never have been any chips— is to take the amorphous lingering doubt that irritates, but hardly disillusions the paying customer, and transform it into an overwhelming, assumed fact: because of steroid use, every baseball game can no longer be assumed to be on the level.

I spent more than 20 years as a sports reporter, most of them on the national level. I heard my first accusation of steroid use (ironically enough, against Jose Canseco), from another active player, in the winter of 1987. I had an eminent sports orthopedic surgeon tell me in 1991 that the sudden demise of the career of a seemingly invincible ballplayer due to a rare blood vessel problem could only have been caused by a long-standing hereditary issue that should have affected every male in his family for generations, or by the repeated injections of performance-enhancing drugs into a specific part of the body.

After that, a year didn't go by without similar tips and leads. None could be proved; each brought with it the threat of libel action. The sports media did its best, but without the most unshakable and unattainable of verifications— actual medical tests confirming steroid use— nothing could be reported.

And the baseball establishment heard all the same stories and did nothing, even as prominent figures went on-the-record with their own estimates and conclusions about the prevalence of the drugs in the sport. Yesterday, the House Government Reform Committee responded to baseball's threat to quash the subpoenas in court, in a detailed and damning letter. It noted that in 1995, Randy Smith, then the General Manager of the San Diego Padres, told The Los Angeles Times that “We all know there's steroid use,” and estimated its prevalence at 10 percent to 20 percent of all players. Five years later, the strength coach of the Colorado Rockies told The New York Times that he believed 30 percent of all players had used steroids at some point in their careers. Later estimates, by such players as the late Ken Caminiti and Chad Curtis, approached or exceeded 50 percent.

The best baseball could (or would) do— with its players' union playing the role of the friend in the cliché to whom the guy desperately seeking to avoid the fistfight says “Hold me back, hold me back”— was institute a random testing policy designed merely to determine if there might be steroid use in the sport, without penalties to those who tested positive. Only this winter, after the leaked Grand Jury testimony from the so-called “Balco” case indicated Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees had, in exchange for immunity, admitted to using steroids and human growth hormone, did the industry even cobble together the gentlest of penalty schedules. An individual player would have to test positive four times before receiving a suspension of even one season's length.

Anybody who tested positive four times for a non-addictive drug should be banned for life, for sheer stupidity.

There are tremendous issues in play, of ethics, morality, and health— especially the health of children who use the drugs. But the one facing baseball between now and next Thursday's hearing is a lot baser than that. It is the same one it faced in the wake of the 1919 World Series scandal— decades of rumors of player corruption and management indifference. Then, the owners, after years of neglect, and without a players' union to hold them back, finally acted. Now, a pesky congressional committee has afforded the industry the rare opportunity to lance the boil created by the management-union symbiosis.

And the truth— whatever it is, and whoever it claims— cannot possibly be worse than the specter of baseball's owners and players, arch enemies since the first contract was drawn up, finally colluding to insure that the truth must be suppressed at all cost.

***********************************************************************

No witnesses will be granted immunity for hearing

ESPN.com news services

NEW YORK -- Mark McGwire plans to comply with a subpoena and attend Thursday's congressional hearing into steroid use in baseball, The Associated Press has learned.

McGwire's decision was revealed Wednesday by a representative of the former Oakland and St. Louis slugger who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Less than 24 hours before the start of the highly anticipated session, Jose Canseco's request for immunity was denied by the House Government Reform committee. Canseco's lawyer said the former AL MVP will not be able to answer questions that would incriminate him.

"No witnesses have been or will be granted immunity," David Marin, a spokesman for committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis, said in an e-mail to the AP.

Canseco's lawyer, Robert Saunooke, was angry with the decision.

"It begs the question as to what they're convening this hearing for," Saunooke said in a telephone interview. "They effectively cut the legs off from underneath us."

Saunooke has said that without immunity, Canseco would invoke his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions.

"They told me we can't do the Fifth to every question," he said. "It's an absolute right of every citizen to not be compelled to give testimony against themselves. They do not make the decision. We do."

As an example of how immunity would limit Canseco, Saunooke brought up McGwire's repeated denials of steroid use.

"If he still holds to that lie, then the only way we can disprove that is to give specific instances and talk openly and freely," Saunooke said. "If we can't do that, then our credibility is undermined."

Meanwhile, ABC News reports that Davis said the subpoenaed players, which include Sammy Sosa, Curt Schilling, Frank Thomas, and Rafael Palmeiro -- will testify Thursday. The exception is Jason Giambi, who was excused by the committee Wednesday.

According to Davis, Thomas might change his plans and testify in person, though his appearance is still the subject of negotiation. Thomas had been given permission to testify by satellite because his doctor told the committee he should not fly.

I don't need a congressional committee to tell me that McGwire, Sosa, Canseco etc. used steroids. I just don't care for publicity hounds in Congress conducting a witch hunt when their motives are impure. Especially if the questions are with the intent to incriminate or embarass the individuals called to testify. If these guys are truly concerned about steroids, which I don't believe they are, then I might feel a little different. Based on the fact that these same Congressmen don't seem to care about eliminating the other narcotics that ruin so many lives, I am bothered even more by these publicity hounds. These idiots should spend their time coming up with ideas to address the exhorbitant gasoline prices or to address the gap between the Haves and the Havenots in society.

This all kinda suprised me. Personally, I didn't know Congress could just up and subpeona anybody they wanted. Honestly, I thought that was something only a real court could do.

It is a federal crime to lie to a congressional committee, regardless of wether or not the liar was subpoened. In several of it's consitutionally mandated functions, there is the implied power of subpoena,the way a constitutional lawyer explained it to me. In other words, in order to perform the specific functions, the power to compel testimony would bre required.

So should they go so far in this case? Well the following ws in the NY Times this morning, concerning the difficulty congress has had in even getting a copy of the testing policy:

After reading this article, I now feel that baseball management and the union are out to deceive the public, which includes its' fans. I say [expletive deleted].

Henry Waxman, who I don't always agree with on policy, is one of the few in congress I would trust. I say go get 'em Henry. I hope they draw some blood.

I wonder if C span will carry the hearings.

Dear Chuck, So now, apparently players may only be fined $10,000 rather than the 10 days slap on the hands for their first offense? Another lie told to us, courtesy of Bud and Don. I certainly know that Congress is primarily disingenuous in this investigation. However, as MLB is obviously unwilling to properly address this scandal and police itself, I don't care how the facts come to light and also how the proper results of zero tolerance is finally put in place. If Congress can help to prod or even drag the owners and the MLBPA into a rigid system of blood testing, interdiction and banishment then I'm all for it, despite their self serving motives. I only care that the game is properly cleaned up and also as very soon as possible. Best regards, Cle

Indeed. What he said.

Let's give encouragement to the up and coming young players who want to prove themselves and are clean. Let's give respect to the old guys who have stayed around and stayed clean.

But what about forgiveness to those who have "sinned"? If a guy admits what he has done and comes clean and tells the truth, yeah I would be willing, probably but I just don't know.

McGuire just testified. His voice was breaking up. He said he would not answer questions about himself or other players using steroids on the advice of his attorney.

lets start a drinking game. Every time a player pleads the 5th, we drink a fifth of our favorite drink. :rolleyes:

LOL...sounds like a fun game but I have to work. :D

Joe, in the spirit of St Patrick's Day, I'm sure your boss wouldn't mind making an exception.

Yes, I'm sure she would mind also. :lol:

opps! I made an edit

holy moly...

i've been watching the house reform committee meeting the past hour or so and it's a riot.

i'm not getting ANY work done right now.

anyone else watching it know who the last guy who spoke was (before waxman?) he's one good public speaker. and he at least hit my ideal heart regarding this whole problem.

i've been scribbling down some notes here and there... but they're most like this:

"crap... canseco's lawyer looks like a thug. his office is probably a dark alley."

i don't know what to make of it yet, nor do i think anything will come of it... but it's a riot.

once i've collected my thoughts a bit and get some work down, maybe i'll comment a bit more intelligently on it.

Sosa and Palmero both denied using steroids...EVER. That takes either some large cajones or they're real stupid unless they really are clean.

I got bored of the whole thing after Frank Thomas gave his first little speech.

Curt Schilling may have never used steroids, but judging by the darkness and size of those bags under his eyes, I'd bet the man is on a 2 week long meth binge.

I've been watching the hearing on C-Span for an hour now and my opinion hasn't changed. These congressmen have much bigger issues they should be dealing with than steroids in baseball. I guess I just have a big problem with the government getting involved. Choosing to go after baseball while ignoring football bothers me. Picking at steroids when there are much worse addictive drugs impacting society bothers me as well. Quite frankly, I don't think Congress should be enforcing drug testing policies in ANY profession save professions where public safety is involved. If they are going to go after one profession (baseball), then they need to go after all professions. That being said, my job IS subject to scheduled and random drug screening. I will admit that while I don't take illegal drugs, having to pee in a cup whenever called is a bit demeaning from the standpoint that I have never exhibited any signs of being under the influence of an illegal substance. I understand the access I have to sensitive information means I will be subjected to increased scrutiny but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

I agree with i3 to an extent. There are a lot of problems which seem to present a more serious threat to our society than steroids in baseball. So in terms of priorities, it would seem that this is close to wasting time.

Except that baseball, like some other sports, has received public favor from the government. Taxpayer subsidized stadiums in some cases, exemptions from anti trust laws as in the case of baseball. So what the government can give, the government can take. <at this point I'll stop this line of thought to avoid a libertarian rant>

There are also those that think baseball has gone beyond being simply a sport, and that it is an important social institution. Agree or not, that seems to be part of the mentality of those pushing for these investigations. I personally feel we are going to see more of this this spring; we have just seen the "tip of the iceberg." Get ready and stock up on malox or scotch as the case may be.

As for the testimony itself, the only part I viewed personally was Mc Guire's. My impression: a swing and a miss. My interpretation;"Well I don't want people to hate me for being a squealer, so I won't say anything." It would have been better if he had simply had a lawyer read a statement of denial. Now people will ask,"What does he have to squeal about?"

Get ready for the deluge folks. There will be legislation introduced and passed, court battles over it, and lots of grief.

I haven't placed my order for the Extra Innings package yet, and now I am not sure I want to. At this point there are more important issues than the juicers in baseball, or perhaps baseball itself. Such as for me, now that I am approaching 60, how do I best adjust to being older?

And yet, I still remember those times grandpa took me to County Stadium to see the Milwaukee Braves play. Folks, I just don't know.....


EDIT: On a lighter note, according to the Heckler, Comedy Central is going to rebroadcast the hearings! :lol:

Seems to me that Congress can perform multiple tasks, so they can take care of this problem, as well as other major problems in our country. MLB has done next to nothing to correct the problem of drugs/steroids in baseball. As a few Congressmen mentioned, these drugs are illegal for everybody in our country, why should an athlete get away with a $10,000 fine, which is much less than a slap on the wrist? Just about everybody else in our country that would be involved in illegal steroids would face prison time. Why shouldn't baseball players be held up to the same standards?

Drug cheats paying price now and later

The Arizona Republic
By Dan Bickley

We want confessions. We want admissions of guilt.

We want a pound of flesh for the damage done to Major League Baseball, and you know what?

That body count is exactly what Harmon Killebrew fears.

"What's going to happen to these players that have been using steroids?" the former Twins' slugger said. "What will be the health issues 10-15 years from now? Whatever they did, is it going to kill them? Is it going to severely damage their health? To me, that's the overall issue in this whole thing."

For the liars and the cheaters, the Fifth Amendment will not come in handy when that bill is due.

"This is such a mess," Hall of Fame relief pitcher Rollie Fingers said.

The rebirth of America's pastime - Bud Selig's "renaissance" - officially ended on Thursday, a dark day that overshadowed the springtime blossom of the NCAA Tournament, a day when a scandal-stricken sport got tangled up in a full-court government press.

A disturbingly gaunt Mark McGwire strangled his feel-good image with a revealing string of non-answers. Curt Schilling testified that the Diamondbacks were so concerned about the problem that they talked about purposely flunking the steroid test two years ago in order to trigger in-season testing in 2004, thereby exposing the cheaters.

Then Schilling claimed he could think of only a handful of players that have fallen under his suspicion in his entire playing career.

And Selig, the commissioner perched on a breaking branch, was caught in yet another damning contradiction.

Two weeks ago in Mesa, Selig claimed he was unaware of the steroid problem in baseball until a moment of enlightenment in July 1998. Yet ESPN unearthed a quote from Selig in 1995, where he said baseball's executives held a private meeting as early as 1993 to discuss the problem.

"What has happened over the last 6-7 years has gotten way out of hand," former Cubs pitcher Ferguson Jenkins said. "It's like they've taken an axe to baseball and chopped the game to pieces. It's not the game it once was, and unfortunately, the laboratories have taken over."

If you think it's tough being a baseball purist in times like these, trying being a member of baseball's old guard. Try being a member of the Maris family, which so embraced McGwire's chase of Roger's record. Try being Hank Aaron sitting in the crosshairs of Barry Bonds.

Try being Killebrew, who bashed 573 home runs and will soon drop out of the all-time top-10 list, passed by a handful of men stained with suspicion.

"Think about what has happened," Jenkins said. "The impact has been so great that teams have been afraid to face hitters, and it's mind-boggling that a player like Barry Bonds can walk 200 times in one season. Because of (the steroid era), you have to wonder: Have we've become afraid to play the game the way it's supposed to be played?"

For many, players such as Killebrew now symbolize what was once pure about baseball. It is his silhouette that serves as the logo for MLB, just as Jerry West's does for the NBA, and Killebrew's status in an irreparably skewed record book drew public empathy from one of the politicians during Thursday's proceedings.

Ever gracious, Killebrew appreciates the kind words. But he refuses to bemoan his fate or cast blame on any of the current players.

"It sounds as if it's sour grapes if (older players) say anything derogatory," Killebrew said. "But it's not OK. Baseball is a game of records, and if any have been achieved through cheating, that's not good.

"But listening to that hearing, you understand how serious this issue is. I think we forget when it comes to professional sports just how it filters down to the kids, and to hear kids committing suicide (because of steroids) is just awful. I mean, I've got grandkids myself, and I don't want anything to ever happen to them."

As for Killebrew's legacy, well, that's the last of his worries. After all, he's always got the MLB logo to lean back on.

"You know, I was in the commissioner's office when the mock-up for that logo was being done," Killebrew said. "But for some reason, they won't admit it's me. It's an interesting thing, and I don't know why."

It's called honesty. Baseball and its current cast of players have that problem, too.

Really? Seems to me they are both inept. It's like the blind leading the blind.

While I hate that certain players won't stand up and admit the truth about themselves, I can respect that they aren't ratting out those around them. The MLB needs to get down and dirty with some investigations to find out who was or was not doing this. Nobody should be asked to rat out their peers and colleagues.

I'd have to argue why should a baseball player have to pay a bigger fine than any ordinairy person would have to pay or be subjected to harsher penalties? The penalty for a baseball player using an illegal drug (which none have been convicted of) should be no different than any member of society using illegal drugs. In our society rarely does any drug user get jail time or a fine as big as $10,000 for using and nobody goes to jail without first being convicted. Dealing of course is another story. While I certainly have my suspicions of who used, none of the users would be convicted without being caught in possession. If someone is to be convicted for illegal substance abuse because they used in the past, prisons would be full of respectable people who used, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, etc. To hold up baseball players to a different set of rules than those of everyday society would set a dangerous precedent. Where would one draw the line?

I watched the hearing almost in its entirety and I still feel it was a waste of resources. I work for the Federal Security Directors for Charlotte, Houston, and Austin, all of whom are former Deputy Directors of the DEA. To a man, they feel the resources spent on that hearing would have been better spent fighting the use of other more destuctive drugs. As the FSD from Houston said, how can the DEA budget being used to fight importation of cocaine and heroin be cut while money is wasted investigating a higher profile less destructive drug like steroids. No matter how much it impacts baseball, no matter how much I love the game, baseball is still only a game.

As far as McGwire's testimony goes, while I believe he has used steroids, he is right in saying that saying No would result in the player not being believed. As Sosa and Palmeiro said no, how many really believed them? Now Schilling and Thomas (much like Rick Reuschel would be believable) are believeable in saying they hadn't used, Schilling is not believable in saying he hasn't even seen a syringe. Schilling is great at trying to make himself look good but he is a hypocrit with his 'I had my head buried in the sand' stance. Much like other Bushies he is great a talking a good game but he doesn't deliver if there is nothing in it for him.

Some of the congressmen impressed me with their passion, but the majority of them came off as pompous glory hounds in my eyes. And, while In feel for the parents whose children committed suicide, I can't completely absolve them of some of some responsibility for not doing a better job recognizing that their children were abusing drugs. As a 17 year old, I can promise you my parents knew about it every time I had been drinking or doing anything that was technically illegal and I didn't turn out that bad because they got involved. To blame the tragic deaths on baseball which is what Mr. Hooton seemed to insinuate with a couple of his comments is overly simplistic.

IMO the whole hearing should have been more focused to moving forward rather than pointing blame (I can't believe I can forgive a former Cardinal, but I can). Ultimately, the hearing will probably serve to have a positive effect from the black eye that baseball will get because of steroids. However, poking a stick in the eye after it has been blackened serves no purpose.

Just my two cents.

MLB's leadership a disgrace

ESPN.com
By Peter Gammons

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Sen. Jim Bunning's testimony had ended Thursday morning, and Angels players were told about the confusion and the loopholes in the drug agreement.

"What loopholes?" asked one veteran Angels player. He was told about the $10,000 fine and the incredible 90-minute grace period if a player were unable to fill his cup.

"What?" asked another player.

"Those weren't in the agreement we voted to ratify a couple of days ago," said the first player.

After batting practice, he went into the locker room, then came back and said there were no loopholes in what they voted on. He was told that MLB executive vice president Rob Manfred told the Mike and Mike radio program the loopholes were, indeed, in there. The player, and several others, were outraged. "We want a serious drug-testing agreement," said another player.

Royals players began their batting practice Thursday morning, and they had the same discussion. "I don't trust either leadership," said one player.

"This is about saving the stars," said another player who is a former player representative. "The union is all about the star player. Bud Selig doesn't want any more stars in trouble. I'll guarantee this is a deal where a star can get a fine and anonymity, and pieces of [----] like me get public suspensions."

That is the way many players say they feel. And should, because they all have to prove their innocence because their representatives refused to concede they are entertainment -- not National Labor Relations Board -- lawyers.

Mark McGwire was the biggest loser Thursday, but in many ways, the players aren't those most to blame. Several weeks ago in Florida, a player who might be the most intelligent man in uniform said, "if I were a four-A player whose game was power and I thought I could make $100 million by taking steroids, who am I to say I wouldn't have done it? There was an entire culture on the periphery, and they were easy to get. There were no warnings in the game against them. They weren't illegal in our workplace. I think the moral outrage directed at some of these individuals is pretty hypocritical."

Union head Donald Fehr and chief operating officer Gene Orza are highly moral, principled men, but they and the Players' Association are to blame. They represent their constituency, and if they did not know about the steroid subculture, they didn't know their players. Orza had been a strong driving force in substance abuse treatment. Well, this mess is far worse than the Pittsburgh drug scandal of the 1980s.

They are to blame, and so is the commissioner's office. Former commissioner Bart Giamatti rightly spent millions investigating Pete Rose. So when Washington Post reporter Thomas Boswell dropped the Jose Canseco steroids bombshell on CBS in 1988 and a Fenway Park crowd that October chanted "steroids," should Fay Vincent have spent the necessary money on private detectives to get a read on the issue? And once steroids were made illegal in 1991 and in the next two years the subject was widely discussed -- like at the 1993 World Series -- where was Bud Selig to investigate?

In many ways, Selig's record as commissioner is unrivaled in his sport. Revenue sharing. Wild card. Record attendance. A complete overhaul of the business.

But he could have investigated the subculture and presented the evidence and prodded the union. Leadership is about more than making money, and to end up with McGwire in Washington shrinking to the level of Patrick Lennon is the result of an utter lack of leadership of the commissioner and the Players' Association. Not to mention the arrogance and incompetence that led to the subpoenas for MLB records and the bungling of the loopholes.

McGwire, Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds are not victims; they are very, very, very rich. But they were hardly the only players suspected of using enhancing-performing drugs, part of the subculuture that the leaders never discouraged.

If Selig and Fehr think their performance gets them off the hook, they're wrong. Every day that Bonds runs at Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron, the nation and Congress will be reminded of this issue. In December, 1994, when President Clinton offered up Willam Ussery to mediate baseball's labor dispute, both sides spit on him [one union official called Ussery "senile"] and the Clinton administration.

They'd better not do it again this time. Oh, they will try to throw lobbyist dollars to preserve their anti-trust exemption, but if they keep up the stonewalling, maybe they'll get what they deserve. One of Selig's favorite phrases is "we are where we are."

Well, they are where they are, the game they run is disgraced and its integrity is in question, because of the leadership offered to the players and owners.

The loop holes in the agreement were not a surprise to me. There was no way that Selig and Co. were going to let a 'Star' be outed until such time that the player is no longer a cash cow star.

I'd provide the link, but unless you use AOL you wouldn't be able to read it.

MLB Agrees to Change Steroid Policy to Suspensions Only
Congress Had Pressured League to Remove Possibility of Fines
By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports

NEW YORK (March 20) - Baseball players and owners agreed Sunday to drop the possibility of fines for steroid use, leaving suspensions as the only discipline.

Congressmen repeatedly criticized baseball for the fine possibility during Thursday's hearing before the House Government Reform Committee. Management officials told the committee they were willing to eliminate the fine provision, held over from baseball's first drug-testing agreement in 2002, but union head Donald Fehr had said he would have to consult with players.

"We do have an agreement with Don that the language after the disjunctive in the various disciplinary levels is going to be eliminated," Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, said Sunday. "It will be just the straight suspension, which everybody knew was going to happen anyway. To the degree there was any doubt, I think this change should put to rest any concerns in that regard."

Players and owners announced the agreement Jan. 13 but it has not been finalized.

"The agreement still has to be ratified, but the negotiators have agreed to modify that language," said Michael Weiner, the union's general counsel.

Commissioner Bud Selig repeatedly said during the hearing that his intent was to suspend players for all positive tests.

"We're glad the policy is now closer to what it was purported to be," David Marin, spokesman for committee chairman Tom Davis, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "If our inquiry achieves nothing more than getting baseball to give its policy the teeth it said it had, we will have done some real good."

Baseball's new agreement had called for a 10-day suspension or up to $10,000 fine for a first positive test. A second positive was to result in a 30-day suspension or up to $25,000 fine, a third in a 60-day suspension or up to $50,000 fine and a four in a one-year suspension or up to $100,000 fine.

After that, discipline is determined by the commissioner.

Now, it's suspensions only.

Earlier Sunday, Sen. John McCain said he thought legislation may be needed to force a tougher plan.

"It just seems to me they can't be trusted," the Arizona Republican told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "It seems to me that we ought to seriously consider... a law that says all professional sports have a minimum level of performance-enhancing drug testing."

Davis said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that he agreed with McCain's suggestion that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency could be called in to govern baseball's testing. The agency oversees drug testing and discipline for U.S. Olympic athletes.

"They've got this season. We'll see how they respond when they find someone testing positive," the Virginia Republican said.

Comedy Central to rebroadcast baseball steroid hearings
Friday, March 18, 2005

Less than two hours after C-SPAN's live coverage of yesterday's Congressional hearings came to a close, Comedy Central announced plans to rebroadcast the proceedings, uncut and unedited.

"We're always looking for fresh, cutting-edge comedy programming to entertain our growing viewer base," said Comedy Central President Doug Herzog. "The House Government Reform Committee hearings about steroids in baseball were so laughable, we immediately bought the rebroadcast rights from C-SPAN."

Among Herzog's favorite moments were slugger Mark McGwire's constant refusals to "focus on the past" and Boston pitcher Curt Schilling's strange references to politics and his "Lord and savior."

"Then there was Frank Thomas giving his testimony on the videophone," said Herzog. "It's that kind of awkward dialogue we value on Comedy Central. Have you ever seen Crank Yankers or The Daily Show? It's all about making people so uncomfortable, they have no choice but to laugh."

Comedy Central plans to punctuate the best player responses with the use of a laugh track.

"Like when Jose Canseco requested immunity because his testimony could negatively impact his unrelated probation in Florida," said Herzog. "That's what we in the business refer to as comedic gold."

Added Herzog: "We're anticipating some pretty pumped up ratings here at headquarters."

U.S. Troops in Iraq Got Steroids, Italian Says
August 2, 2005
From Associated Press

ROME — Italian police seized 215,000 doses of prohibited substances as they broke up a ring that supplied steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs to customers around the world, including American soldiers in Iraq, a police official said Monday.

The U.S. military there had no immediate comment, but steroid abuse has long been discussed as an issue in Iraq, where American troops and contractors work out in gyms on military bases and even in the mirrored halls of one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces.

Joseph Donahue, program director for the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, who spent 16 months in Iraq — often lifting weights in the gyms of Baghdad's Green Zone — said steroids were available to those who wanted them.

"I had them offered to me by an Iraqi guy who sure … looked like he was using them," Donahue said. "There were guys I'm pretty sure were juicing, but not a lot of them."

Private security contractors said steroid use was a problem among their employees in Iraq because the drugs were so readily available there — as easy to buy as a soda, according to one contractor.

The police investigation in Italy began after a post office in the northeastern city of Trieste reported that U.S. postal authorities in Iraq had returned hundreds of packets of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs because they were improperly addressed, said Mario Bo, head of the Trieste Police Department's criminal division.

He said authorities arrested two Slovenians last month during a raid of an apartment in Trieste.

Sasco Tacs, 30, and Vesna Milosevic, 20, were charged with trafficking in prohibited substances.

The drugs had been ordered over the Internet, police said, adding that steroids were also sent to customers in Europe, North America and Australia.

Steroid investigation: Who knew, and when?
ESPN.com

Looking back at the Steroids Era in Major League Baseball, there are many questions, but one stands above all: Who knew?

Tonight, in conjunction with ESPN The Magazine, Bob Ley has the story of one player's questions and another's answers (ESPN, 12:40 a.m. ET/9:40 p.m. PT).

In a special report in its latest issue, ESPN The Magazine offers a 16-page examination of the spread of steroid use throughout baseball, and how many of those closely involved with the game -- executives, players, trainers, the media -- watched it happen … and looked the other way.

Among the details revealed in the report, available on newsstands Wednesday with additional features on ESPN.com:

• Baseball ignored its own rules about steroids. In 1991, then-Commissioner Fay Vincent effectively put steroids on baseball's list of banned substances in a memo sent to all MLB teams. Baseball could not test for steroids, the memo said, but should a player be caught with steroids, he would be sent for treatment and subject to penalties. This memo was never publicized and, seemingly, was largely ignored by both management and the players' union. Commissioner Bud Selig reissued the same memo in 1997, with minor changes but with the same lack of conviction. Several GMs at the time tell ESPN the Magazine the memo probably was lost in the blizzard of other paperwork coming out of the commissioner's office.

• More than 20 major-league players were using anabolic steroids as early as 1991, according to a dealer who claims to have supplied them.

• In the mid-1990s, a bodybuilder essentially turned spring training for one Phillies player into his personal chemistry experiment.

• In 1998, major leaguer Wally Joyner asked fellow player Ken Caminiti to help him obtain steroids, and Caminiti supplied him with pills that Joyner ingested. Joyner says he regretted taking any of the pills and threw the rest away.

• Team doctors began trying to deliver information about the effects of supplements and steroids to players as early as 1997, but repeatedly were delayed by MLB and the Players Association, both of which felt more research was needed and didn't distribute such data until 2001.

• BALCO founder Victor Conte, in an exclusive analysis for The Magazine, concludes that under MLB's current steroids policy, it is still remarkably easy for players to cheat.

The special report traces the arc of the Steroids Era in baseball from 1987 to 2005 through several principals: a trainer, a supplier, an FBI agent, a baseball executive, a writer, a doctor and four players.

The product of a six-month investigation, the "Who Knew?" special report is told in four parts, each weaving together a series of scene-driven narratives: "Steroids Meet Baseball" (1987-1994), "The Tipping Point" (1994-1998), "Busting Out" (1998-2001) and "Crash and Burn" (2002-2005).

"Who Knew?" was written and reported by Shaun Assael, Peter Keating, Buster Olney, Amy K. Nelson and Tom Farrey, who collectively interviewed more than 150 subjects and examined hundreds of pages of documents.