WASHINGTON — Baseball players, executives and union leaders will sit today before a House committee poised to ask them about steroids, with Congress already panning the new drug policy that Commissioner Bud Selig had claimed would "eradicate" illegal performance-enhancing drugs from the game.
The hearing marks the second time in 13 months that Selig and union chief Don Fehr have been called to Washington to address steroids in baseball -- and comes in the shadow of the BALCO case, Jose Canseco's tell-all book and Barry Bonds' chase of Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.
In the final hours before this morning's hearing, players arrived in Washington from spring-training sites and their post-career homes, and baseball executives flew in from New York, wary of a committee they say is operating outside its jurisdiction. By Wednesday night, members of Congress had expressed their disapproval for baseball's program, exasperating the game's leaders.
"The closer we get to the hearing the more concerned we are about exactly why this process is a legitimate expenditure of government time, and whether this committee has any intention of giving baseball a fair hearing," said Rob Manfred, an executive vice president of Major League Baseball.
The House Committee for Government Reform subpoenaed Canseco, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro, Frank Thomas and Curt Schilling. Giambi was excused because of potential conflicts with the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative investigation, in which he appeared as a grand jury witness and reportedly admitted steroid use.
All but Thomas and Schilling have been accused by Canseco of taking steroids, some administered by Canseco, an admitted user; they have denied it.
As of Wednesday night, it appeared none of the players would be granted immunity, leaving the possibility some players would read their opening statements and invoke the 5th Amendment, which Canseco's attorney has threatened. Five players are expected to attend the hearing. Thomas, who is recovering from ankle surgery, will appear via videoconference from Tucson.
They will sit side by side at two tables pushed together, facing committee members. Although the actual arrangement of players had not been settled, according to one committee source, "We're smart enough not to sit McGwire and Canseco next to each other."
