Baseball Put on Notice on Steroids
WASHINGTON — Congress scolded baseball for its steroid policy Wednesday and requested that negotiations for a stricter program be completed by the end of next month's World Series.
At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing that included testimony from the commissioners of North America's four major professional sports, their union leaders and five Hall of Fame baseball players, the committee threatened legislation if baseball failed to enact harsher discipline that mandates a lifetime ban for third-time offenders.
Commissioner Bud Selig said that if the players did not consent to his 5-month-old proposal -- suspensions of 50 games for first-time offenders, 100 games for second-time offenders and the lifetime ban for a third violation -- he would endorse legislative proposals that sought to impose a two-year suspension for a first violation and permanent expulsion for a second.
As commissioners David Stern of the NBA, Paul Tagliabue of the NFL and Gary Bettman of the NHL and union officials looked on, senators during a two-hour hearing repeatedly admonished Don Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players' Assn., for his reluctance to accept Selig's terms.
The five Hall of Famers -- Hank Aaron, Lou Brock, Ryne Sandberg, Phil Niekro and Robin Roberts -- testified on behalf of Selig's proposed program. A sixth -- Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) -- attended as a guest of the committee and sat to the left of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who chaired the hearing and has drafted one of the anti-steroid bills.
Though the other sports' officials read opening statements that outlined their policies and then answered follow-up queries, baseball was subject to the sternest interrogation. By the time the hearing adjourned, it was apparent the committee believed Fehr -- and not Selig -- was to blame for baseball's inability to adopt an acceptable policy.
"Are you and the players living in such a rarefied atmosphere that you do not see this as a transcendent issue?" McCain asked. "Don't you get it? Don't you get it?"
McCain made a reference to Baltimore Oriole slugger Rafael Palmeiro, who strongly denied using steroids before a House committee in March and was suspended for 10 days under the current steroid policy in August, and said, "The patience of this body, reflective of its constituents, has reached an end."
Asked for a reasonable deadline to conclude negotiations, Fehr said, "Would I expect it by the end of the World Series? I would certainly hope so."
