Major League Baseball’s top executive and union chief deflected criticism yesterday from lawmakers over their response to the game’s steroid scandal during a generally calm four-hour hearing that touched on topics ranging from human growth hormone to Ritalin.
Commissioner Bud Selig and Donald Fehr, executive director of the MLB Players Association, took responsibility for being slow in addressing the steroid problem but insisted current testing was working to reduce the level of cheating in the game.
“This scandal happened on your watch,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland Democrat. “I want that to sink in. Don’t you think you bear the responsibility for this scandal?”
Selig replied, “I take responsibility for everything that happened. Do I wish we could have reacted quicker? Should we have? One could make a compelling case.”
Meanwhile, the committee called for the Department of Justice to examine whether former Orioles shortstop Miguel Tejada lied to members of Congress during an investigation into whether teammate Rafael Palmeiro committed perjury during testimony in 2005.
Tejada was questioned after Palmeiro tested positive for steroids that year but claimed he knew nothing about steroids. The report from former Senate majority leader George Mitchell, however, said Tejada bought HGH from a teammate while with the Oakland Athletics in 2003. Tejada could be charged with fraud and making false statements, a felony punishable by up to five years in jail.
Tejada was traded from Baltimore to the Houston Astros last month. Tejada’s attorney at the time, Mark Tuohey, declined to comment.
Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who was in attendance, said he was unaware of any use of performance-enhancing drugs by Tejada.
“As far as I’m concerned, until proven otherwise, he’s completely innocent,” Angelos said.
Yesterday’s hearing was called after Mitchell issued a 400-page report detailing the widespread use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs in baseball.
Mitchell, who was appointed by Selig, reiterated yesterday a series of recommendations to baseball, including the installation of a third-party testing system and an internal investigations department.
Mitchell, who named nearly 90 active and former players in his report, defended the information provided to him by Brian McNamee, a former trainer who claimed to have provided HGH to former All-Star pitcher Roger Clemens. McNamee cooperated with Mitchell after striking a deal with federal prosecutors; Clemens has sued McNamee for defamation.
“I told him at the outset that every letter of what he said needed to be the truth,” Mitchell said. “Mr. McNamee had an overwhelming incentive to tell the truth. We believe the statements provided to us were truthful.”
The tenor of yesterday’s hearing was far tamer and less theatrical than a similar proceeding in 2005, when Selig and Fehr were skewered for their response to the steroid issue in the wake of the BALCO scandal.
After that hearing, Selig and Fehr agreed on stricter punishments calling for a 50-game suspension for a positive steroid test and a lifetime ban after three.
Lawmakers repeatedly praised Selig yesterday for pushing through the stiff penalties. They lobbed some blame at the union for its lack of cooperation with Mitchell’s investigation, but Fehr appeared to diffuse some of the criticism with his opening remarks, in which he acknowledged the union’s slowness in addressing the steroid problem.
“In retrospect, we should have acted sooner,” Fehr said. “The MLBPA accepts its share of the blame, and so do I.”
Lawmakers did challenge Selig and Fehr to pursue a number of policy changes, including pursuing a test for HGH, which all parties agreed still was widespread in baseball.
Both men said that they are still awaiting a reliable test for HGH but bristled at a suggestion from Rep. Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts Democrat, to save blood samples for future testing.
Rep. John Tierney, Massachusetts Democrat, questioned why the number of players receiving medical exemptions for banned stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin rose from 28 to 103 between 2006 and 2007.
Lynch reported that the number of players using the drugs, which can be prescribed to treat hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder, is eight times that of the general population.
“We’re examining that right now,” Selig responded. “We’re trying to break down how it happened, why it happened.”
The committee also urged Selig to enhance rules requiring team officials to report the use of performance enhancing drugs after allegations that San Francisco Giants executives were aware of Barry Bonds’ possible steroid use.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.