Congressional committee issues 11 steroid subpoenas
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Major League Baseball officials said Wednesday they will fight subpoenas issued by a House Committee to some of the biggest names in baseball as it investigates suspected use of steroids by players.
Eleven subpoenas were issued Wednesday afternoon to players -- including Sammy Sosa and Curt Schilling but not Barry Bonds -- for next week's hearing. Tuesday, MLB was subpoenaed for documents related to its handling of the issue, House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said.
Several baseball executives, including Commissioner Bud Selig and the head of the players union, Donald Fehr, also have been asked to testify.
Instead of having players testify, Rob Manfred, MLB executive vice president of labor relations, and MLB attorney Stan Brand have offered to appear before the congressional panel.
"This is not a gotcha," House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., promised about the 11 subpoenas issued Wednesday afternoon. "We're less interested in names, who did it, and more interested in why baseball turned a blind eye," he said.
To that end, Major League Baseball was subpoenaed Tuesday for documents related to its handling of the issue, Davis said.
Subpoenas will be issued to all the witnesses, Davis said, "to make sure they're here." But committee aides were quick to point out that some of the witnesses had already agreed to testify while others resisted.
Mark McGwire, the former St. Louis Cardinals star who broke the single-season home run record in 1998, has resisted testifying, according to a congressional source. So has Sammy Sosa, the current Baltimore Orioles outfielder who was McGwire's main rival that season when Sosa played for the Chicago Cubs, the source said.
Sosa's agent, Adam Katz, told CNN that the slugger had "respectfully" declined the committee's invitation but will now have to "take a second look and make the right choice."
Baltimore Orioles slugger Rafael Palmeiro and New York Yankees first baseman Jason Giambi also resisted appearing voluntarily, the source said.
Others on the witness list who agreed to testify are: Jose Canseco, the former player for the Oakland Athletics and Texas Rangers who just published a supposed tell-all book on steroid abuse in baseball; Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling; and Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox.
Davis said he thought some of the witnesses would cite their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination but said he hoped most would testify.
A spokesman for the House cmmittee said Barry Bonds was not invited to testify because of concerns the focus of the hearing would shift from the very real societal and health problems brought on by steroid abuse to whether the controversial slugger used the performance-enhancing drugs.
"This hearing isn't about one individual or one record," Drew Crockett said. If he testifies, "it becomes just about Bonds."
Baseball executive vice presidents Rob Manfred and Sandy Alderson and San Diego general manager Kevin Towers also were subpoenaed to appear at the March 17 hearing.
Canseco, Fehr and Manfred had agreed to testify. Manfred will speak on behalf of baseball commissioner Bud Selig.
"The remaining witnesses, however, made it clear -- either by flatly rejecting the invitation to testify or by ignoring our repeated attempts to contact them -- they had no intention of appearing before the committee," committee chairman Rep. Davis and Rep. Henry Waxman, the ranking Democrat, said in a statement.
"The committee will conduct a thorough, fair, and responsible investigation. It is important the American people know the facts on baseball's steroid scandal. And it is important that all Americans, especially children, know about the dangers of drug use. Consistent with our committee's jurisdiction over the nation's drug policy, we need to better understand the steps MLB is taking to get a handle on the steroid issue, and whether news of those steps -- and the public health danger posed by steroid use -- is reaching America's youth."
(source)
this has all the makings of perhaps the most infamous congressional investigation since the mcCarthy hearings...
