Hard words over steroids

WASHINGTON -- Major League Baseball took a beating yesterday over its steroid scandal as a House committee blamed owners and union officials for fostering the crisis, and Mark McGwire -- one of the game's most popular and prolific sluggers -- repeatedly refused under oath to address whether he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

In a rare spectacle involving five of the era's top stars, McGwire shared a witness table with his former Oakland Athletics teammate Jose Canseco and choked back tears as he mourned the suicides of young athletes whose parents said the youths used illegal steroids in part because they idolized sluggers such as McGwire and Canseco.

The other star witnesses included Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and Baltimore sluggers Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa.

''I hope these hearings can prevent other families from suffering," McGwire told the House Committee on Government Reform, moments before he ackowledged that baseball faces a ''problem with steroid use" but announced he would rebuff questions about his personal use.

The nationally televised hearing unfolded after Canseco escalated the scandal by implicating numerous players, including McGwire, Palmeiro, and Sosa, as steroid users (Palmeiro and Sosa testified they have never used steroids). Schilling, who has never been implicated, also testified that he has never been a steroid user.

Canseco, who invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, made the allegations in his recent book, ''Juiced," which followed disclosures that a federal grand jury in San Francisco had gathered evidence of steroid use involving two other prominent sluggers, Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi.

With Canseco accusing baseball officials of willfully permitting the rise of steroids in the game, lawmakers from both parties generally supported his stance during an often-contentious, 11-hour hearing, just 17 days before the Red Sox open the season.

''For 30 years, Major League Baseball has told us to trust them, but the league hasn't honored that trust," said Representative Henry Waxman of California, the panel's top Democrat. ''It hasn't acted to protect the integrity of baseball or sent the right message to millions of teenagers who idolized ballplayers."

The committee warned officials it would initiate legislation to regulate the game if owners and players fail to eradicate steroid use, though the only formal action the hearing prompted was the creation of a ''zero tolerance" advisory committee, co-chaired by Schilling and Frank Thomas of the White Sox. Thomas also testified via video conference call.

''I think Congress needs to act," Representative Stephen Lynch, a South Boston Democrat, said. ''I think the time for waiting has long since passed."

Lawmakers cited as many as 13 loopholes in baseball's revamped proposal to curb steroid use. The loopholes, most of which baseball officials vowed to close, included a provision that would permit violators to pay a $10,000 fine rather than face a suspension and be publicly identified. ''Unless you're unbelievably naive, it is self-evident that baseball's new policy is designed to silence the critics and not to solve the problem," Representative Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, said.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig defended the proposal, which was crafted with the union and is expected to be ratified by the players before the season begins. Under the previous policy, Selig said surveys indicated that 5 percent to 7 percent of players used steroids in 2003 and a little more than 1 percent used them last season.

''Baseball's policy on performance-enhancing substances is as good as any in professional sports," Selig said. ''And we will continue to be vigilant on the issue as we move toward my stated goal of zero tolerance."

That sentiment was shared by union chief Donald Fehr, who testified that, ''The players want to rid their game of illegal drug use. We have never suggested baseball players should be above the law. But neither should they be below it."

In a tense subplot, Schilling led an attack on Canseco, a former American League MVP and two-time home run champion who played two seasons for the Red Sox. Canseco, breaking what committee chairman Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, described as baseball's ''code of silence," asserted in his book that 80 percent of major leaguers use steroids and said he personally injected McGwire and Palmeiro, among others, with steroids.

Schilling denounced Canseco as ''a liar" and his book as a ''disgrace" and defended baseball's revamped plan to ban steroids as meaningful progress.

''The allegations made in that book, the attempts to smear the names of players, both past and present, should be seen for what they are," Schilling said, ''an attempt to make money at the expense of others."

McGwire asserted Canseco's book was rife with ''inconsistencies and contradictions," while Palmeiro derided Canseco as ''an unashamed advocate for increased steroid use by all athletes."

Canseco described himself as a whistle-blower who was trying to clear his conscience. In written testimony, he seemed to anticipate the criticism from his former colleagues, saying, ''All of these attacks have been spurred on by an organization [MLB] that holds itself above the law, an organization that chose to exploit its players for the increased revenues that lines its pockets and then sacrifice those same players to protect the web of secrecy."

But Canseco declined to elaborate on his steroid use, saying he feared he could subject himself to criminal charges in Florida, where he is on probation for unrelated offenses. Davis said he had tried unsuccessfully to persuade prosecutors to grant Canseco immunity for his testimony, and the committee generally resisted pressing Canseco.

But lawmakers were tougher on McGwire, whose home run race with Sosa in 1998 helped revive national interest in baseball after labor strife in 1994 and '95. McGwire previously acknowledged using the steroid precursor androstenedione, which was legal at the time, when he hit 70 home runs in '98 to break the single-season record set in 1961 by Roger Maris. Bonds surpassed McGwire's mark with 73 homers in 2001.

''Asking me or any other player to answer questions about who took steroids, in front of television cameras, will not solve this problem," McGwire said. ''If a player answers no, he simply will not be believed. If he answers yes, he risks public scorn and endless government investigations."

Amid criticism from lawmakers about his position, McGwire pledged to join the campaign to fight steroids after he listened to the testimony of the parents whose sons, Taylor Hooten and Rob Garibaldi, committed suicide. The parents speculated the youths would be alive if players such as McGwire had spoken out earlier about the dangers of steroids.

''Players that are guilty of taking steroids are not only cheaters but you are also cowards," Donald Hooten said. ''You hide behind the skirts of your union and now, with the help of management and your lawyers, you have made every effort to resist facing the public today."

Canseco, contrary to the other players at the witness table, predicted major leaguers would continue to use steroids unless Congress begins to regulate the sport. But Davis, the committee chairman, stopped short of supporting legislation, though he refused to rule out taking action.

''We're in the first inning," Davis said, ''of what could be an extra-inning ballgame."