More on the Steroid Hearings

I did not get to see as much coverage of the congressional hearings as I would have liked. The combination of work to do and great basketball meant that I caught only bits and pieces. Thankfully, though, Mike has some great insights (below), as do John at Only Baseball Matters and David at Baseball Musings.

From the parts that I saw, along with what I have read, it seems that the hearings accomplished very little. There apparently is no bill being proposed, and other than the congressmen involved getting some publicity, little benefit seems to have come of all of this. There is one big loser, though: Mark McGwire. Unlike Schilling, Palmeiro and Sosa, all who vehemently denied steroid use, McGwire refused to answer the questions, stating that he would not be believed if he answered "no" and would be vilified and possibly prosecuted if he answered "yes." Thus, he invoked his 5th Amendment rights, looking horribly uncomfortable in the process.

If McGwire did this to avoid admission of steroid use, he may have bought himself some time, but the truth will emerge eventually. If he thought this would be a good way to fight the injustice of the hearings, it was a severe miscalculation on his part. Rightly or wrongly, this will be seen by many as an admission of drug use. The hit that McGwire's reputation took today could have longstanding implications. Baseball would love to have him as an ambassador for the game but that may not be possible now.

And one question that has been running through my mind the past few days: where are the hearings over professional football? You want to talk about potential steroid use...

You can read more about the hearings from ESPN, San Jose Mercury News, and the New York Times,

You can view the MLB Drug Testing Policy here.

And, for the history buffs, a story of how Congress has always been involved in baseball.

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