House committee considering excusing Giambi

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Drugs in baseball

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On Wednesday, baseball lawyer Stanley Brand said the committee had no jurisdiction and was interfering with a San Francisco federal grand jury investigation involving steroids. Davis and Waxman responded Thursday, sending Brand a letter stating “your legal analysis is flawed. ... Any failure to comply with the committee’s subpoenas would be unwise and irresponsible.”

“Baseball and ballplayers do not, by virtue of their celebrity, deserve special treatment or to be placed above the law,” they wrote.

Baseball spokesman Rich Levin said the sport’s officials were evaluating the letter.

Another House panel on Thursday held the first of what it said could be a series of hearings on the subject, with several congressmen chastising baseball for what one called its “extremely weak” drug-testing program. The subcommittee chairman said all major U.S. sports leagues should work toward uniform steroid penalties.

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McCarthyism?
March. 10: Baseball lawyer Stanley Brand defends the sport's decision to fight Congress' subpoenas, on MSNBC's Hardball.
No players were invited to Thursday’s Energy and Commerce Committee hearing, where chairman Joe Barton said his panel might issue subpoenas for commissioners of the major sports leagues.

Barton said use of performance-enhancing drugs is tainting sports, noting that as San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds pursues the career home run record there are questions about whether he’s been aided by steroids.

“With Babe Ruth, people didn’t worry about him taking steroids. They worried about him eating another hot dog,” Barton said.

Waxman said Bonds — who wouldn’t comment Thursday — wasn’t among the players asked to appear because “the feeling was that if he were invited, all the attention would go to Barry Bonds and would distract from the overall mission of the hearing.”

In Fort Myers, Fla., six to 12 players on the World Series champion Boston Red Sox were tested for steroids Thursday. Players from several other teams already have been tested under the tougher program baseball and players agreed to in January under pressure from Congress. The agreement, which has not been finalized, calls for 10-day suspensions for first-time offenders.

“Your program is extremely weak,” Cliff Stearns, chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, told baseball lawyer Frank Coonelly at Thursday’s hearing. “Just now it’s starting to get teeth in it. The only reason it’s getting teeth on is because of prodding from the Congress or the public.”

NBC Capitol Bureau producer Mike Viqueira contributed to this report.

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