Amnorix
03-10-2005, 07:47 AM
Seriously, why the hell does baseball continue to enjoy it's antitrust exemption? Never has a privileged status been so horribly mismanaged. Yank it, let MLB sink or swim on their own, and oh by the way -- enforce the subpoenas and have anyone who refuses to testify thrown in jail (including Curt Schilling). MLB's dirty laundry needs to be cleaned as soon as possible.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/03/09/bc.bbo.steroids/index.html?cnn=yes
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Major League Baseball representatives said Wednesday they will fight subpoenas issued by a House committee to some of the biggest names in baseball -- including Sammy Sosa (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/4344) and Curt Schilling (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/4267) but not Barry Bonds (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/3918) -- as they investigate suspected use of steroids by players.
"It is absolutely beyond the legal pale," MLB attorney Stan Brand told reporters Wednesday afternoon. "It is an excessive and unprecedented use of congressional power."
In a letter sent Tuesday to committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., and ranking House member Henry Waxman, R-Calif., Brand said current and former players -- except former Oakland slugger Jose Canseco -- will respectfully decline the invitations to testify.
Eleven subpoenas were issued Wednesday afternoon to players 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 are asked to testify.
Brand said lawmakers "have torn loose from their legislative moorings" by issuing the subpoenas.
Rob Manfred, basball's executive vice president of labor relations, said he and Brand have offered to appear before the committee in lieu of players. But Manfred indicated that the information they provide will be limited to the application of MLB's new drug testing policy.
In January, players and owners agreed to a stricter testing program for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs that provides for penalties, instead of just treatment, for first-time offenders.
According to Brand's letter, both the MLB and basball's Players Association accuse the committee of lacking jurisdiction in the steroid issue, because neither group is a government entity subject to committee oversight.
In addition, the MLB and the players' union possess "legitimate privacy interests. Highly private and sensitive information has been gathered and shared in the course of the development of their new drug testing program."
Committee efforts to obtain drug testing results raise constitutional and privacy issues, Brand said, some of which are addressed by the players' collective bargaining agreement.
"We are concerned about records created and maintained by MLB as part of the bargaining agreement," Brand said. "The committee has subpoened those records and we feel bound to raise those objections."
He said the committee is considering the MLB objections.
Brand said if the MLB objections can't be resolved by the committee, the issues would go to the full House and eventually to U.S. District Court for resolution, Brand 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.
Ballplayers balking at a voluntary appearance before the committee include former St. Louis Cardinals star Mark McGwire, the former St. Louis Cardinals star who broke the single-season home run record in 1998; Baltimore Orioles (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/orioles) first baseman Rafael Palmeiro (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/3897); and New York Yankees (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/yankees) first baseman Jason Giambi (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/5386), the source said.
Sammy Sosa, the former Chicago Cubs (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/cubs) outfielder who was McGwire's main rival in the 1998 home-run chase, "respectfully" declined the committee's invitation, his agent, Adam Katz, told CNN. Sosa, now with the Baltimore Orioles, will "take a second look and make the right choice," Katz said.
Those who agreed to testify include Canseco, who just published a tell-all book on steroid abuse in the majors; Boston Red Sox (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/red_sox) pitcher Curt Schilling; and Chicago White Sox (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/white_sox) designated hitter Frank Thomas (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/4527).
Davis said he thought some of the witnesses would cite their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, but said he hoped most would testify.
In December, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Giambi told a federal grand jury in 2003 that he had used steroids. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/giants) told the grand jury he used a substance that prosecutors believe contained steroids, the paper said.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/baseball/mlb/03/09/bc.bbo.steroids/index.html?cnn=yes
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Major League Baseball representatives said Wednesday they will fight subpoenas issued by a House committee to some of the biggest names in baseball -- including Sammy Sosa (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/4344) and Curt Schilling (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/4267) but not Barry Bonds (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/3918) -- as they investigate suspected use of steroids by players.
"It is absolutely beyond the legal pale," MLB attorney Stan Brand told reporters Wednesday afternoon. "It is an excessive and unprecedented use of congressional power."
In a letter sent Tuesday to committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., and ranking House member Henry Waxman, R-Calif., Brand said current and former players -- except former Oakland slugger Jose Canseco -- will respectfully decline the invitations to testify.
Eleven subpoenas were issued Wednesday afternoon to players 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 are asked to testify.
Brand said lawmakers "have torn loose from their legislative moorings" by issuing the subpoenas.
Rob Manfred, basball's executive vice president of labor relations, said he and Brand have offered to appear before the committee in lieu of players. But Manfred indicated that the information they provide will be limited to the application of MLB's new drug testing policy.
In January, players and owners agreed to a stricter testing program for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs that provides for penalties, instead of just treatment, for first-time offenders.
According to Brand's letter, both the MLB and basball's Players Association accuse the committee of lacking jurisdiction in the steroid issue, because neither group is a government entity subject to committee oversight.
In addition, the MLB and the players' union possess "legitimate privacy interests. Highly private and sensitive information has been gathered and shared in the course of the development of their new drug testing program."
Committee efforts to obtain drug testing results raise constitutional and privacy issues, Brand said, some of which are addressed by the players' collective bargaining agreement.
"We are concerned about records created and maintained by MLB as part of the bargaining agreement," Brand said. "The committee has subpoened those records and we feel bound to raise those objections."
He said the committee is considering the MLB objections.
Brand said if the MLB objections can't be resolved by the committee, the issues would go to the full House and eventually to U.S. District Court for resolution, Brand 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.
Ballplayers balking at a voluntary appearance before the committee include former St. Louis Cardinals star Mark McGwire, the former St. Louis Cardinals star who broke the single-season home run record in 1998; Baltimore Orioles (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/orioles) first baseman Rafael Palmeiro (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/3897); and New York Yankees (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/yankees) first baseman Jason Giambi (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/5386), the source said.
Sammy Sosa, the former Chicago Cubs (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/cubs) outfielder who was McGwire's main rival in the 1998 home-run chase, "respectfully" declined the committee's invitation, his agent, Adam Katz, told CNN. Sosa, now with the Baltimore Orioles, will "take a second look and make the right choice," Katz said.
Those who agreed to testify include Canseco, who just published a tell-all book on steroid abuse in the majors; Boston Red Sox (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/red_sox) pitcher Curt Schilling; and Chicago White Sox (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/white_sox) designated hitter Frank Thomas (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/players/4527).
Davis said he thought some of the witnesses would cite their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, but said he hoped most would testify.
In December, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Giambi told a federal grand jury in 2003 that he had used steroids. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/mlb/teams/giants) told the grand jury he used a substance that prosecutors believe contained steroids, the paper said.