Major Leagues

     The lament, reputed to have been delivered by a small boy to the legendary fielder and hitter Shoeless Joe Jackson outside a New York courtroom, was back in circulation this week as the world of professional baseball confronted its latest demon: the use of illegal, performance-enhancing drugs.

     On Wednesday, an investigative committee of Congress issued subpoenas to seven active and retired major league players, among them some of the sports biggest names, as well as four baseball officials, to testify before the house committee on government reform on the use of steroids.

     Yesterday, players and team owners delivered their preliminary response: No.

     Stanley Brand, a lawyer for the baseball commissioner’s office, said the players would contest the subpoenas. He went on to accuse Congress of using concerns about drug use to try to win points with the public at the sport’s expense. He also warned that the hearings could compromise a grand jury investigation now under way in California into steroid use. “The legal audacity of subpoenaing someone who’s been a grand jury witness before there has been a trial in the case in California is just an absolutely excessive and unprecedented misuse of congressional power,” Mr Brand told reporters.

     The showdown now sets the stage for a fullscale confrontation between US lawmakers and baseball authorities. In a hard-hitting response to Mr Brand, the committee leaders, Republican congressman Tom Davis, and Democratic congressman Henry Waxman, indicated they were determined to have the players testify. If players defy the subpoenas, the committee could vote them in contempt, an action that could potentially result in jail time. Read the rest of this entry »