McCain: Suspicions foster 'legitimacy problem'

[Kirkendall]

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Major League Baseball has a "legitimacy problem" because of suspicions about steroid use among players, Sen. John McCain said Wednesday in urging the sport to institute a stronger drug testing program.

"Sports organizations that allow athletes to cheat through weak drug testing regimes are aiding and abetting cheaters," McCain, R-Ariz., said at the start of a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee.

"Each of you, and particularly Major League Baseball, has a legitimacy problem," he said, addressing top baseball and football officials in attendance. "As your athletes get bigger and stronger, the credibility of your product in the eyes of the public gets weaker."

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr were scheduled to testify, along with NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue and union chief Gene Upshaw.

In his prepared remarks, Selig said major league baseball would like to have stronger testing but couldn't get the union to agree.

"I realize that we have work to do," he said. "We need more frequent and year-round testing of players. We need immediate penalties for those caught using illegal substances."

The committee also is examining legislation sponsored by Sen. Joe Biden that would ban over-the-counter sales of androstenedione, a steroidlike supplement that Mark McGwire used the year he broke the single-season home run mark, and the newly detected steroid THG

Biden criticized the Players Union for resisting stronger testing for steroids.

"The union's wrong, here," said Biden, D-Del. "Baseball is the national pastime, but it's the repository of the values of this country.

"There's something simply un-American about this. This is about values, about culture, it's about who we define ourselves to be.''

He and other lawmakers also want to see the sport adopt a more stringent testing program for drugs that already are banned. Selig backs the legislation.

Last year, 5 to 7 percent of players tested positive for steroids, in tests they knew were coming. That will trigger more tests this year, although a player won't face a year's suspension until the fifth offense.

The NFL, by contrast, has a year-round random testing program for players and imposes immediate suspensions on those who test positive for banned substances.

Baseball players have gotten larger and stronger in the last 10 years as the game's signature power play -- the home run -- became much more common. Some believe players have taken illegal drugs to boost their performances and cash in on huge contracts available to the game's premier power hitters.

The suspicion that some of the game's greats are using steroids has loomed over spring training this year.

The San Francisco Chronicle, quoting information it said was provided to federal investigators, reported last week that steroids were given to San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds, who broke McGwire's record in 2001; New York Yankees stars Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield; three other major leaguers; and one NFL player. Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield have denied using steroids.

That report came out of a grand jury investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. Last month, two company executives, along with Bonds' trainer and a track coach, were charged with supplying steroids to athletes.

Some players have said they want a stronger testing program. Last month, Atlanta Braves All-Star reliever John Smoltz recommended tougher testing, saying the game's integrity was at stake.

"There's a way they should do tests," he said. "Do them the way they should be done -- not a platform that's just a smoke screen."

[BengalszoneBilly]

Damn I love my state senator John McCain! That man has BALLS! I guess you'd have to after spending years as a Navy Attack Pilot flying A-4's in Vietnam, getting shot down and captured, and sitting in a POW camp for years before you were released! A TRUE American!

He'll keep the pressure on these a$$holes until they get with the program, I assure you!

[Kirkendall]

Damn I love my state senator John McCain! That man has BALLS! I guess you'd have to after spending years as a Navy Attack Pilot flying A-4's in Vietnam, getting shot down and captured, and sitting in a POW camp for years before you were released! A TRUE American!

He'll keep the pressure on these a$$holes until they get with the program, I assure you!

Yea, he's my type of politician; a moderate conservative. I was hoping he'd beat Bush out, but you know, that's life.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Yea, he's my type of politician; a moderate conservative. I was hoping he'd beat Bush out, but you know, that's life.

I was too, but he just didn't have the financial recources that "Dubya" had at his disposal. John Kerry is about to find out all about that deep pockets the Bush's possess! To bad he's pictured with Jane Fonda at a protest. Talk about setting yourself up for a fall. He make me miss Bill Clinton!

[The Brew Man]

Its about time baseball got called on something and couldnt explain it away. Geesh I cant stand Selig and Don Fehr.....

[Kirkendall]

Its about time baseball got called on something and couldnt explain it away. Geesh I cant stand Selig and Don Fehr.....

I agree Brew, baseball needs to fall flat on its face and have about everything go wrong for it for awhile. It'll get worse before it gets better and I'm glad. I want baseball back the way it used to be, fun and traditional.

[BengalszoneBilly]

I want baseball back the way it used to be, fun and traditional.

So do I, along with a big healthy dose of a new "Big Red Machine"!!

[Kirkendall]

I want baseball back the way it used to be, fun and traditional.

So do I, along with a big healthy dose of a new "Big Red Machine"!!

Well that would be kick ass now, wouldn't it?

[BengalszoneBilly]

Man...I haven't been happy with the Reds since they won the Series in '90! I want to be excited again. I just don't feel it happening anytime soon. Dammit.

[jditty47]

ya since ED(Eric Davis) went and busted up his kidneys we havent had anything to cheer for lately...besides dominating the cubs!

[Kirkendall]

ya since ED(Eric Davis) went and busted up his kidneys we havent had anything to cheer for lately...besides dominating the cubs!

I think that might end this year

At least we have Selig's Brewers to beat up on.

[BengalszoneBilly]

At least we have Selig's Brewers to beat up on.

That ain't enough for me. Can we beat up on Selig too? I need to vent some frustration!

[chrishcovga]

The organizations that run Major League Baseball should be brought up on charges, not the athletes...I have absolutely no doubt that Fehr and Selig were as supportive to baseball players taking illegal substances for the sole purpose of keeping MLB from going bankrupt.

First they said the baseball changed after the shutdown in '94.Then when everyone started hitting homeruns like crazy.. they said everyone was Juicing on steroids..Then when Marc McGwire told the entire free world.. Yeah I take them (andro is as close to a steroid as you can get ). Then it became all right. MLB blatant racist practices haven't changed and never will.

They continue to use Pete Rose as a martyr because he's an idiot , only to keep themselves perched "on high" as some form of allmighty .Then the worst happens when Government becomes too much Government and becomes Bad Government when it has to put it's nose into everything,and try to rule everything.

We don't need congressional hearings on steroid use.We don't addresses to the Nation on baseball players shaming themselves and their sports. We need better education,and a reasonable outlook on how money should be spent to better america and it's americans !