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Commissioner Bud Selig is considering appointing an independent outside party to investigate steroid use in baseball if Congress defers its own investigation, according to a person who was briefed on a private meeting in Washington last Thursday between baseball officials and leaders of the House Government Reform Committee.
None of the principals involved in the discussion would speak on the record because the meeting was supposed to be confidential. But five people have confirmed that the meeting took place, and none denied the substance of it.
Although no commitments have been made, and baseball has not decided whether to propose its own investigation in place of the committee's, that possibility was discussed by Selig; Bob DuPuy, the president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball; Representative Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia; and Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee.
Richard Levin, a spokesman for Selig, said late yesterday, "The only thing we're going to say is that we had a meeting that was supposed to be confidential, and we're not going to comment on the contents of what was said at the meeting."
Levin said the confidentiality was needed in order to negotiate out of the public eye.
Baseball and committee staff members were chagrined that word of the meeting had leaked out. Levin said Selig did not want to be interviewed about the meeting.
Selig and DuPuy were in Washington on Thursday for the inaugural home game of the Washington Nationals, who are owned by Major League Baseball. Washington had not had a team for 34 years.
Selig and DuPuy met with the leaders of the same committee that took them to task on March 17 in a nationally televised hearing on steroid use in baseball.
Karen Lightfoot, a spokeswoman for Waxman, said yesterday, "There's nothing at this point we can say."
Drew Crockett, a spokesman for Davis, said, "At this time, we have no comment other than to confirm that the meeting took place."
Davis and Waxman have long said they would not have opened an investigation if baseball had agreed to do it instead. In announcing the Congressional probe with a flurry of subpoenas, Waxman pointedly noted that Selig had said he was not going to investigate allegations of widespread steroid use in Jose Canseco's book, "Juiced."
A model for baseball, if it agrees to propose an independent investigation, could be the Dowd Report on Pete Rose and gambling in baseball.
John Dowd, a Washington lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said yesterday that he had been given "total freedom" in leading that investigation.
Dowd said the House committee ought to "insist on a no-strings-attached investigation" if it deferred its work to let baseball investigate steroids.
Asked whether he would be available to lead the work, Dowd said, "No one has asked me, so I won't answer a hypothetical."
Bart Giamatti, then commissioner of baseball, ordered the Dowd Report in 1989 after reports that Rose had bet on baseball games.
Baseball's commissioner is empowered to investigate any act suspected not to be in the best interests of baseball and to take punitive action.
Rose denied betting on baseball, but ultimately agreed to a lifetime ban that has blocked him from being voted into the Hall of Fame.
A steroids investigation would not necessarily examine all activity that was banned by baseball at the time but would involve activity that might have contaminated some of the most hallowed records in the game, including home run records set by Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.
The House committee's Democratic staff report for the hearing last month repeatedly challenged baseball's refusal to investigate steroids. "Baseball does not need union agreement to investigate specific evidence of illegal drug use," the report said.
The House committee has expanded its investigation to steroid policies and results in other sports, and it has met with cooperation from those sports. Baseball officials, whose drug policies were strengthened this year after generally being viewed as the weakest in sports, talked instead of defying subpoenas and challenging the committee's jurisdiction. So any agreement such as the one suggested at Thursday's meeting would represent a truce. But any such proposal by baseball to investigate itself would have to pass the committee's muster.
Source: AP
None of the principals involved in the discussion would speak on the record because the meeting was supposed to be confidential. But five people have confirmed that the meeting took place, and none denied the substance of it.
Although no commitments have been made, and baseball has not decided whether to propose its own investigation in place of the committee's, that possibility was discussed by Selig; Bob DuPuy, the president and chief operating officer of Major League Baseball; Representative Tom Davis, Republican of Virginia; and Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee.
Richard Levin, a spokesman for Selig, said late yesterday, "The only thing we're going to say is that we had a meeting that was supposed to be confidential, and we're not going to comment on the contents of what was said at the meeting."
Levin said the confidentiality was needed in order to negotiate out of the public eye.
Baseball and committee staff members were chagrined that word of the meeting had leaked out. Levin said Selig did not want to be interviewed about the meeting.
Selig and DuPuy were in Washington on Thursday for the inaugural home game of the Washington Nationals, who are owned by Major League Baseball. Washington had not had a team for 34 years.
Selig and DuPuy met with the leaders of the same committee that took them to task on March 17 in a nationally televised hearing on steroid use in baseball.
Karen Lightfoot, a spokeswoman for Waxman, said yesterday, "There's nothing at this point we can say."
Drew Crockett, a spokesman for Davis, said, "At this time, we have no comment other than to confirm that the meeting took place."
Davis and Waxman have long said they would not have opened an investigation if baseball had agreed to do it instead. In announcing the Congressional probe with a flurry of subpoenas, Waxman pointedly noted that Selig had said he was not going to investigate allegations of widespread steroid use in Jose Canseco's book, "Juiced."
A model for baseball, if it agrees to propose an independent investigation, could be the Dowd Report on Pete Rose and gambling in baseball.
John Dowd, a Washington lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said yesterday that he had been given "total freedom" in leading that investigation.
Dowd said the House committee ought to "insist on a no-strings-attached investigation" if it deferred its work to let baseball investigate steroids.
Asked whether he would be available to lead the work, Dowd said, "No one has asked me, so I won't answer a hypothetical."
Bart Giamatti, then commissioner of baseball, ordered the Dowd Report in 1989 after reports that Rose had bet on baseball games.
Baseball's commissioner is empowered to investigate any act suspected not to be in the best interests of baseball and to take punitive action.
Rose denied betting on baseball, but ultimately agreed to a lifetime ban that has blocked him from being voted into the Hall of Fame.
A steroids investigation would not necessarily examine all activity that was banned by baseball at the time but would involve activity that might have contaminated some of the most hallowed records in the game, including home run records set by Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.
The House committee's Democratic staff report for the hearing last month repeatedly challenged baseball's refusal to investigate steroids. "Baseball does not need union agreement to investigate specific evidence of illegal drug use," the report said.
The House committee has expanded its investigation to steroid policies and results in other sports, and it has met with cooperation from those sports. Baseball officials, whose drug policies were strengthened this year after generally being viewed as the weakest in sports, talked instead of defying subpoenas and challenging the committee's jurisdiction. So any agreement such as the one suggested at Thursday's meeting would represent a truce. But any such proposal by baseball to investigate itself would have to pass the committee's muster.
Source: AP