Mitchell Testifies As Hearing Begins On Capitol Hill

U.S. House Oversight & Gov't Reform Committee Chair Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), this morning in his opening remarks during the committee's high-profile hearing on steroid use in baseball, credited MLB for beginning to address its troubled past with performance-enhancing substances but chastised the league, MLBPA and the players for a decade of relative inactivity outlined in the recently released Mitchell Report. "Not enough attention has been paid to the Mitchell Report's indictment of the people who run baseball," Waxman said. "The players seemed to have been surrounded by enablers and officials willing to look the other way. In the end, the owners and the Commissioner's office are every bit as at fault as the players."  Waxman also credited MLB and the league for re-opening its labor deal twice and beginning to address the Mitchell Report recommendations. But he, along with ranking Republican Tom Davis (VA), said they will ask the Dept. of Justice to investigate testimony Astros SS Miguel Tejada gave the committee in '05 in which he said he never used performance-enhancing substances. Tejada was one of the named users in the Mitchell Report. 

Mitchell Calls For Congress To Allow MLB, MLBPA To Pursue Additional Anti-Doping Reforms

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY): "What should the consequences be for the people who enabled the players to cheat?  And has baseball done enough dealing with that problem?"

Mitchell: "For many years, baseball has had a policy requiring the disclosure of information about the use of performance-enhancing substances. ... Very large number of persons involved in baseball were unaware of the policy. … No one has ever been fined for failure to comply with that policy. … We suggest that there be a written policy at the major league level -- MLB level -- which is distributed to all of the clubs setting forth the process to be followed when information is available that should be reported, and also that every club should have a policy widely distributed and posted. … There are some ethical questions regarding physicians and other medical personnel in terms of legal requirements imposing restraints on the provision of information. … We think the policy can be much more clearly articulated."

Rep. Dan Burton (R-IA): "Some of the sportscasters have asked, why did you give the owners an advance copy of the report and not give it to the Players Association?"

Mitchell: "No owner received an advance copy. … I provided to the commissioner's office a copy of the report, because the commissioner is legally bound to maintain confidentiality (Selig nodding) of certain information with respect to the drug testing program under the (CBA). The commissioner wanted, and I believe appropriately, to be able to review the report to make certain that I did not inadvertently disclose any information in violation of his legal obligation to maintain its confidentiality... To the best of my knowledge, no owner saw the report and certainly it was not my intention." 

Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL): "Do you think that the report suggests that (MLB) has the inability to actually police itself, or is it going to require further legal, legislative actions?" 

Mitchell Believes MLB Capable Of Policing Itself

Read MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's prepared opening remarks.To Read MLB Commissioner Bud Selig's opening remarks, visit SportsBusinessDaily.com.

LIGHTENED UP: The mood and tenor of the hearing is far more subdued than the '05 session held by the committee, in part due to the lack of players appearing today and the sport's progress addressing the issue. But along with MLB and union officials, several team executives were present, including Nationals President Stan Kasten, Yankees President Randy Levine, and Orioles Owner Peter Angelos.

SportsBusiness Journal Staff Writer Eric Fisher and SportsBusiness Daily Staff Writer Preston Bounds contributed to this report.

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