1 year later, steroids fallout resonates, By: T.J. Quinn

Questioning by Congress prompted policy, ruined reputations

April 2, 2006, New York Daily News

NEW YORK - The sad reality for Major League Baseball is that baseball books sell better at the start of the season: Hence the book "Game of Shadows," overshadowed spring training -- even the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

One year ago, players and executives sat before the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform to deal with the fallout from another book timed for spring training, Jose Canseco's "Juiced."

The day-long hearings were so tense between Canseco and the players he outed -- Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro -- that he was stationed in the office closest to the hearing room, to make sure he was the last to enter.

On that fine St. Patrick's Day in Washington, Congress bellowed, threatening to pass steroid testing laws if baseball did not take proper action, McGwire cried, Palmeiro pointed, Sosa dodged.

Bonds and Jason Giambi weren't there because they were part of the ongoing federal investigation into the BALCO lab.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., the committee chairman, says the hearings served their purpose.

"It's hard to argue with success," he told the New York Daily News. "Even now people think we should have been going after Bonds and everything else, but we did what we set out to do: we changed the policy."

So what else has happened the past 12 months?

Mark McGwire

What he said: "I will use whatever influence and popularity that I have to discourage young athletes from taking any drug that is not recommended by a doctor. What I will not do, however, is participate in naming names and implicating my friends and teammates."What happened: Part of that statement was correct. McGwire never named names or much of anything else. His testimony came three days after the Daily News documented his hardcore steroid use, and given a chance to clear his name, he famously repeated, "I'm not here to talk about the past."

After he promised to crusade against steroids, he absolutely vanished. He lives in a gated community and plays at private golf courses.

The only comment from McGwire in all that time was to mark the death of his old baseball coach at Southern California with a statement issued through a spokesman.

He didn't go to the funeral.

Bud Selig

What he said: "Nothing that went on surprised me tonight. Now we all leave here and they have to give this drug policy of ours a chance to work."

What happened: No one took a bigger beating during the hearings than Selig, who looked exhausted by the end of the day. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., even suggested that baseball should find a new commissioner.

However, Selig used congressional pressure to force the Players Association to renegotiate in the middle of a labor agreement -- twice.

For a while it looked like Selig might come out of the ordeal as a conqueror, taking on the union and creating the toughest testing system in professional American sport. In Palmeiro, he nailed a top player, something the NFL has never done.

All was going well until the Bonds/BALCO book came out, and suddenly baseball was faced with its own neglect again.

As he prepares to investigate Bonds' steroid use, he is also confronted with new allegations about Gary Sheffield. And who knows what books will be released next spring.

Sammy Sosa

What he said: In a statement read by his lawyer: "I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything. I've not broken the laws of the United States or the laws of the Dominican Republic."And these gems in response to questions:

• "To my knowledge, I don't know."

• "I can tell you, Mr. Chairman, I don't have too much to tell you."

• "I don't have the specific question to explain to you."

What happened: Sosa's career shriveled along with his body, like a hurricane dissipating over the ocean.

As a backup for the Orioles, he hit .221 with 14 home runs and 45 RBIs last season. He's gone now. No dramatic retirement, just ... gone. He has done exactly what baseball would like to see Barry Bonds do.

Jose Canseco

What he said: "After this hearing, I will be happy to work ... in whatever way I can to help convey to the youth of America the message that steroid use is unnecessary to be a great athlete and that they are harmful to use to those who take them."

What happened: The one thing that can be said for Canseco, who is working on a sequel to his book, is that his credibility fared better than some of his fellow players on the panel.

"The reality is he came out of the hearings with more credibility than we went in with," Davis said. "Not to say there weren't some exaggerations or some puffery, but he came out being fairly credible."

Rafael Palmeiro

What he said: "I have never used steroids. Period. I do not know how to say it any more clearly than that."

What happened: Open mouth, insert Hall of Fame career. After he returned to spring training, he offered these comments:

"If it turns out to be a positive thing that (Canseco) wrote this stupid book, and he turns himself around and if he can be a positive role model, I'll forgive him."

And, "They brought me in basically to give me the chance to clear my name and to speak my heart. ... I'm very happy that I went."

And then he tested positive for stanozolol, a hardcore steroid.

He said he was the victim of a B-12 injection given to him by Miguel Tejada (who was also mentioned in the Canseco book but has been unscathed).

Incredible as it seems, a man with 3,020 hits and 569 home runs might not make it into the Hall of Fame.