Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Unaccountability Leaves Cloud Over MLB

By Diane M. Grassi

We have finally reached the final stretch of the 2005 Major League Baseball season, where playoff spots are still being wildly contested. Both the National League and the American League wildcards are up for grabs with the Astros and the Yankees respectively holding on for dear life, and the National League East winner is still very much a crapshoot to date, as it remains the most closely-contested division race.

The beginning of the 2005 season, however, began on an ominous note, preceded by a hearing before the House Government Reform Committee of the House of Representatives on March 17, 2005, on Capitol Hill. It was expected to become a part of baseball lore at the time, due to the controversy it stirred concerning MLB and its steroid and banned substances testing program, alone.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and his administrative team and medical advisor appeared. Additionally, high-profile sluggers of the 1990s were sworn in. Mark McGwire, who broke Roger Maris' home run record in 1998, Sammy Sosa, who was in that contest for Maris' record with McGwire and still playing, Frank Thomas, still an active player, Rafael Palmeiro, possible future Hall of Famer, and Jose Canseco, coming off a book tour in which he exposed names of fellow teammates he claimed used anabolic steroids going back to the 1980s, were all questioned. For good measure, outspoken starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, Curt Schilling, was also on hand.

Perhaps it was no coincidence that Congress called two of those players accused of using anabolic steroids in Canseco's book, namely McGwire and Palmeiro, to appear on the same panel as Canseco. But maybe even more surprising was who was not called to testify. Both Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees and Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants were not subpoenaed because of a potential conflict of interest Congress feared, in that they were presumed to testify in the BALCO trial in June 2005. Grand Jury testimony of both Giambi and Bonds from December 2003 had been leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle, stating that both had used varying types of anabolic steroids. The BALCO trial never reached fruition, however, as plea deals were made for both Victor Conte and Greg Anderson, both indicted on distributing banned substances connected to the BALCO case.

Since March of 2005, MLB has taken a number of hits along the way, for its supposed unaccountability on behalf of its players using banned substances and the finger pointing testimony of Rafael Palmeiro denying he ever used banned substances. Since that date, he has tested positive. Infinite newspaper articles and sports channel commentaries have been shared with the public all season long, admonishing both MLB, as well as the Major League Baseball Players' Association.

But players associated with illegal drug use such as Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and now Rafael Palmeiro, have been shielded by the player's union and have hardly done any mea culpas for their behavior. The closest we got to one was when Jason Giambi appeared in a planned press conference in New York in April when he said, "I'm sorry for everything that happened." He went on to include apologizing for his injuries and illnesses over 2003 and 2004 and we can only assume it included his benching himself during the 2003 World Series with a bad knee.

Fans generally want to forgive and forget and get on with the game. However, in the case of Jason Giambi, who signed one of the most lucrative contracts in baseball history to play for the NY Yankees for seven years beginning in 2001, he has not been penalized by Yankees management or MLB for deliberately deceiving the organization and the fans of NY. If his leaked Grand Jury testimony is to be believed, he was injecting anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, as well as a female fertility drug at the time of his contract signing and most probably until early 2004. When he appeared for spring training in 2004, sports analysts estimated he had taken off roughly 35 pounds, although Giambi still in denial, denied that, too.

Most would have lost their jobs for signing a contract under false pretenses. In fact, Giambi's quality of play did not even appear worthy of a major leaguer from 2004 until July 2005. He was hitting .195 in May of 2005. By July, he caught fire with impressive numbers, being named the American League Player of the Month. He hit 14 home runs, had a .974 slugging percentage, a .524 on-base percentage, driving in 24 runs, and lifting his batting average to .286. Unfortunately since then, Giambi cooled off and August has been a struggle for him, once again.

Many in the press thought that Giambi's July would be enough to erase all of his misdeeds. And perhaps if he ends the year with the numbers he generated in July, that will be the case. But hardcore fans remain disappointed and with the continual excuses made for multi-millionaire ballplayers who actually do owe something to the communities for which they play. Rather than the arrogance we have seen from Rafael Palmeiro since it was revealed he failed his drug test, showing use of an anabolic steroid not found in supplements or energy drinks, we have now heard that the test must have been wrong. It was a setup, some have said. Even when caught, MLB players cannot be humble.

Never mind the Hall of Fame, now, how about some accountability? If the drug test is to be questioned, perhaps as was suggested by Congressmen in March, MLB should use the same non-affiliated testing lab used by the U.S. Olympic Committee. But given the hubris of MLB, the MLBPA, and its players, even then positive results will be doubted. As long as positive drug test results can be dismissed by players, doubted in the headlines by the press and penalties to players so meager, such as the 10-day suspension served by Palmeiro, MLB will continue to have a public relations cloud over its head. For once, it would be nice for players to just do the right thing, without needing to have consequences hanging over their heads.

We can only hold our collective breaths, though, as Mark McGwire refused to answer questions by Congress regarding use of banned substances and Rafael Palmeiro has been advised by legal counsel not to address his positive test, especially while Congress investigates whether or not he perjured himself during testimony.

Whether Jose Canseco's revelations in his book are to be believed or not along with the San Francisco Chronicle's report, rest assured that if they did not exist, that neither the Congress nor MLB would have even entered a dialog about use of illegal substances and that MLB would continue to blame the MLBPA for less than stringent drug testing in baseball. It's now time for all parties including players to cowboy-up. They owe at least that much to the integrity of the game of baseball, not to mention its fans.