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As expected, Congress subpoenaed several Major League Baseball (MLB) players possible implicated as steroid users to testify before the House Government Reform Committee. For the last three months, Congress has been putting increased pressure on MLB and the rampant use of steroids being reported by books, such as Jose Canseco's auto-biography.

Former players, like Canseco and Mark McGwire, will testify next to current players like Jason Giambi, Sammy Sosa and Frank Thomas in front of Congress at a Mar. 17, 2005 hearing. Sitting in on the session, invited by the House Government Reform Committee, will include Players Association Head Donald Fehr, MLB Executive Vice Presidents Sandy Alderson and Rob Manfred and San Diego Padres General Manager Kevin Towers.

Once the subpoenas were handed out, MLB lawyer Stanley Brand immediately talked to the press about how ludicrous it is for Congress to be forcing players to testify before them and how it interferes with other inquisitions taking place around the league. The MLB believes this is an "in-house issue" and that they are entitled to deal with it as they please, despite calls from fans, players and elsewhere that say they have never cared much for taking care of the problem and that the administration of the league is at fault for it being such a deal now.

If the players decide not talk to Congress, the body could file a contempt citation on each player, which would eventually need to be approved by the entire House of Representatives and by a U.S. attorney. MLB has already said they will fight the charges, should they occur, with the U.S. District Court.
So far, Casco and Manfred have agreed to testify; Manfred would be representing MLB's Commissioner Bud Selig. Thomas said he would testify, but this was after a statement released by MLB saying he wouldn't was already released to the general public for consumption.

House Government Reform Committee Chairman, Tom Davis, released a statement saying that the other players and witnesses involved had made it clear that they want to part in the investigations and were ignoring them at all cost. If they choose to do so, they will further curtail them to the fullest extent of the law.Davis believes it is important for Americans to learn of the full scope of the steroid scandal in MLB and that it will hopefully showcase steroid use, its effects and its danger to players and the sport. He also hopes this highlights the dangers for players in other sports, not just in America but around the world.

MLB is citing an unprecedented intrusion into private records and a privately agreed upon drug policy between the players and the league; they claim Congress has no right to step into this matter, as it's a league matter, however, as Congress countered, the league had not taken any steps to prevent steroid use.

McGwire himself, the former homerun record holder, was using a legal steroid that bulked him up from his scrawny days as a rookie, when he broke the record. Rumors also ran around that Sosa, too, was on steroids at the time he chased McGwire for the records. Even Barry Bonds wasn't immune to rumors and truths, when it was found out that he, too, was using "legal" steroids when he broke McGwires record a few seasons ago.

Congress is concerned that the use of legal steroids is even too much for a professional sporting league; it promotes a culture of using drugs to get ahead and drugs to overcome physical attributes that athletes will begin to get physically bigger and bigger in competition to the point that the sport is no longer baseball but bodybuilding. While MLB is in the spotlight with the Congressional hearings pending, other sporting leagues are also beginning to take a look into their ranks to see where steroids play a part.

At the same time Congress subpoenaed the baseball players, they also instituted a stricter drug-testing policy in wake of the news. Many players believe that it's only a minority of players using steroids and are more than happy to take the test to get their name's out of the mud. Congress is still under the impression, as are the former players, like Casco, who have spoken out, that it is much more rampant than MLB is playing it out to be.

Casco, in his auto-biography, stated that not only did he witness McGwire taking steroids, but that he helped introduce many players to them and even injected the former homerun champion with steroids before games in the locker room.