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SI's Richard Deitsch blogging frrom the hearing

AG/DC Jan 15 2008 09:22 AM

Rep. Chris Shays looking out of his area of expertise. This is sorting in reverse chronology, so you may want to read bottom-to-top. 11:05 a.m. ET Regarding testing, Mitchell says that currently all the major professional sports retain significant authority over testing regimes. That needs to change. "The test is not the form adopted or the words used to describe it," he says. "The test is the substance of the authority that the person actually has. That's what the two parties (MLB and the Players Association) have to decide on." 11:01 a.m. ET Waxman says Mitchell wanted to be out by 11. (Uh, who's running this show?) But Mitchell agrees to go another 20 minutes. Generous, George. 10:57 a.m. ET Strange math: If you Google "George J. Mitchell," you get 645,000 results. Now do the same with "Richard G. Deitsch." That's right, 2,370,000 results, baby. Who's the man now, George Mitchell? 10:52 a.m. ET The committee asks Mitchell why management didn't push trainers to come forth with more fervor. Says Mitchell: "On the issues of trainers and other medical personnel, I repeat what I said earlier: They are subject to certain legal and ethical constraints on what they can and cannot disclose about persons whom they serve in that capacity." 10:50 a.m. ET Mitchell is wearing a dark blue suit and what looks like a pink and black tie. Solid choice. 10:46 a.m. ET Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus and SI.com just emailed to say that he's enjoying MLB's Rich Levin sleeping on Mitchell's shoulder. 10: 42 a.m. ET Shays is making mistakes all over the place. He just asked Mitchell if Rafael Palmeiro took steroids before his "300th hit." That would mean Palmeiro was doing steroids with the Rangers in 1989. 10:40 a.m. ET Rep. Christopher Shays just asked about the "1919 Chicago Blackhawks scandal." What exactly did Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita do? 10:32 a.m. ET Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana asks Mitchell why he gave the owners an advance copy of report, and did not afford the Players Association the same courtesy. Mitchell says he gave the commissioner's office a copy because Selig's office was bound by a legal obligation to maintain confidentiality. He then asked why Mitchell did not make documents from investigation available to the press. He says the responsible rests with the current owners of the document but doesn't say who said current owners are. "To the best of my knowledge, no owner saw the report," Mitchell says. Somebody call Hank Steinbrenner and ask him. 10:25 a.m. ET Cummings just gave a shout-out to Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who promptly reacted by trading Erik Bedard. 10:22 a.m. ET So far, the committee is showing great deference to Mitchell. As expected. The questioning is friendly. Everyone is thanking Mitchell. Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.) just said what Mitchell brought to public life is "incredible." Clearly, these guys are saving up the venom for Selig and Fehr. 10:19 a.m. ET I just learned Dennis Kucinich is on this committee. Sweet. 10:12 a.m. ET Mitchell is taking the Players Association to task again for being uncooperative. 9:55 a.m. ET Mitchell is making his opening statement and rattling off statistics of the steroid use among children and teenagers. He's taking Congress through MLB's previous drug testing policy. "Everyone involved in baseball over the last two decades..there was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and deal with it early on." 9:53 a.m. ET ESPN just hired 17 additional newspaper reporters to cover the hearings. 9:47 a.m. ET Davis just took a big shot at Mark McGwire: "But as a panelist at our last baseball hearing famously said, We're not here to talk about the past. 9:34 a.m. ET Waxman has spent the opening minutes recapping the 2005 hearings, including mispronouncing Miguel Tejada's last name. Based on his previous testimony, Waxman said that he and Davis will be writing the Department of Justice to request an investigation to into whether Mr. Tejada gave truthful answers to the committee. Bad news for Tejada. Very bad news. 9:47 a.m. ET Davis just took a big shot at Mark McGwire: "But as a panelist at our last baseball hearing famously said, We're not here to talk about the past. 9:29 a.m. ET No sign of Jose Canseco. 9:15 a.m. ET Is there anything in sports more exciting than the moments before the start of a Congressional hearing? It's 15 minutes to the opening gavel of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearings on steroid use. Navigating you through all the grandstanding is yours truly, Richard Deitsch. George Mitchell is scheduled to testify first and will appear alone, followed by Bud Selig and Donald Fehr, side by side. Rep. Tom Davis, the committee's ranking minority member, promised that the committee will make news this morning. "I don't think this is going to just be the stale same-old, same-old," said Davis. We'll try to do the same for this blog.

AG/DC Jan 15 2008 09:45 AM

Tejada looks like he's in trouble, as he's bieng investigated for lying the last time around. Good Yankee stuff below. 11:31 a.m. ET Mitchell is done. Up next: Fehr and Selig. 11: 25 a.m. ET Rep. Peter Welch asks Mitchell if a player should be stripped of a record if a player has taken performance-enhancing drugs. Mitchell does not answer the question, claiming it is beyond his scope of responsibility. "I think I should limit myself to what I was asked," he says. 11:23 a.m. ET Congress should hire Bob Sheppard. The mispronunciations of player names is getting ridiculous. 11:19 a.m. ET Waxman asks Mitchell if he is comfortable with McNamee's credibility. "We believe the statements provided to us were truthful," says Mitchell. Pretty dramatic stuff. 11:14 a.m. ET Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia brings up the elephant in the room: Roger Clemens. She lists his credentials. She asks why Clemens refused to talk to Mitchell and his investigators. "I do not know why," Mitchell says. "We followed the legal process which were we required to follow and that is notification of then current players through the Players Association." Norton cuts him off when he tries to explain further about Brian McNamee and his credibility. Mitchell brings up the fact that Andy Pettitte confirmed McNamee's testimony. Norton asks if Mitchell believes McNamee was credible. Mitchell says he and his team made every attempt to establish the truthfulness of the testimony. Mitchell is reading here. He is being very precise in explaining how he interviewed McNamee.

AG/DC Jan 15 2008 09:55 AM

We have a Steve Phillips sighiting. Consensus is that Tejada is in some deep shit. Remember, read bottom to top. 11:46 a.m. ET Selig and Fehr are sworn in. 11:41 a.m. ET Steve Phillips just said that he thinks Fehr might get "flogged." 11:39 p.m. ET Worth noting that Mitchell was asked about the cooperation of the parties. "The Commissioner was fully cooperative, the clubs were cooperative and the Players Association were largely uncooperative," he said. Another big moment. 11:35 a.m. ET During a 10-minute break, ESPN's Bob Ley is talking about Congress requesting a Department of Justice investigation into whether Miguel Tejada lied to federal agents in 2005. Is Tejada in trouble? "This is pretty serious," says ESPN legal analyst Roger Cossack. "This is exactly what took Martha Stewart down."

AG/DC Jan 15 2008 10:00 AM

Bud Selig: "I accept responsibility for everything that happens in the sport."

Benjamin Grimm Jan 15 2008 10:02 AM

Is this on C-SPAN? Let me check...

Benjamin Grimm Jan 15 2008 10:04 AM

It's on C-SPAN 2.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 15 2008 10:06 AM

Don Fehr urges everyone to go to Google and search for "where can I buy hgh?" http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=where+can+I+buy+hgh%3F&btnG=Google+Search (His point is that the multitude of results shows that it's not just a baseball or a sports problem, but a societal problem.)

AG/DC Jan 15 2008 10:10 AM

That's the way to handle it. It has nothing to do with the union blocking testing all those years Somebody should ask his reponse if Selig went to the internet and Googled "where can I buy scabs?"

Benjamin Grimm Jan 15 2008 10:13 AM

Fehr concludes by saying "mistakes were made." In retrospect, the union should have acted sooner, and he personally takes some of the responsibility.

metirish Jan 15 2008 10:16 AM

Have we not been over this ground before, there is plenty of blame to go around, I want to hear about what is been done now to stop this in the future.

AG/DC Jan 15 2008 10:18 AM

Well, no, we haven't confronted Fehr and Selig with actual cases gleaned from the report.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 15 2008 10:21 AM

They're also talking about Sen. Mitchell's recommendations and which ones they'll implement.

metirish Jan 15 2008 10:25 AM

AG/DC wrote: Well, no, we haven't confronted Fehr and Selig with actual cases gleaned from the report. True, I just don't expect Fehr to embrace really stringent testing any time soon.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 15 2008 10:30 AM

Rep. Mark Souder (R, IN) is pressing Selig about "gene doping" and Selig is groping for a response. I'm not sure he knows what "gene doping" is. (I'm not either.)

Benjamin Grimm Jan 15 2008 10:32 AM

He's now asking if "statistical anomalies" would trigger testing of individual players. Selig again looked dumbfounded, but then said "of course!"

metirish Jan 15 2008 10:35 AM

Meaning that if lets say a line drive hitter all his carer next season pops forty home runs and knocks in 100 + then he should get tested?.....I like that. Would that work for a pitcher?

seawolf17 Jan 15 2008 10:49 AM

If a pitcher hits 40 home runs next year, I think he should be immediately tested for steroids.

Frayed Knot Jan 15 2008 10:58 AM

Benjamin Grimm wrote: He's now asking if "statistical anomalies" would trigger testing of individual players. Selig again looked dumbfounded, but then said "of course!" Investigate Maris NOW!!!! (never hit 40 except for the year he hit 61, and only twice hit 30+)

Nymr83 Jan 15 2008 03:03 PM

call it the "Brady Anderson Rule"

Benjamin Grimm Jan 15 2008 03:14 PM

So what is "gene doping" anyway? Something that Fehr said this afternoon made it sound like they test a player's DNA to see if it's been affected by HGH or steroids. Fehr was concerned that a player could test positive if his mother took the banned substance while the player was in utero.

soupcan Jan 15 2008 03:53 PM

Test their moms!

AG/DC Jan 15 2008 06:05 PM

Fehr disingenous? Check. Selig willfully ignorant? Check. Thank you for your time and candor, gentlemen.