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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, March 10, 2005

Baseball irked by player subpoenas

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Major league baseball responded with outrage to congressional subpoenas for Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Jason Giambi and other top stars, vowing to fight them all the way to court.

Baltimore outfielder Sammy Sosa and several other stars received congressional subpoenas.

Richard Drew • Associated Press

Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Frank Thomas also were summoned yesterday to testify at the March 17 hearing of the House Government Reform Committee. Also called were players' association head Donald Fehr, baseball executive vice presidents Rob Manfred and Sandy Alderson, and San Diego general manager Kevin Towers.

The committee, which has no interest in hearing from Barry Bonds, also demanded a variety of documents and records of baseball's drug tests.

Stanley Brand, a lawyer for the baseball commissioner's office, said the committee had no jurisdiction and was interfering with the federal grand jury by trying to force testimony from Giambi and others. He said the committee wanted to violate baseball's first amendment privacy rights and was attempting to "satisfy their prurient interest into who may and may not have engaged in this activity.

"The audacity, the legal audacity of subpoenaing someone who's been a grand jury witness before there's been a trial in the case in California is just an absolutely excessive and unprecedented misuse of congressional power," Brand said.

Gene Orza, the union's chief operating officer, declined comment.

Canseco, Fehr and Manfred have agreed to testify, with Manfred speaking on behalf of baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Before the subpoenas were issued, Brand told the committee the other players were declining invitations to appear. Thomas said Monday that he would testify.

San Francisco's Barry Bonds, at the center of the steroids controversy, won't be asked to testify before Congress.

Eric Risberg • Associated Press

It remained unclear whether the hearing will take place as scheduled.

"It's impossible to predict the exact course that this is going to take," Manfred said. "Players have individual decisions they're going to have to make, the union has decisions it's going to have to make."

David Marin, a spokesman for committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis, said the committee has no plans to contact Bonds, who also testified before the grand jury.

Bob Cohen, McGwire's agent, questioned "what's the ultimate purpose of the hearings?"

Brand and Manfred said baseball will attempt to fight the subpoenas. If they are not complied with, the committee could vote contempt citations, which would have to be approved by the full House of Representatives and certified by a U.S. Attorney. If that happened, Brand said the fight over the subpoenas would head to U.S. District Court.

Marin maintained the committee had proper jurisdiction over steroids and baseball.

"We can't fathom that they will advocate noncompliance with a congressional subpoena," he said. "What kind of message does that send?"

CARDINALS

Ex-pitching phenom Ankiel to play outfield

Rick Ankiel couldn't find the plate, and now he won't take the mound.

The left-hander surprised the team yesterday when he turned his back on a pitching career derailed by injuries and wildness, saying he'll try to hit his way back to the major leagues as an outfielder.

"The frustration that built up, it seems like it was really eroding my spirit and starting to affect my personality off the field," Ankiel, 25, said. "It just became apparent that it was time for me to move on and pursue becoming an outfielder."

In the 2000 postseason opener against the Braves, Ankiel became the first major league player since 1890 to throw five wild pitches in one inning, and he totaled nine wild pitches in four playoff innings.

The wildness reappeared in 2001 when he went 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA and 25 walks in 24 innings. He didn't make it back to the major leagues until last Sept. 7 after sitting out 2002 with a sprained left elbow and missing most of the 2003 and 2004 seasons following reconstructive elbow surgery.

ELSEWHERE

Angels: Rookie third baseman Dallas McPherson will be sidelined at least two weeks after receiving an epidural injection in his lower back. The 24-year-old McPherson has been limited to one exhibition game by back problems, and an MRI test revealed he has a protruding disk.

Reds: Ken Griffey Jr. will play today for the first time this year after weeks of a go-slow approach mandated by Cincinnati as he returns from a torn hamstring. The Reds plan to use Griffey as a designated hitter against Detroit, limiting his running by excusing him from playing the outfield.

Red Sox: Right-handed pitcher Wade Miller expects to miss the first month of the season with Boston while he rehabilitates from a shoulder injury. He spent the past three months of last season on the disabled list with Houston and the Red Sox.

Giants: Barry Bonds took batting practice for the third straight day yesterday and also shagged flyballs in left field for the first time this year, a sign that he's progressing in his rehabilitation from arthroscopic knee surgery Jan. 31.