Hall of Shame

Mark McGwire, a balding, svelter version of his former 70-home-run self, sauntered into a congressional hearing room on St. Patrick's Day wearing a light green tie. But there were no eyes, Irish or otherwise, smiling on him from the dais. Before members of the House Government Reform Committee and millions of fans watching on television, McGwire swore to tell nothing but the truth. Instead, he told nothing. After a moving opening statement in which he cried while ruing the deaths of young steroid users, the cameras clicked in wild anticipation. Was Big Mac ready to admit that he too had supersized himself with steroids? Would he acknowledge the danger and offer a lesson to the millions of teenagers who still look up to him? Would he take up the cause of Denise and Raymond Garibaldi and Donald Hooton, who testified earlier that steroids killed their young sons?

McGwire took a deep breath. "If a player answers no, he simply will not be believed," he said about the anticipated questions of his own steroid use. "If he answers yes, he risks public scorn and endless government investigations." So unlike fellow players on the panel, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, who flatly denied taking steroids, and Jose Canseco, an admitted abuser, McGwire essentially took the Fifth. Mighty McGwire, the man whose eclipse of Roger Maris' home-run record galvanized a nation and who became this magazine's 1998 Hero of the Year, tried to draw a walk rather than swing for the fences. Instead, he struck out looking, and looked bad doing it.

Five months ago, baseball appeared on the cusp of another golden age, as attendance swelled to record levels and the Boston Red Sox mounted an astonishing, myth-busting World Series run. Now, as teams get ready for opening day, drugs have dulled the allure. First, leaked grand jury testimony revealed that Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi had allegedly taken performance-enhancing drugs. (Bonds denied knowing those substances were steroids.) Then, in a splashy new book titled Juiced, Canseco wrote that he had injected McGwire and Palmeiro with steroids and noted that they were far from alone in their drug usage.

During 11 hours of testimony, the House reform committee further embarrassed the game by making baseball answer for its weak steroid policy. Baseball officials told skeptical committee members that the current policy represents progress, since the sport inexplicably had no policy until 2002. But baseball still falls woefully short compared with other sports. In the NFL, players are tested randomly in and out of season, and first-time abusers miss a quarter of a season. Baseball players miss 10 days, or about 5% of the season--and the legislators were incensed to learn about language that allowed a fine instead of suspension for first timers. Olympians--facing the gold standard in terms of strictness--are subject to testing at any time and barred for two years for a first offense, for life after a second. In baseball, it's five strikes and you're out. Noted Georgia Republican and House reform-committee member Lynn Westmoreland: "There are a lot of people in prison that would like this kind of deal."