March 17, 2005: Congress vs. Baseball's Steroid Cheats

Rafael Palmeiro: Slugger, Cheater, Perjurer

March 17, 2005, 20 years ago: The Government Reform Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives holds a hearing on the topic of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.

A few weeks earlier, former Oakland Athletics slugger Jose Canseco published a book titled Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big. In addition to details about his career and his personal life, he named names, revealing that some of the biggest stars in the game -- some already having been suspected as having done so, some not yet widely suspected -- used steroids.

He also gave the opinions that steroid use is not in and of itself a bad thing, as long as the person using them is being monitored by a physician and the dosages are small; that steroids cannot only improve the game of baseball, but also improve and lengthen lives; and that more research needs to be done on the topic.

Canseco himself testified before the Committee, and asserted that his opinions on steroids were sincere, and that the facts he had given in the book were true. Among the other players who were called to testify were 3 players that Canseco named in the book as having used PEDs: Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro.

McGwire had been Canseco's teammate on the Oakland Athletics' American League Pennant winners of 1988, 1989 and 1990. Palmeiro had been his teammate with the Texas Rangers in 1992 and 1993. He was never a teammate of Sosa.

In the 1998 season, McGwire and Sosa both surpassed Roger Maris' single-season record of 61 home runs, with McGwire finishing with 70 and Sosa with 66. In 1999, they both surpassed Maris again, with McGwire hitting 65 and Sosa 63.

Palmeiro, like Canseco born in Cuba and taken to Miami by his family as a boy, had twice hit 47 in a season, hardly an outrageous total, and never topped that. But, entering the 2005 season, he had 551 career home runs, while Sosa had 574, and McGwire had retired after the 2001 season with 583. Even with the advantage of steroids, Canseco last played in 2001, and had "only" 462 homers, hitting 46 in that homer-happy season of 1998.

In his testimony, Sosa, a native of the Dominican Republic, played dumb, pretending that his ability to speak proper English had declined. His attorney read a statement: "To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I have never injected myself, or had anyone inject me, with anything. I have not broken the laws of the United States, or the laws of the Dominican Republic. I have been tested as recently as 2004, and I am clean."

McGwire avoided the question as best he could: "My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer these questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family, and myself. I will say, however, that it remains a fact in this country that a man, any man, should be regarded as innocent unless proven guilty." He added, "I'm not here to talk about the past. I'm here to be positive about this subject."

Except the Committee was there to talk about the past.

Palmeiro did not avoid the question the way McGwire and Sosa did. He pointed his finger at the Committee members, and said, "Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids, period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."

Not called to testify at that time was Barry Bonds, who had already broken McGwire's record by hitting 73 home runs in 2001, and was on his way to surpassing Hank Aaron's career record, finishing with 762 after the 2007 season.

On July 15, 2005, playing for the Baltimore Orioles, Palmeiro collected his 3,000th career hit. At the time, the only players to have previously achieved that milestone and 500 home runs were Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray.

But on August 1, it was revealed that Palmeiro had tested positive for steroids, and he was suspended for 10 games. Upon his return, he was heavily booed by the Baltimore fans, and was held out of the lineup after August 30, and was released after the season. He was just short of turning 41, and was still a productive player. But he was now unhireable, and never played in the major leagues again. He was never charged with perjury for lying to Congress under oath.

In 2009, by then retired with 609 home runs, Sosa was exposed as having failed a steroid test in 2003. He was not prosecuted for perjury, either.

In 2010, offered a coaching position, McGwire knew he had to finally come clean, and talk about the past: "I wish I had never touched steroids. It was foolish, and it was a mistake. I truly apologize. Looking back, I wish I had never played during the Steroid Era."

Major League Baseball cracked down on steroids more heavily after 2005. Nevertheless, some exposed steroid cheats were allowed to continue to play. In 2022, David Ortiz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez, and Gary Sheffield -- like Ortiz, all members of the 500 Home Run Club who were caught using performance-enhancing drugs -- have not been.