House Committee misled on steroid use among players

Major League Baseball and union officials may have misled the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in relation to steroid use among players, according to a report by the New York Times.

The newspaper said officials presented figures that demonstrated that baseball's two-year-old testing program had substantially reduced the number of positive tests for performance enhancing drugs.

From Espnstar.com:

"It's clear that some of the information Major League Baseball and the players' union gave the committee in 2005 was inaccurate," Waxman said in a written statement, according to the Times. "It isn't clear whether this was intentional or just reflects confusion over the testing program for 2003 and 2004. In any case, the misinformation is unacceptable."

The newspaper also reported that the committee's staff plans to send letters to MLB commissioner Bud Selig and union executive director Donald Fehr about what Waxman deemed "misinformation."

Those falsities came from the information about 2004 testing, which was shut down for part of the season, allowing for the significantly lower number of positive results, according to the report. The newspaper said the committee was not aware of that. The Times reported that Selig's office later called that shutdown "an emergency response to an unforeseen situation," which the report said was in reference to the federal investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative steroid ring.

"The testimony of Major League Baseball officials was completely accurate, and we are happy to address any concerns that Congressman Waxman may have," deputy commissioner Rob Manfred said.