Colangelo, Fehr Set for Steroid Hearing

Jerry Colangelo and Donald Fehr are scheduled to attend a Senate commerce subcommittee hearing today to discuss reports of widespread steroid use by major league baseball players.

Colangelo, owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Fehr, executive director and general counsel of the Major League Baseball Players’ Assn., are among six witnesses called by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), the committee’s chairman.

With State Sen. Don Perata (D-Oakland) also proposing all professional athletes in California submit to steroid tests before being allowed to play in the state, a message is becoming clear: If major league owners and players cannot agree on a response to the reported use of steroids, legislators might impose one.

“Steroids are illegal. If the government steps in and says you have to test, I see nothing wrong with that,” said Angel pitcher and player representative Jarrod Washburn. “But I don’t think it will come to that. I see something happening before then.”

Robert Manfred, Major League Baseball’s executive vice president for labor relations who submitted the players an 11-page steroid testing plan in February, also will attend Dorgan’s hearing. The Players’ Assn. has yet to formally respond to the owners’ proposal.

Others expected to address the subcommittee are Dr. Bernard Greisemer, who will discuss the health effects of steroid use, and former Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter, chairman of the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Barry Piatt, a spokesman in Dorgan’s Washington office, said additional hearings are possible, based on today’s discussions.