A Debt of Gratitude Owed to Tom Davis

On Tuesday morning before a standing-room only crowd in Room 2154 of the Sam Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine — a man who almost single-handedly could give politics a good name — speaking in cogent and complete paragraphs commanded the entire room's attention.

Mitchell, the author of a 409-page report on the illegal use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs by 86 Major League Baseball players was the leadoff witness on hearings on that subject called by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

George Mitchell, who brokered peace in war-torn Northern Ireland, and who, if the gods were just, would have been either president or chief justice, or both, wears no man's collar. His indictment spared nobody in a position of influence: "Everybody involved in baseball over the past two decades — commissioners, club officials, the players' association and players — shares to some extent the responsibility for the steroids era."

But Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig never would have been pressured to appoint Mitchell, or anybody else, to conduct a 21-month investigation and to come to that conclusion unless a lifelong baseball fan and seven-term Republican congressman from suburban Virginia, Tom Davis, had, three years ago, dared to ignore withering press criticism and, joined by California Democrat Henry Waxman, convened hearings where baseball great Mark McGwire stonewalled when asked if had taken illegal steroids during the 1998 season, when he hit a then-record 70 home runs.

At that same March 2005 hearing, Baltimore Orioles player Rafael Palmeiro testified: "I have never used steroids. Period. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Never."

When Palmeiro, after failing a drug test that August, was suspended by Major League Baseball, Selig was forced to act. No longer could the lords of baseball pretend that gym workouts alone had virtually overnight transformed ordinary-sized players into Incredible Hulks.

That led to Selig's appointment of Mitchell and, eventually, to our finding out that seven of baseball's most valuable players and 31 all-stars had been illegally using steroids. Forget asterisks next to the new records — insert question marks.

When Davis and Waxman held those 2005 hearings, which may ultimately turn out to have saved baseball, Davis was excoriated for conducting an "exercise in high-profile frivolity" by the influential conservative voice of the National Review. Conservative columnist George Will, who writes lyrically of his love for the game, accused the House committee of "grandstanding" and Republican Davis of having "learned nothing" from the writings of his fellow Virginian James Madison.

To set the record straight, congressional hearings for the purpose of oversight are an important responsibility of Congress. In the 1950s, Senate hearings on organized crime alerted the nation to its control over gambling. The Watergate hearings made a historically indispensable contribution to the rule of law. The Fulbright hearings on the Vietnam War informed and aroused the country. As Davis and his successor as committee chair, Waxman, have proved, congressional oversight hearings can serve the common good.

Washington, D.C., urgently needs the values and lessons of baseball. In a town where influence-peddling is epidemic, the words of maverick owner Bill Veeck need to be heard: "Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off."

Without the language of baseball, political reporters would be struck silent. Where would we be without the "ballpark figure" or the guy "out in left field" who is not really a complete "screwball" but able to handle a "curve ball' from the press and to prove, by "pinch-hitting," that he's a real "team player." In Florida, will Mitt or Rudy "swing for the fences," "touch all the bases" or "strike out"?

If you care about baseball and about America, then we own a large "thank you" to Tom Davis of Virginia.

To find out more about Mark Shields and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

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COPYRIGHT 2008 MARK SHIELDS