And no, Chemikal McCarthyism did not record for Doug Moody. The Daily Times’ Dennis Deitch explains.
Pitcher Randy Wolf (above) watched with disgust as federal investigators tore through confidential drug-test results. He rolled his eyes when some Congressmen vowed to hold hearings concerning Major League Baseball™s steroid scandal.
It was mere coincidence that Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, was addressing players in the Phillies™ clubhouse at Bright House Networks Field Wednesday, on the same day that a congressional committee subpoenaed him, five current players, two former players, baseball executive vice presidents Rob Manfred and Sandy Alderson, and Padres general manager Kevin Towers.
But that latest bit of news and the discussions about it between Fehr and the players had Wolf, the Phillies™ union representative, firing retorts back at the legislators after the meeting adjourned.
Wolf called the actions of the politicians “chemical McCarthyism” and suggested that the government™s role in the saga is nothing more than grandstanding.
“It™s politicians ˜soapboxing,™” Wolf said. “It™s a popular subject right now. It™s a good way (for politicians) to put themselves out there on a subject that has a lot of public awareness.
“I™m not saying steroids are good. I™m not defending anybody who does this. But a lot of it comes from a guy who wrote a book — and his honesty is definitely in question — and it™s all things that happened in the early 90™s, when there was no rule against it.”
A letter written by attorney Stan Brand to Rep. Tom Davis and Henry Waxman, the chairman and ranking member on the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Government Reform, says that all of the current and former players called to testify March 17, with the exception of Canseco, won™t abide by the request.
Brand™s letter questioned the constitutionality of the subpoenas, and Wolf agrees with that sentiment.
“It™s a little bit ludicrous,” Wolf said. “There are so many other things the government should be doing that they don™t do. It™s such a waste of time and money.
“I think they feel empowered to do whatever they want. You look at what they did with the ˜confidential™ drug tests that we had under (baseball™s original collective bargaining agreement). They said, ˜Eh, we don™t care if it was confidential or not. We™re going to do what we want with it.™
“It™s kind of an (Orwellian), ˜1984™ deal where basically, they want to know everything you™re doing at all times, and because we™re in the public spotlight our civil liberties are flushed down the toilet. It™s ˜chemical McCarthyism™ It™s kind of like how it was back then (during the Red Scare hearings), when everyone was guilty until proven innocent — no doubt about it.”