This article originally appeared in the Salem News on January 16, 2008.

By Matthew K. Roy
Staff Writer - Salem News

Congressman John Tierney yesterday questioned Major League Baseball's leadership about a possible loophole in the sport's drug-testing policy.

During a hearing on Capitol Hill, the Salem Democrat highlighted a dramatic spike in the number of players, from 2006 to 2007, given league permission to use amphetamines outlawed when baseball toughened its drug policy in 2005.

Tierney told baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and Donald Fehr, executive director of the players union, that 28 "therapeutic use exemptions" were granted in 2006 to players who said they had attention deficit disorder. In 2007, the number of players who received an exemption to treat ADD jumped to 103.

The exemption allows players to take stimulants, such as Ritalin and Adderall, that are viewed as performance-enhancing.

Neither Selig nor Fehr could explain the increase. Selig said that a player must receive clearance from two doctors, including a league-affiliated physician, before receiving an exemption. The commissioner said he would look into the matter.

The answer satisfied Tierney, who said that baseball needs to get better at anticipating and addressing problems before they rise to a level that triggers congressional involvement.

Tierney and fellow members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform yesterday questioned Selig, Fehr and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. The hearing focused on Mitchell's investigation and report on steroid use in professional baseball.

"It looks like there is potential for the league and the players association to get on top of this issue and do something constructive," Tierney said afterward in a phone interview.

Yesterday was the second time Congress has turned an eye toward the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. Hearings that included players and league officials were also held in March 2005.

Like many, Tierney said he has wondered whether Congress should be so involved.

"I had my own reservations about it," he said.

But he cited three reasons for the involvement articulated by Rep. Henry Waxman, the committee chairman who called yesterday's hearing.

"It's a public health issue," Tierney said about the influence professionals have on young athletes' behavior. "They're role models and it does trickle down."

Waxman also called the hearing because a legal remedy could be needed to fix a problem that impacts the relationship of the league and its employees. And given that Major League Baseball is exempt from antitrust laws, Congress has an interest in ensuring the drug problem is cleaned up, Tierney said.

But the congressman acknowledged that steroid use is not the most important issue facing lawmakers. He said that he would skip next month's hearing on the issue if it should happen to conflict with a Intelligence Committee meeting on Pakistan.

Waxman opened yesterday's proceedings by asking the Justice Department to look into whether former American League Most Valuable Player Miguel Tejada lied to committee staffers when questioned about Rafael Palmeiro's perjury case. Tejada denied using steroids, but he was last month identified in Mitchell's report as a user of performance-enhancing substances.

So was Roger Clemens, who has denied the accusations. The former Red Sox pitcher is scheduled to testify before Congress on Feb. 13.

Asked if he would have any reservations about asking a once-prominent member of the hometown team tough questions, Tierney didn't hesitate.

"Are you kidding?" he said, "(Clemens) is a Yankee."

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