WASHINGTON — Rafael Palmeiro's reputation and future in baseball might be murky, but lawmakers said Thursday there isn't enough evidence to prove that he lied under oath when he told Congress that he never used steroids — less than two months before failing a drug test.
The House Government Reform Committee's 44-page report traces the former Baltimore Orioles first baseman's whirlwind journey from Hall of Fame shoo-in and persuasive Capitol Hill witness to suspended pariah and subject of a perjury investigation.
Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., released the report in the same hearing room where Palmeiro sat on March 17 alongside Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa and vehemently denied using steroids. In May, Palmeiro tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol, leading to a 10-day ban from Major League Baseball.
"We couldn't find any evidence of steroid use prior to his testimony," Davis said. "That's not a finding of innocence, but it's a finding that we could not substantiate perjury."
Davis said stanozolol — which sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for at the 1988 Olympics, costing him a gold medal and world record — is detectable for three to four weeks. Because of the gap between Palmeiro's Capitol Hill appearance and the failed test in May, Davis said, the steroid "could not have been in his system the day he testified."
The report didn't paint Palmeiro or Major League Baseball in a favorable light and raised questions about "confusing and contradictory" evidence.
Palmeiro issued a statement Thursday, saying in part, "I am pleased that after a thorough investigation — one in which I cooperated fully — the committee has chosen to drop this matter."
According to the report, he was originally invited, then subpoenaed, to testify at the March 17 hearing on steroids because a congressional staffer saw a newspaper story in which Palmeiro said he wouldn't have a problem speaking to Congress.
And after he pointed for emphasis while saying, "I have never used steroids. Period," Palmeiro offered to be a part of Davis' Zero Tolerance Roundtable to address the problem of steroid use by young people.
But while Congress might be now finished with Palmeiro — one of only four players in baseball history with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs — it's clearly not done with Major League Baseball or steroids legislation.
"Our purpose was never to try to ruin careers or do a 'Gotcha' on Major League Baseball," Davis said. "Our purpose was to try to dry steroid use up."
Since that initial hearing, spurred in large part by Canseco's book, "Juiced," in which he accused several major leaguers — including Palmeiro — of using steroids, major sports leagues have strengthened their drug policies.
But not enough for Congress.
The investigation into Palmeiro turned up information that amphetamines "may be a significant problem" in baseball, the report said. It also said Palmeiro and another, unidentified player raised doubts about baseball's drug-testing procedures.
Baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred said the sport acknowledged those criticisms and has taken steps to correct them, including a proposal to test for amphetamines that the union has said it was willing to accept.