To tell the truth

Steroid confession helps Giambi's reputation | Mark Bergin

Associated Press/Photo by Eric Risberg

When news leaked June 16 that Sammy Sosa is among the names on a list of players who tested positive for banned performance-enhancing substances in 2003, few serious baseball observers expressed much surprise. The former Cubs slugger has long been a fixture on rumor mills and gossip sites about possible steroid use. But the news is not without consequence: Suspicion and evidence are two very different things.

Now, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform intends to investigate whether Sosa committed perjury in 2005 when he testified before Congress that he "would never put anything dangerous like that" in his body. "To be clear," he said at the time, "I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything."