Phoenix ? Baseball commissioner Bud Selig will join a handful of sports officials Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where he will testify before a Senate Commerce Committee meeting on steroids.

Also expected to attend are Donald Fehr, head of the baseball players union; NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue; Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL players union; and Terry Madden, the chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and a critic of baseball’s drug-testing program.

“I was not subpoenaed, but I will be there to speak to Sen. (John) McCain’s committee,” said Selig, who attended Milwaukee’s exhibition game against Texas on Sunday. “I talked to Paul Tagliabue about it the other day. It’s really not optional. We’re going to be there.”

Members of the committee, which is led by McCain, R-Ariz., as chairman and includes Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry of Massachusetts, are expected to ask pointed questions about whether existing policies deter athletes from using steroids.

“We’ve been very clear on what we need,” Selig said. “We do need a zero-tolerance policy. We need to solve the problem and not make believe it doesn’t exist.”

Players will be tested randomly this season. The first time a player tests positive, he will be ordered to undergo treatment. A second through fifth violation will bring suspensions of 15 days up to a year and fines of $10,000 to $100,000.

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Charlton retires: Norm Charlton, the veteran relief pitcher who has tried to come back from shoulder injuries the last two years, said Sunday he was retiring. Charlton, 41, underwent surgery Friday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and said doctors told him it would never be strong enough for him to pitch again. Charlton was a member of Cincinnati’s “Nasty Boys” bullpen that helped the Reds win the 1990 World Series.

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Williams’ son dies: John Henry Williams, the son of Hall of Famer Ted Williams, died late Saturday of leukemia in a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 35. In December, he had a bone marrow transplant, using a donation from his sister Claudia.

Ted Williams’ brother, Danny, died of leukemia at the age of 39.

After Ted Williams died in July 2002, John Henry Williams had his father’s body taken to an Arizona cryonics lab for freezing. He and Claudia Williams said they signed a handwritten pact with their father in 2000 agreeing their bodies would be frozen. They were sued by their half-sister, Bobby-Jo Ferrell, who insisted Ted Williams wanted to be cremated. Ferrell dropped her objections in December 2002.

The Williams family lawyer declined comment when asked if John Henry Williams had still intended to pursue cryonics for himself.

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Clemens struggles: Roger Clemens needed 39 pitches to get through his two innings in his debut with Houston on Sunday at Bradenton, Fla. He gave up two runs on five hits.

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Thome to be examined: Jim Thome will be in Philadelphia today having his broken right middle finger examined by hand specialist Randall Culp. The results of the examination are expected to determine whether Thome will need to have a pin inserted in the finger. If he doesn’t, he could be back in three weeks. If Culp determines that a pin is needed, Thome could miss most of the first month of the season.