For his fourth appearance before a congressional committee in two years to answer questions about baseball’s steroid policy and push for tougher penalties for offenders, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig brought in a few friends.

With cameras clicking and VIPs swooning, five Hall of Fame baseball players, including all-time home-run king Hank Aaron, walked into Hart 216 and sat behind Selig yesterday morning to add further legitimacy to his position as he spoke to the Senate Commerce Committee.

Committee spokesman Aaron Saunders said the panel found out only last night that the baseball legends would attend. They were never listed as witnesses, nor were they expected to testify.

But in a slight departure from protocol, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), presiding at the invitation of Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), invited each of the five — Aaron, Ryne Sandberg, Phil Niekro, Robin Roberts and Lou Brock — to make a brief statement before the testimony of the listed witnesses.

Stevens even pointed out that Saunders was named for Aaron, after his father watched the great hitter club his 714th home run in 1974, tying Babe Ruth.

“This is the first time I’ve been a leadoff hitter,” Aaron said before endorsing Selig’s plan for a three-strikes-and-you’re-out steroid-abuse policy.

Selig and company received a largely sympathetic response from the senators, who, with heads of other leagues and players unions on hand largely as window dressing, again trained their fire on Donald Fehr, the head of the baseball players union. They accused Fehr of delaying and “negotiating around the edges” of a “reasonable,” “easy” and “no-brainer” policy.

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), himself a Hall of Fame pitcher and a guest committee member, said, “I and millions of fans think that’s pathetic. We apologize for not having any showers here, but we may need a shower when this is over to cool off.”

A heated McCain asked, “Don’t you get it? Don’t you get that this is an issue beyond collective bargaining?”

The majority of the senators indicated they’d have no problem legislating the issue if Fehr does not agree to stricter testing by the end of the season.

Some senators, perhaps inspired by the drug-free talent in the room, even questioned the legitimacy of new records.

Noting that former season-home-run-record holder Roger Maris is from North Dakota, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said, “Some of us still think that [his] home-run record still stands.”

Among those endorsing that view were Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who quipped that instead of an asterisk, perhaps an “Rx” should be placed in the books next to some newer records.

Et tu, Crowley? Then fall Crawford

Did a letter sent to FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford by Reps. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) last week lead Crawford to resign the next day?

That’s the suggestion made in a fax sent to The Hill by Crowley’s chief of staff, Chris McCannell, on Friday.

“Here’s the letter that drove Dr. Crawford to resign, the one that tipped him over the edge,” the fax says.

The letter in question assails Crawford for his “delay tactics” on Plan B birth control. “Based on the evidence and the history of this process, it appears that politics and ideology has been allowed to influence sound science,” the two members write.

Reached for comment, Crowley spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki backtracked a bit from McCannell’s fax, saying, “We’ll never know what the straw was that broke the camel’s back, but Crowley and Maloney have really been pushing for answers.” She noted that Crawford has received “significant pressure” on the issue for months from senators and members of the House.

The Department of Health and Human Services is tight-lipped about the whole matter, refusing to comment at all on the circumstances surrounding Crawford’s departure.

But Wendy Wright, executive vice president of the conservative Concerned Women for America, which supported Crawford’s position, isn’t buying the Democrats’ line.

“They give themselves a lot of credit, don’t they?” she asked. “There are a lot of issues before the FDA. But Plan B is the most recent. There’s a short attention span.”

“If they truly cared about women,” she continued, “they’d be looking at drugs that cause women to die” like the abortion drug RU-486.

What kind of New Yorker are you?

It never fails, this Red Sox-Yankees rivalry reaching a boiling point come late September. Even in the Speaker’s Lobby.

Last week, New York Republican Reps. John Sweeney and John McHugh turned on New York Post reporter Ian Bishop for his perceived treason against the Bronx Bombers. It appears that Bishop harbors a love for the Sawx, despite cashing a paycheck from a paper perhaps best known for its rabid coverage of all things sports in New York.

“A Red Sox fan, and he works for the New York Post,” Sweeney said to McHugh as he playfully grabbed Bishop by the neck. “I have to call someone.”

“Do they know that?” McHugh responded incredulously.

For his part, Bishop is standing firm. “What can I say? I like winners,” he said. “That’s why I write for the Post and root for the Red Sox.”

Bishop would also like to note that the Yankees have not won a World Series in this millennium, and when you take the four major sports together, Massachusetts has four championships in the 21st century to New York’s “zero, nada, zip, zilch.” Duly noted.

Glickman: The man with the ‘Flightplan’

Dan Glickman, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, and his wife, Rhoda, hosted a screening for “Flightplan,” starring Jodie Foster, on Monday night.

Attendees included Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), ABC news correspondent John Cochran, Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, Time magazine’s Matt Cooper, Washington Post Vice President at Large Ben Bradlee, superlawyer and former Commerce Secretary Mickey Cantor and pollster Peter Hart.

Before the movie began, Glickman held a trivia contest in which guests had to answer questions about films involving airplanes: “High and Mighty,” “Airplane” and “Airport.” He coolly handled a snafu with the movie projector, which forced the technician to change reels twice when the suspense reached its peak.

Salazar grounded, at least for time being

These days, freshman Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) finds himself driving around his vast district a bit more than before.

Earlier this year, Salazar sold his single-engine Piper Cherokee 235 plane, using the money to purchase 100 head of cattle. The heifers will be sold this fall for breeding.

“He’s a member of the Transportation and Agriculture committees, so you could say he’s taking a cue from his official duties on how to balance his personal enterprises — or vice versa,” said his spokeswoman, Nayyera Haq.

For his part, Salazar said, “Working the land is what keeps me grounded,” in an oh-so-clever double entendre.

Salazar is bringing home the highest national increase in federal transportation dollars to any district. But all those new construction projects won’t keep him on the roads for long.

Haq said he plans to replace his plane later this year, all the better to zoom around his mountainous, rural district. Salazar represents the entire western half of the state, the massive 3rd District formerly represented by Scott McInnis (R) and Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R).