The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has subpoenaed Chuck Knoblauch because of his failure to respond to a letter inviting him to appear before the full body in a public hearing on Feb. 13 and for a private deposition or taped interview on Thursday.

The former Yankees and Twins second baseman, who was named in the Mitchell Report, was sent the letter last week inviting him to appear along with ex-teammates Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte, plus Brian McNamee, once Clemens' personal trainer, and Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse employee.

Knoblauch was asked to respond by this past Friday, while the others had until Tuesday.

"The Committee has taken this step because Mr. Knoblauch failed to respond to the invitation to participate voluntarily in a deposition or transcribed interview and the Feb. 13 hearing," U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Committee, and Tom Davis, the Republican's ranking member from Virginia, said in a joint statement.

Clemens has already accepted the invitation for the hearing and his own deposition, which is scheduled for Saturday. No word yet has come from Pettitte, who was invited to be deposed on Jan. 30. McNamee, who is cooperating with federal prosecutors, and Radomski, who has already pleaded guilty on several charges of dispersing drugs illegally, will appear.

McNamee is slated for his deposition or taped interview on Jan. 31, with Radomski due a day later.

Knoblauch was named on page 177 of the report assembled by former Sen. George Mitchell analyzing the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball as one of the players to whom McNamee provided human growth hormone in 2001.

McNamee said in the report that he injected Knoblauch "seven to nine times" from Spring Training through the early part of the season.

Aside from his non-response to the Congressional Committee, Knoblauch told the New York Times in a recent interview that he would not comment about the information. Since the report was issued on Dec. 13, Pettitte has acknowledged that McNamee injected him with HGH twice.

Otherwise, the greater issue at stake is the varying statements by Clemens and McNamee about whether the seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher actually used steroids or HGH during a period from 1998-2001. Under an agreement with the federal prosecutor's office -- which stipulated he could face criminal charges for making false statements -- McNamee told Mitchell that he had injected Clemens multiple times with performance-enhancing substances.

Clemens, either through his attorney or his own public statements, has categorically denied taking those drugs, saying instead he had been injected with Vitamin B-12 and lidocaine.

Asked by Congressional leaders at last Tuesday's hearing on Capitol Hill whether he stood by McNamee's statements, Mitchell said: "Mr. McNamee had an overwhelming incentive to tell the truth."

Mitchell reiterated that point when asked again only a few minutes later.

"We believe that the statements provided to us were truthful," he said.

On Sunday, the Times also reported that Jim Murray, a New York-based agent working for Hendricks Sports Management, could be called as a witness corroborating McNamee's assertions.

Murray's name emerged in the 17-minute telephone conversation between McNamee and Clemens that was made public when the pitcher held a media conference on Jan. 4.

At two points in the tape, McNamee references his conversations with Murray, reminding Clemens that he warned the agent about Radomski being under federal investigation and that later he was concerned Clemens might fail a Major League administered drug test.

"I told your guys, man. I told Murray, I told him his name. I told Murray," McNamee said, referring to Radomski.

Clemens said: "I asked you point blank. I said, 'Do you know who this cat is when we were working?' I said there's some rumblings about some guys with the Mets. Do you know who this guy is? You told me no."

The Times then points out that McNamee said he met with Murray.

"I met with Jimmy in '04, and I told him. I said, 'Jimmy, I just wanted to give you guys a heads-up because you better have some information. I'd rather you be prepared than unprepared,'" McNamee said.