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November 14, 2003
Baseball And Steroids
Back in August 2002 when baseball owners and the players came to an agreement that avoided yet another strike, I said that the framework players and owners had agreed to in the area of steroids testing was a sham. Just yesterday, when word came that the results of the initial testing survey were about to be released at any time, I scoffed that anything would come of it at all. I simply couldn't imagine that players wouldn't have taken the opportunity to get off the juice last season, in order to prevent more widespread testing. So I was shocked when Major League Baseball announced that somewhere between five and seven percent of its 1,200 players tested positive for steroid use (the test was anonymous) -- triggering a provision in the collective bargaining agreement to make testing mandatory. The press release announcing the results of the testing are here. You can read Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's statment here. To take a look at steroids-related posts in my archive, click here. Bigger is better. Which was exactly what I was thinking when I first read the procedure Major League Baseball was going to use. But then again, this first test is essentially a free pass, and now whoever is still using has all Winter long to either stop using, or start using some sort of masking agent to hide that use. Here's Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News, who says Baseball is at its lowest point since the 1919 Black Sox scandal: Next season, because the threshold was breached, Major League Baseball moves to a second stage of testing that is surely more effective, though not punitive enough. Players testing positive more than once will now be identified, their endorsements placed at risk. But they will be allowed to play on. Bondy's right that the punishments won't be punitive enough, but asking the Players Association to step out of the way is a little pie in the sky. At the end of the day, the Players Association is more interested in their membership's financial health than anything else. Look for updates later in the day, as some of the bigger guns in sportswriting begin to weigh in on this story.
Eric
07:15 AM
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» Head in the Sand? from CC NHL Weblog Tracked on November 18, 2003 12:48 PM CommentsIt is hard to just call out certain players and ask them to get tested, and I do believe presumed innocent until proven guilty. One problem I have with this is Barry Bonds. The fact that he puts on 15-20 pounds of muscle in a year, when he is in his late 30's, just shows that the problems with players in baseball may be from top to bottom. Throw in the recent Balco scandal and the case for testing should be a slam dunk. Posted by: at November 14, 2003 10:42 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |