Selig must deal with steroid use, By: Bob Elliott
July 12, 2006
Steroids and Barry Bonds dominate the baseball news.
What will be of the legacy of Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa?
"I remember reading something Whitey Herzog said," Selig said yesterday about the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. "He was quoted saying cocaine affected the outcome of more games than steroids ever did.
"We overcame the cocaine era of the 1980s and we'll get past the steroid era too."
Selig was making his annual all-star state of the union address at a Baseball Writers of America Association luncheon yesterday at the William Penn Hotel.
We remember being in Pittsburgh with the Montreal Expos in the 1980s when a press conference was staged. It was during the cocaine drug trials of which Selig spoke.
The presser was held by the Pirate Parrot, the team mascot, whose first words were, "I am not involved in the cocaine ring." As Shakespeare always said the Parrot doth protest too loudly. The dirty bird was eventually arrested.
Only one player has tested positive this year - New York Mets minor leaguer Yusaku Iriki. He was suspended 50 games. A year ago under the old drug plan he would have received a 10-day penalty.
That led Selig to boast that Major League Baseball had the toughest drug program in sports.
"I really think steroid use has been minimized," Selig said.
The next battlefield are amphetamines.
"Doctors and trainers expressed more concern about this than anything else," Selig said. "One told me, 'If you don't do something about this, somebody is going to die.'"
Selig admitted that the first positive test does not cause for the release of a player's name.
He was asked if there had been any positive tests from this strongest drug testing program in sports?
"Amphetamine testing is working," he said. Take that answer any way you want.
"We're going to change the habits of people. But we need to stay ahead of the curve," Selig said. "Technology is exploding, and there are other things to come, no question about it. There is no use kidding yourself."
Under the new drug policy, a positive test for amphetamine use results in mandatory additional testing.
A second offense triggers a 25-game suspension and the punishment increases to 80 games for a third failed test.
In June, Arizona Diamondbacks Jason Grimsley was suspended 50 games a week after federal agents raided his home in an investiga- tion into performance- enhancing drugs.
He was penalized based on his alleged possession and use of human growth hormone.
Selig reflected on the McGwire's home run chase of September 1998 saying "I remember the great joy, McGwire hugging the Maris family, the great celebration. Now, eight years later it's easy to say ..."
And meanwhile, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell's drug investigation into steroid use in baseball continues.
