Baseball to Toughen Steroid Penalties

[FUZO]

TweetBaseball to Toughen Steroid Penalties NEW YORK

- Baseball commissioner Bud Selig got his tougher drug policy, persuading the players' association to agree to a plan that gives management its biggest victory over the union in more than three decades.



Spurred by the threat of federal legislation, players and owners agreed Tuesday to increase the penalties for steroid use to a 50-game suspension for a first offense, 100 games for a second and a lifetime ban for a third.

In addition, players for the first time gave management the right to test for amphetamines, viewed by baseball management as a bigger problem than steroids.

The sport's current penalties are a 10-day suspension for a first offense, 30 days for a second offense and 60 days for a third. The earliest a player could be banned for life is a fifth offense.

The new deal is almost exactly what Selig proposed in April — one month after he and union head Donald Fehr were scolded at a House hearing for being soft on performance-enhancing drugs. Owners could ratify the agreement as early as Thursday, when they meet in Milwaukee.

"We've taken, in my opinion, a giant step forward. And it's a very, very proud day for baseball," Selig said during a conference call. "I don't regard this as an interim step. I regard this as the completion of a long process."

Several bills that would increase steroid penalties across major U.S. pro sports are pending in Congress, and lawmakers would like to see other leagues follow baseball's lead. But Tuesday's news "stops the rush to move legislation through at this time," said Rep. Tom Davis, whose House Government Reform Committee held the March 17 hearing on steroids.

The witnesses that day included Rafael Palmeiro — who testified he had never used steroids, then was banned for 10 days after failing a test in May — and the parents of a high school athlete who committed suicide after using steroids.

"Listening to the Donald Hooton story about how his son died because of steroids really, really got to me. And I remember that very lonely night, getting on a plane ... the more I thought of that story, I cried," Selig said. "And I made up my mind that night that this sport wasn't going to rest until it had taken what I felt and what all of us felt was the appropriate action."

In April, he made the 50-100-lifetime proposal and suggested testing for amphetamines for the first time. In September, Fehr countered with 20 games, 75 games and, for a third offense, a penalty set by the commissioner.

The players' association appeared to pretty much capitulate to Selig's demands, except for gaining the right to have an arbitrator review reinstatement decisions. A player can seek to return to the game two years after being banned for life.

"This agreement reaffirms that major league players are committed to the elimination of performance-enhancing substances," Fehr said in a statement.

National League MVP Albert Pujols backed the tougher punishments.

"If you get caught the third time, you definitely need to be thrown out of baseball," the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman said. "If you get caught the third time, it means you're not learning the lesson."

While boosting strength, steroids can lead to dramatic mood swings, heart disease and cancer; using most steroids without a doctor's prescription for medical purposes has been illegal since 1991.

While officials from various sports were called to a series of congressional hearings, lawmakers focused on baseball.

As recently as 2002, baseball players weren't tested for drugs at all unless there was cause. As recently as 2004, there was no suspension for a first steroids offense. And as recently as March, Selig could fine a player who failed a steroid test $10,000 instead of suspending him for 10 days.

Under the new deal, a first positive test for amphetamines will lead to mandatory additional testing, a second offense will draw a 25-game suspension, and a third offense will get 80 games. A player will be tested during spring training and at least once in the regular season, plus could face other random tests. The old agreement called for a minimum of one test from the start of spring training through the regular season.

Palmeiro and the 11 other players suspended for 10 days this year would be treated as first-time offenders should they test positive again. The new deal could run for several years, until the expiration of the sport's next collective bargaining agreement, which won't be negotiated until next year.

Sen. Jim Bunning (news, bio, voting record), R-Ky., and Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., introduced a Senate bill calling for a two-year ban followed by a lifetime ban. But they changed that last week to a half-season ban for a first positive test, one season for a second and a lifetime penalty for a third; it would apply to baseball's major and minor leagues, the NFL, NBA and NHL.

In new drug policies that began this year, the NBA doubled its first penalty to 10 games, and the NHL instituted steroid testing for the first time, with a 20-game ban for a first offense. The NFL has a minimum initial penalty of four games.

"I and my colleagues will be watching very closely, and if things unravel, we still have tough legislation we can move through Congress," Bunning said.

Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher, was disappointed the new policy wouldn't erase records set with the help of performance-enhancing drugs.

[BIGMOFO]

TweetI THINK THIS IS SO STUPID! THEY ARE NOT THIS TUFF ON ANY OTHER SPORT!

[mtnmedic]

TweetI heard that lastnight,..lifetime suspension for a third is crazy ! Do they test golfers ?