By The Associated Press
Baseball players offered to accept a stiffer penalty for first- time steroid offenders – 20 games instead of 10 days – along with agreeing to amphetamine tests, but their proposal Monday fell short of what commissioner Bud Selig wanted.
In an April 25 letter to the union, Selig called for a 50-game suspension for an initial positive test, a 100-game ban for second-time offenders and a lifetime ban for a third violation.
Union head Donald Fehr’s response said Selig’s proposal was meant to quiet criticisms of baseball’s current policy, not deter steroid use.
“We share your concern about the criticism our program has received, and, in response, the players have demonstrated, several times now, their willingness to take all reasonable measures in response,” Fehr wrote.
Nine players have been suspended this year under the MLB program, with Baltimore’s Rafael Palmeiro the most prominent.
“Doubling it is good,” Orioles player representative Jay Gibbons said. “I think 10 is a little light.
“Ten you can get away with as a team. You can do without a guy for 10 days, but 20, you’re kind of hurting your ballclub, too. Not just your own public scrutiny, but you’re hurting your ballclub to win.”
Fehr’s letter came ahead of Wednesday’s congressional hearings on steroids in sports, the latest in a series of sessions on Capitol Hill.
Selig and Fehr are expected to join the commissioners and union heads of the NFL, NBA and NHL in testifying about legislation to standardize testing and punishment policies.
“It’s good to see the players’ union moving in the right direction. But it remains to be seen whether this is good enough for members of Congress,” said Rob White, spokesman for House Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis, R-Va.
Yankees: Shortstop Derek Jeter received a threatening letter that reportedly warned he would be “shot or set on fire” if he didn’t stop dating white women.
The FBI is investigating “racially threatening letters to Jeter and others across the country,” special agent Scott Wilson said. He declined to comment further.
Jeter downplayed what he called the “stupid letter,” saying he did not perceive it as a specific threat.
The Daily News reported the hate mail to the Yankees’ 31-year-old captain called him a “traitor to his race” for dating white women. It warned him “to stop or he’ll be shot or set on fire,” the paper said, quoting an unidentified law enforcement source.
Similar threatening letters denouncing interracial relationships have been sent to other public figures in recent months, including U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Jason Taylor, and the parents of tennis star James Blake. The threats have been traced to the Cleveland area.
Braves: Right-hander John Smoltz will likely sit out the final week of the regular season to rest his ailing pitching shoulder for a probable trip to the playoffs. Smoltz pushed back his last start and he’s not going to make his next scheduled start Wednesday. Rookie Kyle Davies will go instead.
Smoltz (14-7, 3.06 ERA) said “there’s a great chance” he won’t pitch again during the regular season, hoping the extra rest will help him feel stronger for an expected start in Game 1 of the NL division series.
Reds: Outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. had minor surgery to clean out his knee and close a year-old incision that hasn’t healed properly, procedures expected to set him back no more than four weeks.
Athletics: Right-hander Dan Haren agreed to a four-year contract. Haren, acquired in the offseason from the St. Louis Cardinals in a trade for left-hander Mark Mulder, will be under contract through the 2009 season with a club option for 2010.
