With Congress flexing its muscle and commissioner Bud Selig shaking his fist, the baseball players union agreed in principle Tuesday to a tougher steroids testing and discipline program, including a 50-game suspension for first-time offenders.
The initial punishment remained a lingering obstacle for six months – the union proposed 20 games – before the sides settled on the three-strikes-and-you’re-out policy, which calls for a 100-game suspension for a second positive test and a lifetime ban for a third.
As part of the new policy, the players also will be tested for amphetamines for the first time.
“These are stiffer penalties, no doubt. Hopefully everybody is now on the same page and happy,” Rockies star first baseman Todd Helton said. “I’d like to see over the next few years the focus shift back to baseball, to the games on the field.”
Even as baseball enjoyed a renaissance, capitalizing on terrific postseasons involving long-starved champions in Boston and Chicago the past two years, the scrutiny of steroids never wavered. On Tuesday, the policy was amended for a second time in 10 months, triggered by a March hearing before the House Committee on Government Reform and a fast-track bill sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Jim Bunning, R-Ky., calling for half-year suspensions for first offenses.
“Hopefully this will please Congress and get them off our back. They got what they wanted. So did the owners,” Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings said. “We didn’t have a choice. My hope is that this gives a little credibility back to the game and we can move forward. What we all want is a level playing field.”
The voice of the rank and file, said former Rockies outfielder Dustan Mohr, led to this compromise. Over the past two years, players have become more vocal about policing themselves. The discipline, Mohr believes, will function as a strong deterrent.
“Fifty games is an awfully long time,” Mohr said. “I don’t think the problem was as big as it has been made out to be; there were a few guys who screw it up for everybody by cheating. But the bottom line is that it had become hard to be a player and not have people suspect you of doing steroids when you had done nothing wrong. That’s not right. Maybe this will quiet some of that.”
Bunning said Tuesday that the steroids bill he is supporting, which would apply to all major professional sports, won’t be withdrawn, though baseball appears to have satisfied Congress’ concerns.
“This agreement reaffirms that major-league players are committed to the elimination of performance-enhancing substances and that the system of collective bargaining is responsive and effective in dealing with issues of this type,” said union boss Donald Fehr.
Until the 2002 collective-bargaining agreement, steroids were not outlawed in Major League Baseball.
When more than 5 percent failed during random survey testing in 2003, a new policy automatically took effect. It was widely panned, however, because there was no discipline for a first positive. A second revision before this season created a 10-day suspension for a first offense – there were 12 violators, most notably slugger Rafael Palmeiro. A second offense called for 30 days and a third offense 60 days. A player was not eligible for lifetime banishment, however, until five positives.
“This is an important step to reaching our goal of ridding our sport of performance-enhancing substances,” Selig said, “and should restore the integrity of and public confidence in our great game.”
Overshadowed by the steroids punishment, amphetamine issues were quietly addressed. A first offense triggers mandatory testing, a second positive calls for a 25-game punishment, 80 games for a third, with discipline for a fourth failed test at the commissioner’s discretion. Mohr said that this “may turn out to be a bigger deal than anyone expects.”
As recently as 2002, former players Ken Caminiti and Chad Curtis estimated that 90 percent of major-league players take some form of pregame stimulant.
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5447 or trenck@denverpost.com.
