Baseball commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday he will rule on players named in the Mitchell report on a case-by-case basis concerning possible suspensions. Players union chief Donald Fehr, meanwhile, warned that any player prosecuted had better receive due process.
In an explosive day that seemed to widen the gap between two sides that only recently have gotten along, both sides fired shots across their bows as names of 86 players in the report whisked across the country.
Selig, who commissioned Sen. George Mitchell more than 20 months ago to investigate performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, said he will act “swiftly” in handing out penalties even though Mitchell urged against disciplinary action.
It was one of three actions Selig outlined in a nationally televised New York news conference.
One, the commissioner’s office has already eliminated the 24-hour notice drug testers would give teams. Two, he will deal with the players identified in the report and will take appropriate action.
“Discipline of players and others identified in this report will be determined by a case-by-case basis,” Selig said. “If warranted, those decisions will be made swiftly.”
Three, Selig said he will continue to explore new drug testing, particularly for human growth hormone for which there is no current reliable test.
“We will be reaching out to Don Fehr and the players association in the immediate future to urge him in joining me in accepting them and to begin a positive dialogue on these matters,” Selig said.
Fehr, speaking after Selig, said he had not thoroughly reviewed the 409-page report but said it may have already done irreparable harm.
“Many players are named,” Fehr said. “Their reputations have been adversely affected, probably forever. Even if it turns out down the road that they should not have been, in my view, anyone interested in fairly assessing the allegations against the players should consider the nature of the evidence presented, the reliability of the source and the absence of procedural safeguards of individuals who may be accused of wrongdoing should be afforded.
“Senator Mitchell’s suggestion that players should not be disciplined is certainly welcome.”
Fehr also said any player in the report who faces disciplinary action from Selig will get full support from the union.
“Our job is to make certain that should any player be disciplined, he will have a right to a hearing and to the full panel plea of due process protections that our agreements contemplate and to have our representation in that process,” Fehr said.
Fehr disagreed with Selig that baseball’s current drug testing process, written into the current collective bargaining agreement, isn’t enough.
“So far as I can tell, the report does not suggest that the program is failing to pick up any steroid use which is possible to detect,” Fehr said.
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
