Nov 15, 2005 11:36 am US/Pacific
MLB Settles On Steroid Standards
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
Major League Baseball players and owners agreed to toughen penalties for steroid use to a 50-game suspension for a first failed test and a lifetime ban for a third, CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports.
The deal, which also adds testing for amphetamines, will be formally announced later Tuesday, a baseball official told The Associated Press.
Baseball's current steroid 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 sport's second new steroids agreement in 10 months came after lengthy negotiations prompted by urging from Congress, including the threat of legislation that would require higher penalties and stricter testing standards.
Representatives of the owners and players were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va. He's one of a handful of lawmakers who have introduced steroids bills, and it was his panel that held the March 17 hearing with Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.
At that hearing, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and union head Donald Fehr were scolded for what congressmen called a weak penalty system for drug testing.
The next month, Selig made a 50-100-lifetime proposal. In September, Fehr countered with 20 games, 75 games and, for a third offense, a penalty set by the commissioner.
There is no question that pressure from Congress helped make this deal happen, Fuss reports. The players and owners were put in a position of knowing if they didn't do something voluntarily, Congress would force them.
Earlier this month, Sens. Jim Bunning and John McCain reintroduced legislation that would standardize drug testing and penalties for professional leagues. The senators revised their proposed legislation to soften the penalties from two years for a first offense and a lifetime ban for a second.
The bill now calls for a half-season ban for a first positive test, one season for a second and a lifetime penalty for a third. Their bill would apply to Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL and baseball's minor leagues.
Three House bills have been proposed with similar provisions.
At a Sept. 28 hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., scolded Fehr in particular for not having reached a deal on a new steroids policy.
"We're at the end here, and I don't want to do it, but we need an agreement soon. It's not complicated. It's not complicated. All sports fans understand it," McCain said at the hearing. "I suggest you act and act soon."
Under the new deal, a first positive test for amphetamines, congressional aides said, will lead to mandatory additional testing, a second offense will draw a 25-game suspension, and a third offense gets 80 games.
A player will be tested during spring training physicals and at least once in the regular season, plus the possibility of other, random tests. The old agreement called for a minimum of one test from the start of spring training through the end of the regular season.
(© 2005 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
