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Baseball players would agree to 20-game suspension for initial steroids penalty
NEW YORK – 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 still fell short of what
commissioner Bud Selig wanted. 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 before Monday night's game against the New York Yankees. "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.
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