How long will it be before Crockett and Tubbs are assigned to cover Major League Baseball?

As Barry Bonds swings his way closer and closer to No. 756, the specter of performance enhancing substances looms larger over the sport. It isn’t just about the steroids, either. It’s about the greenies, and the cocaine, and even the beer in the clubhouse. Pretty soon, they’ll be taking urine samples between third base and home plate.

With the union’s power in decline and the U.S. Congress putting on the pressure, MLB officials strengthened their anti-drug policy in the 2005 offseason, cracking down on the use of “amphetamines.” That term used to refer specifically to Benzedrine, aka greenies, but now gets thrown around to cover just about every performance enhancer under the sun. The league’s current penalties for using greenies or “amphetamine-like stimulants” start at 25 games for a second positive test, followed by 80 games for a third positive. The commissioner would pass whatever judgment he saw fit after any further violations.

Jason Giambi made the news earlier this month by tacitly admitting he used steroids. The New York Daily News then reported that Giambi had failed an amphetamines test at some point during the past year. The league cannot comment, because the alleged test was Giambi’s first positive and is not supposed to be made public. But Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was reportedly looking at using the reports as just cause to terminate Giambi’s contract.

Leaks happen. Bonds himself was the focus of reports this past January that he had a first positive during the 2006 season, and that he blamed the incident on teammate Mark Sweeney. Bonds, already in the eye of the media storm and not yet under contract for 2007, quickly and firmly denied that he said anything about Sweeney being involved. Bonds and Giambi were the only two MLB players linked to positive tests for amphetamines at press time.

Commissioner Bud Selig’s comments on the Bonds report were typical corporate baseball: “We have a policy, we have a very strong amphetamine policy, and obviously everybody knows what it is.” Except MLB does not have an accessible list of what it considers to be amphetamine-like stimulants. Maybe David Wells had better think twice before his next pre-game six-pack of Coke.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.