By Mike McCarthy Nov 15, 2005, 23:45 GMT
Washington - Major League Baseball and the players' union, under immense pressure from Congress, reached an agreement on Tuesday that strengthens the penalties for steroid use.
The new deal calls for a 50-game suspension for first-time offenders, a 100-game suspension for players who are caught a second time, and a lifetime ban for those with a third violation.
Under the previous plan introduced last year, a first-time offender was suspended for 10 games and a second-time offender for 30 games. Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig could not suspend a player for life until a fifth violation.
'This is an important step to reaching our goal of ridding our sport of performance-enhancing substances and should restore the integrity of and public confidence in our great game,' Selig said.
Baseball has been dogged for several years over allegations that players - including some superstars - were doping, but was unable to persuade the union to accept stiff penalties and only agreed to testing in 2002.
Several U.S. lawmakers had threatened to legislate against steroid use if baseball did not clean up its act, and held hearings on the issue in March. One of those players was Rafael Palmeiro, who sternly told the panel he had never used steroids. Months later, he became the league's biggest name to test positive and was one of 13 players suspended during the 2005 season.
Palmeiro's team, the Baltimore Orioles, released him after the season and the 41-year-old's storied career may be tarnished beyond repair. It is unlikely another team will sign him.
The new plan also introduces tougher rules for testing, including year-round examinations rather than just during the season and allows random sampling.
Union chief Donald Fehr had previously argued that testing violated players' privacy, but has since backed down amid heavy criticism and public scepticism over bulked up players.
'This agreement reaffirms that Major League Players are committed to the elimination of performance-enhancing substances,' Fehr said in a joint statement with Selig.
The players union must still individually vote on the deal, but it is expected to be approved. A growing number of players have also expressed misgivings about doping in America's pastime.
The existing system was widely regarded as a joke, and it had become increasingly clear that Congress was willing to act if baseball did not. Senators John McCain and Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher, had proposed legislation that would affect most American sports. Their proposal called for a half season suspension for first timers, a full season for a second offence and a lifetime ban for the third.
The agreement between baseball and the union will probably help them avoid congressional intervention.
McCain has been one of the most vocal critics of the current policy and the position of the players union. Earlier this year, the Arizona senator tore into Fehr during congressional testimony.
'We're at the end of the line,' he said. 'How many more Rafael Palmeiros is there going to be?'
'Don't you get it?' he added during the heated exchange.
Despite the flurry of steroid allegations, baseball remains among the most popular U.S. sports. The problem entered into mainstream public discourse over the last several years, as players were hitting home runs in record numbers.
San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds broke the single season home run record of 73 in 2001, only three years after Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals set a new standard with 70. The previous record of 61 was set in 1961.
Bonds, 41, who is in striking range of the career home run record of 755, reportedly told a grand jury investigating a laboratory suspected of illegal developing steroids, that he unknowingly used the drug. As he chases Hank Aaron's home run record, questions are likely to linger as to whether he deserves the honour.
Your Talkback on this Story