Baseball launches steroids investigation
Baseball launches steroids investigation, By: Ronald Blum
March 30, 2006, AP Baseball Writer
NEW YORK - The alleged steroid use by Barry Bonds and other players will be investigated by Major League Baseball, and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will lead the effort.
"Nothing is more important to me than the integrity of the game of baseball," commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday.
Selig's decision to launch the probe, first reported by ESPN, came in the wake of "Game of Shadows," a book by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters detailing alleged extensive steroid use by Bonds and other baseball stars.
"The unique circumstances surrounding BALCO and the evidence revealed in a recently published book have convinced me that Major League Baseball must undertake this investigation," Selig said.
Earlier Thursday, Victor Conte - founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative - was released from a California prison. He spent four months there after pleading guilty to orchestrating an illegal steroids distribution scheme that allegedly involved many high-profile athletes.
Some in Congress have called for an independent investigation of baseball. Mitchell, a Maine Democrat and a director of the Boston Red Sox, has been a director of the Florida Marlins and served on an economic study committee that Selig appointed in 1999.
Mitchell also is chairman of The Walt Disney Co., whose ESPN subsidiary is one of baseball's primary broadcast partners.
Mitchell's possible involvement was first mentioned Wednesday in The New York Times. Several lawyers will assist Mitchell.
No matter what the findings of an investigation, it would be difficult for baseball to penalize anyone for steroids used before Sept. 30, 2002, when a joint drug agreement between management and the players' association took effect. Baseball began drug testing in 2003 and started testing with penalties the following year.
"I will only comment on things about Barry's on-field performance or contractual status," said his agent, Jeff Borris.
It is unclear whether current or former players would cooperate with an investigation or could be forced to do so by baseball. Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the Major League Baseball Players Association, declined comment.
Under pressure from Congress, baseball toughened penalties last year and again this season, when an initial positive test will result in a 50-game suspension. Twelve players, including Rafael Palmeiro, were suspended for 10 days each following positive tests last year.
"Game of Shadows" details alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs by Bonds for at least five seasons beginning after the 1998 season.
Former commissioner Fay Vincent called this month for an investigation and suggested it be headed by Mitchell or John Dowd, who led baseball's 1989 probe into gambling by career hits leader Pete Rose, who agreed to a lifetime ban.
"I think the investigation is the right step," Vincent said. "I don't think the issue is punishment, I think it's: 'Shouldn't the players be called to task for cheating, even if there is no punishment?' I think baseball has to recapture the moral high
