MLB launches new anti-steroid campaign at Classic, By: Steve Keating
March 20, 2006, Reuters
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - With another drug scandal surrounding Barry Bonds looming, Major League Baseball used the final of the World Baseball Classic to unveil a new anti-steroid campaign on Monday.
Prior to the start of the championship game between Japan and Cuba, MLB commissioner Bud Selig and the Partnership for a Drug-Free American announced the second phase of an initiative designed to educate American youth about the dangers.
"Major League Baseball is a national institution and we take our responsibilities seriously when it comes to how the game affects the lives of American youth," said Selig, who met with the media prior to the start of Monday's contest.
"Through our work with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, we know how important it is to reach athletes at a young age with important information about the dangers of steroids and reinforce those messages with influencers including their parents and coaches."
Those messages will now be delivered in a series of new television and radio commercials and print campaigns.
With Bonds closing in on baseball's homerun record and two books about to be released detailing extensive steroid use by the San Francisco Giants slugger, Major League Baseball is facing a public relations nightmare and even tougher scrutiny over its own anti-doping policies.
Earlier in the tournament, Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), lashed out at MLB saying he had serious concerns about the drug-testing being implemented during the World Baseball Classic.
Pound, who has regularly been at odds with MLB over their anti-doping procedures, warned MLB that unless it discloses the details of the policy and testing program prior to the end of the tournament it could damage baseball's efforts to regain a spot on the Olympic program.
South Korean pitcher Myung Hwan Park has been the only player to test positive for a banned substance during the tournament and now faces a two-year suspension from international competition.
Should any major league players produce a positive test they would also face a two-year ban but only a 50 day suspension from league play.
"Remember that the participation in this event by the MLB players association was agreed to long before last year's program and they agreed they would be bound by the WADA standards," said MLB's president and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy.
"The players knew the WADA standards were going to be applied.
"Anyone who tests positive in this competition from the standpoint of international competition will be treated exactly the same."
