Posted on 01/12/2005 6:44:21 PM PST by wagglebee
NEW YORK (AP) - Baseball players and owners have reached a new agreement on steroid testing and plan to announce it Thursday, The Associated Press has learned.
The sides have spent the past month negotiating the deal after the union's executive board gave its staff approval to pursue an agreement. Baseball and union officials were preparing an announcement, and commissioner Bud Selig and union executives intended to discuss the agreement Thursday after an owners' meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., players said.
"I'm glad we could come to an agreement that was mutually agreeable and the right thing to do," said Chicago Cubs pitcher Mike Remlinger, who was briefed on the deal Wednesday. "It was the right thing to do. I think it was something that needed to be done, and I think players understand it needed to be addressed."
The agreement will include penalties for first-time offenders, one AL player said, on condition of anonymity. Other details, such as the frequency of tests, were not immediately available.
"I think it's going to entail more testing, some out-season testing, yes, more in-season random testing and stiffer penalties," said New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine, a senior member of the union.
Probably too late to save the Hammer's record -- Bonds is too close even without steroids. But there should be a continuing return to normalcy in home run standards, and the insane era of multiple 50-homer seasons is hopefully at its asterisked end.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Bonds retire...
Especially if the League gets tough on the juice then he probably will retire rather than watch himself degenerate in front of the world. Cause we all know he's been on the 'roids and a sudden weight loss because he had to get off of them for testing next year will prove it!
Guess you haven't seen Pujols play. He has a .330 avg. with 45 doubles each year. If he switches to an uppercut and goes for HR's like Bonds, he'll average 55-65 every year ...without steroids, and he's only 24.
Ironically, Bonds, Sosa and Magwire will all be voted into the Hall of Fame,
and Roger Maris will have not.
I agree. Bonds won't want to run the rist of only hitting ten to twenty home runs in a season; he would see it as an admission that his entire career has been "chemically enhanced." I think he will "develop" some injury and announce his retirement; Hank Aaron will be at his side when he makes his announcement, they will both cry and baseball will go back to normal.
I have seen Pujols play many times, and he is of course a fine player. All I am saying is, based on the history of the game, no player can consistently average 50 homeruns over a period of years without some medical assistance. I can guarantee you that 20 years ago, Sammy Sosa would not have put together three straight 60-plus home run seasons. Until the late 1990s, nobody ever put up such numbers. I don't think players suddenly all got that much more powerful.
We saw what happened with Giambi when he got off the juice. The fact is, Bonds was a Hall of Fame player before he ever bulked up on steroids -- he just would not have hit 700 plus homeruns. Now all of his records will be justifiably questioned.
To me that is the problem. No "first-time offender" BS... you get caught... your gone. BUT since not that many have the talent to go to the show and there's big $$ involved for that new rookie, nothing will change, except for the juice.
I hope that Barry Bonds has a giant asterisk on his records. Yes he did hit 73 homers in a season, but is that a meaningful record if he was on steroids? I would love to see him retire and not threaten either Babe Ruth's 714 or Hank Aaron's all time record of 755.
should be 'you're gone' dummy
I agree. I think that whether there is an official asterisk or not, baseball fans will all know that the record is tainted. That is the burden Bonds will have to bear.
Based on all evidence at hand...the 73 home run record...is bogus. No one can really accept it as it stands. I think MLB did all the fans an injustice by allowing steriods to enter and destroy the records system. It was wrong...and they cannot go back to correct it.
Do you really think MLB will have the (base)balls to "randomly" test Barry Bonds? No way! He will never get tested as long as he is closing in on the Aaron record. MLB can say that the testing is confidential, give the appearance of a Bonds test, but never allow it to happen.
Once again, a weak, meaningless rule by MLB.
And you think that Pujols doesn't use 'roids? Get real. The numbers of users in baseball are staggering. It will all likely come out in the next year or so, and look for Luis right up there with the rest of them, as well as a bunch of guys who have never even been mentioned in connection with steroids.
Must explain why Bonds has so many companies coming at him to do endorsements...sarcasm
I can just see roid control by the league now -----
MLB - 'Now you promise to tell me if you are using, right?'
PLAYER - 'Scouts honor, I promise!'
Bud Selig is probably wondering how he can possibly keep baseball popular and still avoid a drug scandal or another walkout by juiced-up stars.
LOL! "Injustice"....You've got to be kidding!
This is the owners doing and the fans ate it up like the ignorant idiots they are.
The owners didn't give a damn because it got the boneheaded morons into the seats. So what if the players eventually get cancer or some other malady.....
Selig is a pathetic pussified tool of the ownership.
Watch an NFL game from the 70s. Those guys did indeed weight train, but they look like kids.
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