Ueberroth Wants Players Drug Tested

NEW YORK —  Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, warning that “every time a player misjudges a ball, there is guilt by speculation,” Tuesday asked all major league players to submit voluntarily to unannounced drug tests three times a year.

At the same time, he said possible action would be postponed against seven players who testified at the first of several federal drug trials in Pittsburgh until transcripts can be studied and the players can be interviewed.

Ueberroth directed that letters be distributed in clubhouses of all 26 teams and said that players would have until Friday to respond to his proposal, which stressed confidentiality, no disciplinary action and help for players with problems.

“Baseball’s reputation is at stake and it is our responsibility, both yours and mine, to stop this menace before more damage is done,” Ueberroth told the players in his letter.

“We need to act and act quickly to restore our good name and preserve baseball’s place as the national pastime for us, our children and for the generations to come.”

But Ueberroth’s plan received a frosty reception from the players’ union. Donald Fehr, the union’s acting executive director, said that the commissioner’s proposal probably was illegal because it tried to change working conditions by bypassing the union. Fehr said that his initial reaction was to tell the players to ignore the commissioner’s message.

According to Fehr, the letters contained numbered 3 x 5 cards that players were asked to sign and return to the clubs within 24 hours.

“As a personal matter, my feeling is that no one should sign anything and that any further matters in this regard should be referred to this office,” Fehr said.

He said that the players’ association would not officially respond to Ueberroth’s message until it had contacted all the clubs’ player representatives.

In Anaheim, Angel players met with General Manager Mike Port before their night game with the Chicago White Sox. The meeting lasted for only five minutes and consisted of Port distributing the commissioner’s letter.

Player representative Ron Romanick said: “We’re not going to vote on it until they deal with the players’ association directly. There will be no volunteers until they deal with the association.

“I think Mike felt like we did, that it was bad timing. The focus should be on winning our last 12 games, not meeting to discuss drugs.”

The Angels, however, while not endorsing testing, appeared to be leaning toward stronger penalties for proven abusers.

Reggie Jackson said: “I’d be happy to test. I think it’s a wonderful idea. But what are the rules? If I get busted, do I get to retire for six months and then come back like Steve Howe did?

“Can I testify against other players and get off?

“Am I going to be picked at random and sent to jail like Vida Blue and Willie Wilson?

“Penalize the guys who admitted to drug use in Pittsburgh and I’ll be happy to test, but don’t ask me to test when guys are getting off, getting away with (drug use).

“Steve Howe was involved four times. Mike Norris was involved three times. And you want me to test? Hammer someone. Suspend ‘em. Fine ‘em. Kick ‘em out of the sport.”

Bobby Grich was less strident. “I think there’s been enough publicity,” he said. “I think there’s been enough bad press. I think there’s been enough tragic situations like Steve Howe that every player in baseball already realizes the importance of staying away from drugs.

“We have a joint drug program that the owners and players together implemented. I think the program is working as it is. There have really not been any new cases. The cases that were brought up in Pittsburgh were from 1979 through ’82.”

Pitcher John Candelaria said: “When I see what (Ueberroth) does (with the players who testified in Pittsburgh), then I’ll decide if he’s going to test me. I’m glad they’re trying to do something, but they’re not going to test me as the situation now exists.”

Doug DeCinces, a long-time union activist, said: “The more I thought about it today, the more I thought that this just wasn’t the proper time for the commissioner to bring it up. We have 12 games left. We’re in the middle of a pennant race. It’s the most important time of the year for me as a player.

“I’m trying to put a positive foot forward, and this is negative. It could have waited until the winter meetings. It should have been handled through proper channels.”

DeCinces reiterated that testing deprives the innocent of inherent rights, and that voluntary testing is no better. “What happens if 50% agree to it and 50% decide that it’s against their principles?” he asked. “The 50% who won’t do it are immediately made to look guilty.”

Romanick predicted that the union would not accept any plan not negotiated jointly.

He was asked if there is a greater acceptance now of testing.

“No, but there is greater peer pressure not to tolerate the abusers,” he said. “Everybody deserves a second chance, but more than that, no.

“The problem baseball has run into is that a few players keep getting away with it by using the current procedures. But drug testing is not the magic answer. It takes rights away from people who should be above suspicion.”

The Angels’ opponents, the Chicago White Sox, discussed the proposal at a meeting conducted by Manager Tony LaRussa, who had been asked by Ueberroth to expand on the letter. They will vote today on whether they favor voluntary testing.

Said White Sox pitcher Tom Seaver, however: “A problem of such magnitude can’t be handled by a simple 45-minute discussion and a yes-or-no vote. It requires the strength of the entire association behind it. The players have to, and I hope they would, pass along their feeling to the director and the executive board that there should be some system of testing.”

Fred Claire, the Dodgers’ executive vice president, flew from Los Angeles to Houston Tuesday to distribute the commissioner’s letter to Dodger players before their game with the Astros. Claire met the team in the visitors’ clubhouse. When he left, the players held a short meeting of their own.

Mike Scioscia, the Dodgers’ player representative, said he planned to meet with Claire after the game and present a statement from the players.

Scioscia did not give specifics of the statement, but said he was opposed to a proposal that had not been approved by the players’ association. “There’s no doubt (Ueberroth) is circumventing the union,” Scioscia said.

“But that shows how adamant he is about stopping the problem, and I give him credit for that. He’s just not going about it the right way.”

Previously, Scioscia has expressed opposition to drug testing, specifically when Dodger owner Peter O’Malley attempted to include clauses in player contracts in which the player agreed to voluntary testing.

Now, Scioscia said, he would be willing to be tested, although a major concern remains the accuracy of any testing program. Claire said, however, that guidelines he had received from the commissioner’s office stated that its program was 100% accurate.

Said Scioscia: “If the problem is severe enough, which it appears to be, I wouldn’t mind my toes being stepped on a little bit. I would waive my rights and subject myself to this if it would clean up the problem.

“Players are starting to wake up and realize that, hey, maybe we have to take steps to clean the problem up. If the commissioner is looking for a sign, there’s a positive feeling here. We want to work for a solution.”

Said Bill Madlock, referring to the Pittsburgh trial in which seven players admitted to cocaine use: “After the situation in Pittsburgh, I’m sure you’ll see something worked out by next year. But it’s not something you can do in the next two weeks. It’s got to go through the players’ association.”

Mike Marshall, whose contract contained a drug testing clause that eventually was deleted, said: “As far as I’m concerned, that’s what the players’ association is for. We know we have a problem and we know that something has to be done, but not until after the players’ association is consulted and they take care of all the fine print.

” . . . Who are the Dodgers kidding, anyway? They get me twice a year already, in the physicals they give us in spring training and after the season. But nobody talks about that.

“If that isn’t voluntary, what is? Now the commissioner wants three more. That’s five times.”

Included in the physicals the Dodgers are given twice a year, each player is given a comprehensive blood test as well as a urinalysis.

“I love the physicals,” Marshall said. “You want to know if you have cancer or a blood problem. They’ve helped me with a couple of problems.

“But don’t tell me they’re not checking every other (drug) thing, too.”

Claire denied that the Dodgers test the urine samples taken in the physicals for drugs.

Curtis Strong, a Philadelphia caterer, was convicted last Friday in federal court in Pittsburgh on 11 of 14 counts of selling cocaine to players. Ueberroth, holding his first news conference since seven players testified in that trial, said that “without question” there will be an attempt outside baseball to legislate mandatory drug testing unless his plan is approved.

He said that he already had been approached by congressmen and senators seeking to hold public hearings about baseball’s drug problems, and that he expected pressure to build. The result, Ueberroth said, could be baseball’s losing the ability to control its own destiny.

“Baseball is in trouble,” Ueberroth said. “The shadow drugs cast is growing larger and darker by the day. We need to act, and act quickly, to restore our good name and restore baseball’s place as the national pastime.”

Under the plan, players would be asked to submit to three urine tests beginning in spring training and lasting through the World Series. The tests would only take place in clubhouses and would be conducted by a qualified medical team.

Ueberroth stressed that results would be kept completely confidential, even from owners, managers and the commissioner. The result, he said, could be help without stigma.

“Baseball is on trial and has suffered some public humiliation over the last few weeks,” Ueberroth said. “ . . . If we fail, we will have started a decade of baseball being synonymous with drugs. We will have turned off a generation of kids and we will have dealt a financial body blow to the game.”

The commissioner said he had been wrestling for several weeks with what to do as a result of the Pittsburgh trials. He said that after careful thought, he decided to postpone action against the seven players in the case against Strong who were given immunity by prosecutors in return for their testimony.

He said he intends to talk with all seven players directly after reviewing the trial transcript. Ueberroth said that he might also hold hearings about the players’ status. He added that there might be other drug trials in the future, other than those in Pittsburgh, but declined to expand on that.

Ueberroth said that the voluntary drug testing program was patterned after a mandatory program already in use in the minor leagues and for major league personnel who are not players. The minor league drug screening program already has caused a dramatic decrease in drug use, he said, but he did not give statistics.

He said that baseball’s winter leagues, with the exception of Venezuela, had joined the program. The commissioner said that Venezuela was excluded because “they have severe penalties, and we will have no penalties.”

Ueberroth also said that the drug testing program he was suggesting for the major leagues would only screen for illegal substances.

Times staff writers Ross Newhan, in Anaheim, and Gordon Edes, in Houston, contributed to this story.