Don Fehr's tour takes him to Rays camp, where the message is to keep talk and speculation about steroids to a minimum.
By TOM JONES
Published March 17, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - More rumors and innuendos crop up every day. This baseball player did steroids. That player, too. What about him? And him?
Players are besieged with questions daily. Former players, and a few current ones, are speaking out. A high-profile investigation is under way in San Francisco with high-profile names being dragged into the ugliness.
Baseball junkies are preparing asterisks to put next to home run records, while magazines are listing before and after pictures of some of the game's top sluggers.
Steroid use in baseball has become the hot-button issue of the spring, perhaps ultimately of the generation, but the players, led by union chief Don Fehr, have a message:
Let's get all the information before making any sweeping accusations or drawing any conclusions.
Fehr's tour across the spring training camps reached St. Petersburg and the Devil Rays on Tuesday, and he met with the team for more than two hours.
Fehr would not get into specifics about the meeting, but his message to the players was, more or less, let's let the facts speak for themselves and stay quiet until then. The problem Fehr and the players are dealing with, though, is that the subject of steroids is spreading like wildfire. Fanning that fire is the investigation involving BALCO, the San Francisco-area company that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency alleges developed the banned steroid THG, or tetrahydrogestrinone.
Several big stars, including Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds, have been called to testify before a grand jury in the BALCO case.
"Things happen and sometimes they take on a life of their own," Fehr said. "I think a lot of it has to do with the investigation out in San Francisco. Of course, at this point, all of us know very little about that investigation and what the ultimate conclusion is going to be. It's a very serious investigation and it needs to be viewed that way. We'll have to wait for the legal processes to take their course."
Former and current players either admitting to steroid use or accusing others of it have added to the controversy. Paul Abbott, the Rays player representative, said too many players are "guilty by association," and unfairly judged.
"People are being presumed guilty without being proven guilty," Abbott said. "Somebody says something and they're like a spokesperson for everybody else? Well, that's totally untrue. We kind of addressed that issue (in the meeting)."
Regarding comments from various players and ex-players, Fehr said, "I think over time that will fade."
In August 2002, the union agreed to survey testing. That meant players were tested for steroids in 2003, and if fewer than 5 percent tested positive, the survey testing would be repeated. But between 5 and 7 percent tested positive, meaning random, unannounced testing can be instituted for two years.
The union's point now? Conclusions cannot be reached midway through the agreement.
"We'll have to see how it develops," Fehr said.
Abbott was stronger: "It's unfair with all these outside sort of random allegations of guys doing it, questioning the system before it has even taken effect. ... Give the system a chance. Everybody is quick to say the system isn't working. Well, it hasn't even kicked in yet."
Meantime, players will continue to be the subject of questions and accusations.
"It has happened so fast," Abbott said. "It has snuck up on a lot of people from behind. It has blindsided them. And now everybody is starting to get bombarded with questions. It has started with comments from other players initially, and from past players. It's kind of accelerated the need to talk about this. This was a good meeting, an important meeting."
