MLB: Three strikes for steroids means "out"

WASHINGTON — Under increasing pressure from Congress to eliminate the use of performance-enhancing drugs, Major League Baseball and its players union announced tougher penalties against steroid use Tuesday that include a lifetime ban for players who repeatedly test positive.

Under the new rules, which must be ratified by both sides, players will be suspended for 50 games after one positive test, 100 games for a second offense and banned for life if they test positive for steroids a third time.

"This was a much deeper issue, and that was an integrity issue," commissioner Bud Selig said in a conference call. "It sends the right message."

Baseball also will test for amphetamines for the first time starting next year under the deal.

Current steroid penalties are a 10-day suspension for a first offense, 30 days for a second offense and 60 days for a third. The earliest a player could be banned for life is a fifth offense.

Baseball has been under fire for more than a year since some of the game's most prominent sluggers were linked to steroid use as part of the federal investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative, or BALCO. The Burlingame, Calif.-based lab distributed so-called designer steroids, which were undetectable in testing at the time.

In March, current and former players were called to testify before the House Government Reform Committee about steroid use in the game. One of the players who testified he had never used steroids, Rafael Palmeiro of the Baltimore Orioles, tested positive a few months later and was suspended.

Although the committee said it did not have enough evidence to pursue perjury charges against Palmeiro, Congress is considering legislation that would strip professional sports leagues of the power to police themselves in drug matters and instead institute a national standard modeled on the Olympics.

"Looking at it from my perspective I think it's unfair to get a 50-game suspension when it's not an intentional act," Palmeiro said in an interview last week. "This was not intentionally done by myself."

Representatives of the owners and players were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday for meetings with Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and Tom Davis, R-Va. They are among a handful of lawmakers who have introduced steroids bills — and it was Davis' panel that held the hearing with Palmeiro, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.

In April, Selig proposed a 50-100-lifetime ban penalty structure. In September, Fehr countered with a proposal of 20 games for a first offense and 75 for a second. The penalty for the third offense would have been decided at the discretion of the commissioner.

Fehr issued a statement while traveling.

"This reaffirms that Major League players are committed to the elimination of performance-enhancing substances and that the system of collective bargaining is responsive and effective in dealing with issues of this type," the statement read.

San Francisco shortstop Omar Vizquel, in a phone interview from his Issaquah home, said he supports a strict steroids policy.

But Vizquel added, "I never thought they were serious about that: 50, 100 and lifetime. Wow, that's just really crazy. I agree they should raise the number of games, but that's a lot of games right there."

Lawmakers basked in their victory. Davis, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said both chambers were ready to pass tough testing legislation, which he believes pushed the union and owners to agree.

"We were vindicated by the result," Davis said.

Bunning, a former pitcher and a member of the Hall of Fame, said he would keep alive his bill, co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that would base penalties on the Olympic model, with a two-year suspension for a first positive test and a lifetime ban for a second. He is doing this, he said, to be sure Tuesday's agreement will be ratified.

"I know that sometimes agreements that you were told were written in stone can somehow change and become open for interpretation," Bunning said. "So I and my colleagues will be watching very closely, and if things unravel we still have tough legislation we can move through Congress."

Had there not been an agreement, he said the bill would have gone to a Senate vote Tuesday and passed.

A key provision of the deal is the addition of amphetamines — long a staple in baseball's clubhouses — to the list of banned substances. Under the deal, a first positive test for amphetamines would require additional mandatory testing. A second offense would draw a 25-game suspension, a third offense would result in an 80-game suspension and the penalty for a fourth would be at the commissioner's discretion.

Baseball officials said they will follow current government lists of banned steroids and amphetamines, but added they would fall short of World Anti-Doping Agency mandates that include substances such as nasal decongestants and allergy medications.