Report: Drug testers warned minor leagueteams
NEW YORK (AP) -- Minor league baseball teams received advance notice of drug tests this season, eight people who work in the minor leagues told The New York Times.
In a story posted on the newspaper's Web site on Tuesday night, four minor league managers, two team trainers, one general manager and one clubhouse attendant said a club official was called by a tester the day before drug testing was to be done at the ballpark.
None of them told the paper that they knew of any instances when players were told about the tests ahead of time, which would have given them time to rid their system of drugs.
The news comes less than a year after the Mitchell Report noted allegations of tipoffs received by major league teams. Commissioner Bud Selig eliminated the advance notice.
''Under the minor league policy, collections are performed by the Center for Drug Free Sport, which is a wholly independent entity,'' Richard Levin, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, said in an e-mail dated Sept. 15. ''The center was directed to give only nominal notice, no more than 45 minutes, to a club prior to a collection.''
When asked in an e-mail the next day as to how Major League Baseball planned to address the issue, Levin responded in an e-mail: ''Once we learned that there were occasions on which the Center for Drug Free Sport gave overnight notice to clubs, we took prompt corrective action to prevent such notice from being given in the future.''
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Levin did not respond to two subsequent e-mails and a phone message asking for details about the nature and timing of the corrective action.
In a story posted on the newspaper's Web site on Tuesday night, four minor league managers, two team trainers, one general manager and one clubhouse attendant said a club official was called by a tester the day before drug testing was to be done at the ballpark.
None of them told the paper that they knew of any instances when players were told about the tests ahead of time, which would have given them time to rid their system of drugs.
The news comes less than a year after the Mitchell Report noted allegations of tipoffs received by major league teams. Commissioner Bud Selig eliminated the advance notice.
''Under the minor league policy, collections are performed by the Center for Drug Free Sport, which is a wholly independent entity,'' Richard Levin, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, said in an e-mail dated Sept. 15. ''The center was directed to give only nominal notice, no more than 45 minutes, to a club prior to a collection.''
When asked in an e-mail the next day as to how Major League Baseball planned to address the issue, Levin responded in an e-mail: ''Once we learned that there were occasions on which the Center for Drug Free Sport gave overnight notice to clubs, we took prompt corrective action to prevent such notice from being given in the future.''
S
Levin did not respond to two subsequent e-mails and a phone message asking for details about the nature and timing of the corrective action.
