Mike Scandura
Minor League News
With all the talk about beefing up Major League’s drug prevention program, you only have to look at the minor league policies to see how the new “get-tough on substance abuse” public relations program of Major League Baseball (MLB) is a still a joke. Unfortunately it’s one being played on the fans, the game, and ultimately the players themselves.
MLB and the Major League Baseball Players’ Association (MLBPA), have been throwing curve balls at the problem that threatens the very foundation of the sport: Eliminating the use of drugs and performance enhancing substances.
One Sport – Two Sets of Rules
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball designed and administers the minor league program, which was put in effect in 2001. The MLBPA only negotiates deals for the players on the forty-man roster, which includes some players sent to the minors in the AAA who are still part of the overall 40. The union has been resistant to any form of testing or treatment, and has the power to block meaningful solutions to substance use and abuse that affects the game.
"I think the biggest mistake early on was the player's association not seeing this as a way to save lives and save careers," said Pacific Coast League president Branch Rickey III.
Rickey notes that, if it weren't for the intransigence of the MLBPA, a meaningful program, even at the minor league level, might have seen the light of day much sooner.
Frequently the minor leagues are used to test policies and practices before applying them to the major leagues. MLB has the unilateral power in the minors. The bellwether allows the MLBPA to also evaluate how certain policies and practices proposed by the owners may work, and whether to endorse or oppose them.
When it comes to substance abuse and performance enhancers, the MLBPA has fought meaningful implementation of a plan long after other sports have already put tough rules into place. The minor leagues continue to operate under the tougher rules, and the forty-man roster players largely skate. This creates a huge double standard with radically inconsistent policies. (See: Establishing the Double Standard MLN March 7, 2003)
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