Chapter[ VI. Incidents Providing Evidence to Baseball Officials of Players’ Possession
or Use of Performance Enhancing Substances ]
Section[ J. 50-Game Suspension of Jason Grimsley for Reported Admissions of Human Growth Hormone Use, Summer 2006 ]
J. 50-Game Suspension of Jason Grimsley for Reported Admissions of Human Growth Hormone Use, Summer 2006
On April 19, 2006, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley received a
package in the mail at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona that contained two “kits” of human
growth hormone.281 Federal agents monitored the delivery and were prepared to execute a
search warrant for Grimsley’s home, but according to a later affidavit, Grimsley chose to
cooperate with the agents instead and submitted to a two-hour interview at another location.
During the interview, Grimsley made admissions about his own use and purchases of steroids,
human growth hormone, and clenbuterol. He also said that since drug testing had been
implemented in Major League Baseball he had only used human growth hormone.282
Grimsley later decided to stop cooperating with federal investigators, who
thereafter obtained a search warrant for his Arizona residence. On June 6, 2006, federal agents
executed the search warrant. The next day, the Diamondbacks released him.283 Numerous
articles appeared over the following days about the statements Grimsley reportedly had made in
his interview with federal agents, which were recounted in an affidavit that was submitted to a
federal magistrate judge in order to obtain the later search warrant. In news reports the
280 Palmeiro Report at 27-28.
281 See Redacted Affidavit of I.R.S. Special Agent Jeff Novitzky, sworn to on May 31,
2006, ¶ 2. A “kit” of human growth hormone contains seven vials of lypholized HGH powder
and seven vials of sterile water. Id., ¶ 12.
282 Id., ¶¶ 2, 16.
283 See Jack Curry, What a Player Will Do to Extend His Career, N.Y. Times, June 8,
2006, at D5.
106
Diamondbacks’ managing general partner was quoted stating that the Diamondbacks were
planning to file papers with the Commissioner’s Office to terminate Grimsley’s contract because
he was “unfit to play.”284
The Commissioner asked Grimsley to appear for an interview “to deny and/or
explain the statements that you gave to federal investigators.”285 Through the Players
Association, he refused. On June 12, 2006, the Commissioner suspended Grimsley for 50 games
without pay, to take effect if he ever returned to Major League Baseball. The suspension was
based on Grimsley’s reported admissions to federal agents of his possession, use, and intent to
use human growth hormone, as detailed in the search warrant affidavit.286
At the time, the Major League Baseball joint drug program did not provide for
discipline based on “non-analytic evidence” (that is, evidence of use that is not derived from
sources other than a drug test) of the use of prohibited substances.287 In suspending Grimsley,
therefore, the Commissioner relied on his general authority under the Basic Agreement to impose
discipline in the “best interests of baseball,” which (subject to the requirement that discipline be
based on “just cause”) had been the basis for drug-related suspensions before the joint drug
program was added to the Basic Agreement in 2002.
284 See Bob McManaman, Kendrick Lashes Out at Grimsley, Ariz. Republic, June 11,
2006, at C7.
285 Letter from Allan H. Selig to Jason Grimsley, dated June 12, 2006.
286 Id.; see also Jack Curry, Grimsley Receives 50-Game Suspension, N.Y. Times,
June 13, 2006, at D1.
287 See Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program (2006),
§ 8. Suspensions can be imposed under the express provisions of the program: for failed drug
tests; for failure to comply with a prior treatment program; for a conviction or guilty plea
involving the possession or use of a prohibited substance; or for participating in the sale or
distribution of a prohibited substance.
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The Players Association said it would file grievances challenging both the
threatened termination of Grimsley’s contract by the Diamondbacks and the Commissioner’s 50game
suspension of him. Negotiations followed, and a settlement was reached between the
Players Association and the Commissioner’s Office, which also acted on behalf of the
Diamondbacks. Under the settlement, the salary that Grimsley would have lost as the result of
the 50-game suspension was retained by the Diamondbacks, which agreed to donate it to charity.
Grimsley was paid the salary remaining due under the contract, and he also agreed to donate the
funds to charity.288
In the settlement, the Players Association and the Commissioner’s Office also
agreed to two statements as binding precedent under the joint drug program: the Players
Association agreed that the imposition of a 50-game suspension under the circumstances
presented was permissible; and the Commissioner’s Office agreed that a club’s termination of a
player contract under the circumstances would be a violation of the joint drug program.289
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