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 Chapter[ X. Review of the Major League Baseball Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program                                                                                                                            ]

 Section[ Introduction ]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

X. Review of the Major League Baseball Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program

Since 2002, the Major League Baseball Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment

Program has been the central focus of efforts by the Commissioner and the Players Association

to reduce the use of steroids and other performance enhancing substances by players. As

discussed earlier in this report, the program as originally adopted was the product of extended

collective bargaining. It was an important first step in the effort to deal with what both parties

agreed is a serious problem. Some improvements have been made to the program since program

testing began in 2004. Additional improvements are necessary, however, to enable the program

to keep pace with the evolving problems of illegal substance use.

The drug testing programs in all sports, including the Olympics, have evolved

over time through a process of trial and error, as the programs were modified to address

problems and concerns. In that respect, baseball’s program has been like all the others. The

challenge now is to take the program to a new and higher level and to then continue the process

of improvement to deal with the problems and concerns which cannot be foreseen but which

inevitably will arise.

There are, of course, substantial differences in how drug testing rules can be

imposed between sports that are subject to collective bargaining and those that are not.

Commissioner Selig and Rob Manfred discussed this central difference in a 2004 law review

article that was referred to earlier in this report:

While it is true that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have implemented

broad bans on [nutritional] supplements, the amateur athletes subject to

these bans are not employees under the National Labor Relations Act

(NLRA) and do not have the ability to resist unilateral implementation of

broad drug policies by these regulatory bodies. In professional sports,

however, athletes are employees of their clubs and are represented for

collective bargaining purposes by unions. The clubs must therefore

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bargain over terms and conditions of employment, including any drug

policies for, and drug testing of, athletes. Given that positive drug tests

can lead to fines, suspensions without pay, or both, it is not at all

surprising that unions resist agreements containing broad prohibitions and

requiring extensive testing.508

Don Fehr of the Players Association has made the related point that major league players rely on

baseball for their livelihood while many athletes in Olympic and other sports do not.

Other major professional sports leagues in the United States, including the

National Basketball Association, the National Football Association, and the National Hockey

League, have adopted drug testing programs through the process of collective bargaining. The

programs in effect in these sports provide a basis for comparison and review of the current joint

drug program in Major League Baseball.

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