NEW YORK — Baseball commissioner Bud Selig hinted strongly Thursday that management officials implicated in the Mitchell Report won’t be suspended or fined.
Speaking at his annual meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors, Selig indicated public service will be required of officials found to have acted improperly.
As part of Selig’s announcement April 11 that players wouldn’t be disciplined, management and the players’ association agreed that players will join Major League Baseball in “efforts designed to educate youth and their parents regarding the dangers of performance-enhancing substances.” The union also agreed to contribute $200,000 to “an anti-drug, charitable, educational or research organization.”
“I don’t use the word amnesty. I don’t think there is amnesty because I think that whatever they’re doing, they’re doing something as a result of what they did. And the club officials and the clubs will be treated in exactly the same manner,” Selig said. “That would be unfair if they weren’t.”
Asked as a follow-up whether that meant management officials wouldn’t be suspended of fined, Selig responded: “They’re going to be treated the same way.”
San Francisco Giants owner Peter Magowan said in February that he and general manager Brian Sabean had met with Selig about the club’s prominent mention in the Mitchell Report, which was released in December.
The report said former Giants athletic trainer Stan Conte told Sabean in 2002 that a player had come to him with questions because he was considering buying steroids from Greg Anderson, Bonds’ former trainer. Longtime Giants equipment manager Mike Murphy discovered syringes in the locker of catcher Benito Santiago, the report said.
Mitchell’s report also said Conte asked Sabean to remove Anderson and others like him from the clubhouse but the GM wasn’t willing to do it.
The joint announcement by MLB and the union was made as part of an agreement by the sides to toughen the sport’s oft-criticized drug-testing program. The announcement stated “major league players, including players named in the Mitchell Report,” would participate in the educational efforts. Questioned whether participation was voluntary, Selig responded: “It’s part of the program.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
