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The Globalization of Baseball :

Critical Analysis of Major League Baseball's Official Position on Use of Performance-Enhancing Drugs by Minor League Players and Prospects in the Dominican Republic.

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June 27, 2003

Hon. Peter G. Fitzgerald
Hon. Ron Wyden
Hon. Conrad Burns
Hon. Byron Dorgan
Hon. Gordon Smith

Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs & Product Safety
428 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

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To the Members of the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs:

On June 18, 2002, the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs held a hearing on "Steroids in Baseball and Amateur Sports." Reports published in Sports Illustrated about the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs by Major League Baseball (MLB) players created controversy and provided the context for the Subcommittee�s hearing.

On June 23, 2003, the Washington Post published a front-page story about the use and abuse of livestock drugs by minor league players and prospects in the Dominican Republic. This story reported on two deaths connected with the use of drugs designed for animals, as well as disclosing the widespread use of such livestock drugs by minor league players and prospects in the Dominican Republic.

In response to the revelations that the MLB minor league system in the Dominican Republic had a significant problem of players and prospects using livestock drugs in their efforts to play for MLB teams, Robert D. Manfred, Jr., Executive Vice President of Labor and Human Resources for MLB, and the person in charge of MLB's substance abuse policies, told the Washington Post that MLB was not going to address the problems in Latin America because it would be too expensive and complex.

We find the official MLB position on the problems associated with the use of livestock drugs by children and young men in the Dominican Republic shocking. We have been working on issues connected with the discriminatory and abusive way in which MLB teams operate in Latin American countries since 1999 (see Arturo J. Marcano and David P. Fidler, The Globalization of Baseball: Major League Baseball and the Mistreatment of Latin American Baseball Talent, 6 INDIANA JOURNAL OF GLOBAL LEGAL STUDIES 511 (1999) and Arturo J. Marcano and David P. Fidler, STEALING LIVES: THE GLOBALIZATION OF BASEBALL AND THE TRAGIC STORY OF ALEXIS QUIROZ (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003)), and we find the MLB position on the use of livestock drugs by Latin players and prospects confirms the arguments we have been making. We enclose for your information our response to the Commissioner�s Office on its position on the use of livestock drugs in the Dominican Republic.

But we would also like to point to the members of the Subcommittee that MLB's decision not to address the problems revealed by the Washington Post runs counter to testimony Mr. Manfred delivered to the Subcommittee on June 18, 2002. In his testimony, Mr. Manfred reported the findings of physicians assembled by MLB to provide advice on the issue of use of performance-enhancing drugs:

This group of respected physicians came to the meeting burdened by two related concerns. First, they were concerned about what they perceived to be a growing trend of steroid use at the Major League and minor league levels. The doctors all agreed that steroids were a threat to the health of our players and to the integrity of our game. Second, the team doctors were concerned that steroid use by Major League players was sending a very dangerous message to young people who dream about becoming Major League players. The doctors all agreed that steroid use by young people created health risks even greater than those faced by adults.

Yet, despite such esteemed medical advice from respected physicians, the Commissioner's Office has chosen to ignore the problem of the use of livestock drugs by children and young men in the Dominican Republic, let alone the use of other forms of performance-enhancing substances by minor league players and prospects in Latin America.

Mr. Manfred also told the Subcommittee the following about the Commissioner's Office response to substance use by minor league players in the United States:

The third point in the Commissioner's initiative was the promulgation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, a copy of which is attached hereto as Exhibit C. Historically, each individual Club has determined whether and how to test and treat the nonunion players in its minor league system. Prior to the 2001 season, the Commissioner determined that this system of individual Club control was not as effective as it needed to be.

The new policy implemented by the Commissioner dramatically increased the role of the Office of the Commissioner, banned the use of all steroids and androstenedione, subjected all minor [league] players to three random tests each year, mandated individualized treatment for first offenders, required discipline for subsequent offenders and established confidentiality as a central tenant of the program. Last year, the Commissioner's Office spent more than $1,000,000 just on the testing component of the program. Even at this early stage, we believe this program has been effective in dealing with the steroid issue.

Mr. Manfred's statements to the Washington Post contradict this testimony. The baseball academies and Summer Leagues operated by MLB teams in Latin America are, without any question, part of MLB's minor league system. For example, all Latin prospects have to sign the MLB Uniform Minor League Player Contract, which is countersigned by the Commissioner's Office. Despite the Latin operations being part of the MLB minor league system, the Commissioner's Office has not applied, and has publicly declared its intention not to apply, the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program to MLB minor league operations in Latin America.

The Commissioner's Office knows that use of performance-enhancing drugs is dangerous to the health of children and young men. Yet, in the face of full knowledge of a serious problem of substance abuse by players and prospects connected to MLB's minor league operations in Latin America, the Commissioner's Office has determined that the health and welfare of the children and young men in Latin America are not worth protecting. The intentional discrimination against Latin American youth in this position is appalling.

The Commissioner's Office has developed what appears to be a rigorous, centralized system of drug testing for minor league players that it believes is achieving the objectives of protecting players' health and the integrity of the game of baseball. Yet, the Commissioner's Office publicly declares that it will not apply this system to its minor league operations in Latin America because it would be too expensive and inconvenient. The intentional discrimination against Latin American youth in this position is yet another example of the double standards MLB uses in dealing with its U.S. minor league and Latin minor league systems.

We call on the members of the Subcommittee to investigate the official position of the Commissioner's Office on the problem of substance use in the MLB minor league system in Latin America. The policies at the heart of the Commissioner's Office actions on substance abuse in the United States -- protecting the health of players and preserving the integrity of the game -- should be applied to MLB minor league operations in Latin America. The Commissioner's Office should not be allowed to intentionally discriminate, without any justification whatsoever, against Latin children and young men in this fashion.

Sincerely,

Arturo J. Marcano
(International Legal Advisor, Venezuelan Baseball Players Association)

David P. Fidler
(Professor of Law and Ira C. Batman Faculty Fellow, Indiana University School of Law�Bloomington)

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