Selig In Letter To Congress Refutes Manfred's Drug Testing Info
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Selig (l) Says Manfred Provided Inaccurate
Information During '04 Testimony |
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig in a June 27 letter to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform said that MLB Exec VP/Labor Relations Rob Manfred "provided inaccurate information to investigators the sport had hired to look into the use of performance-enhancing drugs," according to Michael Schmidt of the N.Y. TIMES. Selig said that information provided by Manfred "about the start of punitive testing in 2004 needed to be clarified." Former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell's report about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball indicated that Manfred told investigators that MLB's drug testing "had been suspended in 2004 'for a short period of time' and was stopped 'very early in the season, prior to the testing of any significant number of players.'" But Selig in his letter said that players "were not tested for more than half of the 2004 season, a far longer period than Manfred had acknowledged." Selig's letter "came in response to concerns from the Congressional committee about the accuracy" of the testimony Selig, Manfred and MLBPA Exec Dir Donald Fehr provided in '05. Selig and Fehr said that "their testimony to Congress was accurate." Selig added that Manfred "did not intend to withhold information." Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ranking Minority Member Tom Davis (R-VA) "have not decided how they will address the accuracy of the testimony" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/4). Selig said that Manfred was the "only MLB official who knew of the delay in testing in 2004 and he was bound by confidentiality restrictions under baseball's joint drug agreement" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/4).
CONFIDENTIAL INFOMATION: Meanwhile, Selig in the letter also said that BALCO prosecutors "nearly undermined [MLB's] drug-testing program when they seized players' records and urine samples" in '04. Selig said that the taking of "more than 100 drug-test results jeopardized the anonymity promised to players for the 2003 survey testing." Selig in the letter said, "The seizure undermined representations made to players that drug-testing records would be confidential. ... It is no exaggeration to say that the seizure threatened the continued viability of the entire drug-testing program" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 7/4).
DIRTY SOX: In L.A., Kevin Baxter reported federal investigators are looking into whether former White Sox Dir of Player Personnel Dave Wilder, who was fired in May, "may have pocketed portions of the bonuses the White Sox gave him to sign Dominican prospects." Investigators have been "interviewing representatives" of all 30 MLB teams, and sources said that "at least one [GM] has already come under suspicion: in the investigation." Selig's office declined comment, but Angels Int'l Scouting Supervisor Clay Daniel and other sources indicated that the "recent escalation of bonuses that teams are paying in Latin America has made it easier and more profitable to skim money from players and teams" (L.A. TIMES, 7/6).
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