The commissioner saying that he may use the "best interests of the game" clause to implement a tougher testing program doesn't go over big.

01:00 AM EST on Thursday, March 18, 2004

BY SEAN McADAM
Journal Sports Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Talk of commissioner Bud Selig utilizing the "best interest of the game" clause to implement a tougher steroid testing program met with mixed response at City of Palms Park yesterday.

Stung by criticism from the U.S. Senate at a hearing last week and frustrated at his inability to negotiate a stronger program with the Major League Baseball Players Association, Selig, according to various reports, could act unilaterally within the next 10 days.

According to sources, Selig would like major-leaguers to be subjected to the same testing now done with minor-leaguers. The tests would be random rather than scheduled, and

would include suspensions for a first-time violation. Under the current program, negotiated as part of the last collective bargaining agreement in August of 2002, players can't be suspended until a fifth violation.

Selig was said to have instructed Major League Baseball labor lawyers to determine whether the "best interest of the game" would cover such an implementation.

Our game functions with two sides -- the union and (the owners)," said Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, who expressed displeasure with Selig's plan, "and I think we have to work out an agreement between the two sides. If I got tested tomorrow, I know what the results would be, so I have nothing to hide. But from an ethical standpoint, it's got to be just."

Varitek worries that the current atmosphere, particularly in the aftermath of the BALCO hearings, which implicated superstars Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi, may lead to a witch hunt.

"We've got to let this play out," Varitek said. "You can't convict someone who hasn't been found guilty of anything. That's not how we do things in this country. We need to be patient and have both sides together on this."

Red Sox starter Curt Schilling took a similarly dim view of the plan.

"I don't trust the people who run the game to handle this," he said, "and having been in on some labor negotiations, I know not to trust them."

He cited MLB's promise of confidential testing last season, which was done as part of a phase-in program.

"Come to find out, it wasn't confidential," he said, noting that federal investigators have attempted to subpeona test results for Sheffield, Bonds and Giambi. "A lot of guys would be a lot more comfortable with an independent (testing group)."

Schilling also mocked Selig's use of the "best interest of the game" clause.

"It was in the best interest of the game to play the World Series in 1994," he said, "and we didn't do that."

The 1994 World Series was canceled by Selig in the midst of a player strike that began in August and lasted until the following spring.

"We need to get rid of steroids," said Schilling, "and 93 percent of us (anywhere from five to seven percent tested positive for steroid use last season) are in favor of that. What we have is not working. But it's not as easy (to fix) as people want it to be."

Surprisingly, one prominent player-agent voiced support for Selig's effort yesterday.

"It is in the best interest of the game, to be honest with you," said the agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "But you're going to find considerable opposition to this (from the union and others). But this is why you have a commissioner -- to step in and do these things."

The agent said others in his business feel as he does, but are reluctant to speak out publicly and defy the Players Association.

"But you've got a lot of (agents) whose guys are all clean and they're tired of being lumped in with guys who use (steroids)," the agent said. "I think it's going to be interesting to see how this unfolds."