NEW YORK (AP) -Baseball’s top labor lawyer defended the way that drug testing is conducted, saying that players aren’t given notice of tests.
Teams regularly receive up to nearly two days’ notice before drug testing of players, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Officials of home teams are notified in advance to leave stadium and parking passes for the testers.
“There are two ways you can do it,” said Rob Manfred, baseball’s executive vice president for labor relations. “You can call a club official the night before, allow him the next morning to set up for the drug testing, rely on the fact that official is going to do his job and have everything ready when he players arrive.”
Manfred said allowing the tester to show up announced wouldn’t provide more of a surprise.
“The alternative is to give him a credential, and nobody knows he’s coming,” Manfred said. “He can then spend an hour-and-a-half getting set up, and everybody can know when he’s going to start. Given those alternatives, we picked up the better one.”
Players’ union general counsel Michael Weiner was quoted as saying players aren’t given advance notice of tests and that it was not an issue.
“This is scandalous that anyone would insert this kind of loophole in a system and not include it in the written regulations,” John Hoberman, a doping expert, was quoted as saying. “They are opening the door to serious doubts about the integrity of the program.”
Add A Comment