Players reject drug ban proposals

Selig is trying to restore baseball's tarnished image

The Major League Baseball players' union has rejected Commissioner Bud Selig's proposal to significantly increase penalties for steroid use.

Selig wants a 50-game ban for players testing positive for steroids for the first time, a 100-game ban for a second offence and lifetime ban for a third.

Selig also called for more random testing and a ban on amphetamines.

But Union chief Donald Fehr said: "The players support the current program and are reluctant to renegotiate."

Selig's proposal followed intense pressure on baseball to beef up its performance-enhancing drugs policy after a poor showing before a U.S. congressional committee hearing in March.

Several congressmen sharply criticised baseball's drugs policy as weak and threatened to introduce legislation creating tougher policies for U.S. professional sports.

"Performance-enhancing substances undermine the integrity of the competition on the field," Selig wrote in his April 25 letter to Fehr.

Fehr made a letter to Selig public on the same day as Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Juan Rincon was suspended for 10 days after testing positive for a banned substance.

Rincon, 26, was the fifth player to be barred this season under baseball's new testing policy.

Major League Baseball chief Bud Selig has asked players to agree to life bans for persistent steroid offenders.

In a letter to players' union head Donald Fehr, Selig said first-time offenders should get a 50-game ban.

A second offence would trigger a 100-game suspension, and a third would mean a lifetime ban from baseball.

Selig said: "I recognise the need for progressive discipline, but steroid users cheat the game. After three offences, they have no place in it."

Under the rules that began this season, a first offence gets a 10-day suspension, with the penalty increasing to 30 days for a second positive test, 60 days for a third and one year for a fourth.

For a fifth positive test, the penalty is at the commissioner's discretion.

Fehr said the union was not yet prepared to discuss Selig's proposals.

"We'll respond in due course," he said, adding he anticipated replying early next week.

Selig's proposals come six weeks after several officials, players and former players testified before the US Congress regarding MLB's doping policy.

They were summoned after revelations by some players and accusations of widespread steroid use within the leagues.