BASEBALL Owners unanimously ratify new drug deal

Baseball owners wasted no time in approving a tough, new steroid policy.
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- It took six months of negotiating for baseball commissioner Bud Selig to get the tough steroid policy he wanted, mere minutes for baseball owners to approve it.
Owners voted unanimously Thursday to ratify the new drug deal, which includes a 50-game suspension for a first positive test. The players' association executive board still has to sign off on the deal, but that's considered a formality.
"I think everybody's very, very happy this is finally behind us," Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt said. "It's a very strong policy, and it's great to have this behind us so we can talk about baseball, not steroids."
The union's executive board will decide when it meets Dec. 5-9 in Henderson, Nev., whether all players should vote to ratify the agreement or if board approval is sufficient. The new policy would start before spring training and could run for several years. Selig said he hopes it can be tied to the next collective bargaining agreement, which won't be negotiated until next year or 2007.
"It was a very easy ratification," Selig said. "Every vote was unanimous today, and that one was about as easy as it gets. As it should have been."
Long time to agree
Selig proposed an almost identical policy in April, but it took six months of wrangling -- and the threat of federal legislation -- before the players' union agreed to it Tuesday.
Players will be suspended 50 games without pay for a first offense, 100 games for a second offense, and a lifetime ban for a third.
The sport's current penalties are a 10-day suspension for a first offense, 30 days for a second offense and 60 days for a third. The earliest a player could be banned for life is a fifth offense.
"Baseball clearly did the right thing," San Diego Padres owner John Moores said. "It took a lot longer than it should have, but it got done."
And baseball can now say it has the toughest drug policy in American pro sports. "It feels very good," Selig said. "I poured my heart out to the clubs today, all the stuff that's gone on in the last six to eight months. When I heard that it looked like we had a deal, I got chills. It was a very emotional time for me."
Congressional hearing
Selig thinks baseball's current policy was cleaning up the sport -- 12 players, including Rafael Palmeiro, were suspended for 10 days this year after positive tests. He realized the game had to do more after a March 17 congressional hearing.
Officials from all four major professional leagues appeared before various House and Senate committees over the last seven months, but it was baseball that drew the sharpest criticism for not doing more to deter drug use.
"It was an integrity issue," Selig said. "The integrity of the sport, the integrity of everybody involved, including the commissioner. I really felt very deeply about it."