Yankees Step Up Drug War

New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner announced a drug-abuse program Monday for the team’s minor league system, including required admission to rehabilitation or an immediate suspension for second offenders.

“If a player wants help, I’m willing to help him,” Steinbrenner said. “But if he’s not, I’ll keep him out of baseball as long as possible. And I’ll fight it all the way to the Supreme Court. These kids are going to learn quick. They’re going to feel the full fury of getting into that sort of thing.

“I want to get the message across that we won’t tolerate drugs,” Steinbrenner added. “It may cost us some prized players along the way, but I’m willing to accept that. If we don’t nip this thing in the bud, it’s going to hurt this game something terrible.”

Under Steinbrenner’s plan for the Yankee farm system, a player’s first offense will result in a $500 fine. A second one will require that the player accept admission to a full-scale drug rehabilitation program. If he refuses, he will be immediately suspended, Steinbrenner said.

Riva Ridge, winner of the 1972 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, collapsed and died in his paddock of an apparent heart attack, officials at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky said.

The bay stallion, who was 16 years old, won 17 of his 30 starts, but spent much of his life overshadowed by a stablemate. He and Secretariat, winner of the 1973 Triple Crown, were both trained by Lucian Lauren, retired to stud on the same day and lived in adjoining stalls.

Riva Ridge was syndicated for $5 million in the fall of 1973. The best of his offspring were probably Tap Shoes, a Derby contender several years ago, and Encolure, who has won two stakes this year and finished second last weekend in the Arkansas Derby.

Use of anabolic steroids probably exists among athletes at every Southwest Conference school, according to a survey of nearly 50 current and former SWC coaches, trainers, doctors, athletes and Olympians, conducted by the Waco, Tex., Tribune-Herald.

The newspaper said that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the State Board of Pharmacy are conducting separate investigations into possible illegal distribution of the potent hormone-derivative drugs.

Professional golfer Jan Stephenson’s lawsuit against her former husband, which sought $55 million on a claim of defamation of character, was dismissed in Birmingham, Ala., with the agreement of all parties.

U.S. District Judge William Acker signed an order dismissing the suit and barring it from being re-filed later. No money changed hands as a result of the agreement.

A top Soviet club team will tour National Hockey League cities for each of the next five winters in an ambitious new hockey exchange program, Alan Eagleson, Canada’s chief international hockey negotiator, announced in Prague.

In return, Canada will commit teams to tournaments in the Soviet Union.

Eagleson and NHL President John Ziegler put together the program in meetings with Soviet ice hockey officials during the world championships being played in Prague.

Oakland A’s President Roy Eisenhardt is again warning that his team may move because of financial difficulties.

“We’re worried about it,” Eisenhardt said in a San Francisco Chronicle interview. “I see my revenues staying the same and my expenses going up. Our lease expires in 1987, and I have to be planning what happens to this club in the future. I have to do something, and I can’t sit with the status quo.”

Names in the News

Jay Hillock, head basketball coach at Gonzaga for four years, has been named an assistant to Jim Lynam at Loyola Marymount.

J.D. Barnett, the winningest basketball coach in Virginia Commonwealth history, was named head coach at the University of Tulsa. Barnett, 41, replaces Nolan Richardson, who resigned to take the job at the University of Arkansas.

Foster Hewitt, longtime popular hockey radio announcer in Canada, died in Toronto at 82.

Maurice Petty, the crew chief for Petty Enterprises, announced his retirement from professional automobile racing competition, ending a career of more than 35 years.