Rod Scurry Linked to Drug Use

Rod Scurry of the Pirates today became the first player directly linked to the investigation of drug use in Pittsburgh when he was named as a customer of a man who pleaded guilty to selling cocaine.

The plea was entered by Dale Shiffman, one of seven men indicted by the grand jury investigating drug sales around Three Rivers Stadium. He pleaded guilty to 20 drug trafficking charges, but another 91 counts against Shiffman were dropped in a plea bargain. Assistant U.S. Atty. James Ross said that if Shiffman’s case had gone to trial, Scurry was prepared to testify that he bought cocaine from Shiffman on at least 19 occasions during the 1982 and ’83 seasons.