Questions Raised in Tests of Minor League Players

Four minor league baseball presidents said Friday that, to their knowledge, no drug testing of either players or front-office personnel has yet been done in their leagues under the “mandatory” minor league testing program announced last May by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth.

A spokesman for the commissioner’s office said there must be a misunderstanding. Although acknowledging that, because of cost and logistical limitations, only about 700 of the 5,000 minor league players and other personnel had been tested during the recently concluded season, the spokesman said that Ueberroth had been informed that there has been at least some testing in every one of the 16 minor leagues in the United States.

The presidents of the Class AA Eastern League and the Class A California, Midwest and New York-Pennsylvania Leagues told TheTimes that they were unaware of any testing in their leagues after Jeff Brueggemann, the general manager of the Visalia Oaks in the California League, had said that no one on his club had been tested. Brueggemann also said that he had heard elsewhere that there had been little if any testing on the AA and A levels.

Last week, at a news conference in New York during which Ueberroth proposed voluntary drug testing three times a year for all major league players, he said that the minor league testing program “is working” and had led to a “dramatic decrease” in drug use among minor league players.

When Ueberroth was asked for details, however, he said he did not have specific results. Asked how he could call the results dramatic, he said, “In dealing with our medical people, those are the words they use.”

The presidents who said they believed there had been no testing in their leagues are Joe Gagliardi of the California, Charles Eshbach of the Eastern, William K. Walters of the Midwest and Leo A. Pinckney of the New York-Pennsylvania.

Jimmy Bragan, president of the Class AA Southern League, said that there had been at least some testing on the Birmingham franchise of his league, and Bill Cutler, president of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League, said that there had been random testing--generally of four players per team--on some of the teams in his league.

Although the results of the tests are kept confidential, with only those tested being informed of the results at each franchise, the visit of the drug-testing team is no secret. According to the procedure, the three-member team shows up, explains the testing, randomly draws names of those to be tested and administers the tests with the full knowledge of everyone at the franchise. The presidents all said that, under those circumstances, they would have been informed had there been testing in their leagues.

Walters, of the Midwest League, said, in fact, that he had become curious enough about the lack of testing in his league to have called around on the A level, where there are seven leagues. “No one has found anyone who was tested under the commissioner’s program,” he said.

He added that some of the major league clubs, such as the Dodgers, conduct their own testing programs among their farm clubs, and emphasized that he was speaking only of the program that Ueberroth ordered.

“I gotta tell you, I really thought we were going to have some kind of full-scale thing, including myself, and during the playoffs,” said Gagliardi of the California League. “But absolutely nothing has taken place.”

Eshbach of the Eastern League said: “I’m not aware of any testing done in the Eastern League. I’m not 100% sure that there wasn’t, but I haven’t heard of any.”

Pinckney of the New York-Pennsylvania League said: “I’m sure I would have known (if there had been testing). I’m very close to the people in my league, and I travel the league all the time. . . . I had my sleeve all rolled up, and nobody showed up.”

Pinckney’s comment may indicate that he is not well informed about the nature of the tests. They are urinalyses, not blood tests.

Ueberroth’s spokesman, who said he was speaking officially but asked not to be identified, said that he felt “the confidentiality of the program is obviously working” if even the league presidents do not know what is going on.

He added: “There were more players tested in minor leagues (this year) than the total major league players.”

There are 650 players in the major leagues. Ueberroth does not have the authority to order testing for them and is currently trying in negotiations with the players’ union to get voluntary testing accepted.

The spokesman added that the cost and logistical problems involved in testing all the players precluded universal testing in the minor leagues. But he said that random testing constitutes a deterrent to drug use by everyone. And he indicated that the number of tests will be expanded next year.

Brueggemann, the general manager at Visalia, said he thought that the mere threat of testing was a deterrent to his players. He said his clubhouse man had told him that several players had stopped using marijuana for fear that their tests--when finally taken--would be positive.

Brueggemann and others said that all the clubs had received a letter in June from John Johnson, the president of the minor leagues’ national association, that said that testing of players would begin in July, and of front office personnel in August, and outlined the procedures.

The letter said that the testing program would be supervised by Dr. Anthony Daly, the medical director of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, and a long-time friend of Ueberroth, and Dr. Kim Jasper, who also had worked in the committee’s drug-testing facility.

Daly’s office said he was out of town and unavailable for comment. Jasper said that she had been told to refer all calls about the drug testing to the commissioner’s office.

Johnson, contacted at his office in Florida, said he had not been kept informed by Ueberroth’s office on the operation of the tests, but he said he was not surprised that they have not yet “gotten all over the place, because they started so late. . . . I can’t fault him (Ueberroth), because it was pretty late when he started.”

Apparently, however, the minor league testing program is not always mandatory, as was originally announced.