Fehr Critical of Way Patriots Handled Problem

Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Assn., apparently has taken a wait-and-see attitude on the Baltimore Orioles’ plan for voluntary drug testing. But he was critical Friday of pro football’s New England Patriots for the manner in which they handled a drug problem among some of their players.

Under the Oriole plan announced Thursday, 26 of the 38 players on the team’s spring-training roster have agreed to take part in a private, voluntary drug-testing program with outside doctors. The club will pay the bills for testing and treatment.

“I don’t think anybody ought to get in the way of that unless there’s some sort of overriding concern that it affects other people,” Fehr said. “We’ll just have to see how it works.”

He had stronger words, though, for the Patriot situation. “I think . . . a lot of the Patriots’ players feel like they’ve been had,” Fehr said, referring to the publication of six names by the Boston Globe. The six players named reportedly admitted to Coach Raymond Berry that they had used drugs. Fehr said the situation has resulted in what amounts to “open warfare.”