Hernandez Will File Grievance to Overturn Drug Suspension

Keith Hernandez of the New York Mets said Saturday a grievance will be filed in an attempt to overturn Commissioner Peter Ueberroth’s conditional player suspensions, but Dale Berra of the New York Yankees said he won’t challenge the decision.

They were two of the 11 players hit Friday with conditional suspensions by Ueberroth as a result of past drug involvement.

“I don’t know yet what we will do and won’t know for several days at the earliest,” Don Fehr, executive director of the Major League Players Assn., said Saturday. “On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, we’ll be discussing the situation with the players and their agents and asking for additional information from the commissioner.”

The union already is actively contesting the drug-testing clauses unilaterally placed in multiyear contracts.

“We will not handle these cases as a group,” Fehr said. “Each player’s case contains certain similar elements, but they have to be handled case by case. What we’ll do is review and discuss certain facts and circumstances with them.”

While the union is opposed to random drug testing in general, Fehr said the union probably would not resist Ueberroth’s demand that all players included in his decision undergo mandatory drug testing for the remainder of their careers.

Under Ueberroth’s ruling, Hernandez, Berra, Joaquin Andujar, Dave Parker, Lonnie Smith, Enos Cabell and Jeff Leonard--labeled by the commissioner as players “involved in a prolonged pattern of drug use” or distribution--were told they will be suspended for all of 1986 unless each:

--Donates 10% of his base salary to a drug-abuse prevention center or program in his team’s city.

--Contributes 100 hours of drug-related community service in each of the next two years.

--Participates in random drug testing by the commissioner’s office as long as each plays professional baseball.

Hernandez told a news conference Saturday at the Mets’ camp in St. Petersburg, Fla., that he had been in contact with his lawyer, his agent and the union. “A grievance will be filed through the players’ association,” he said.

“Obviously, I’m not pleased with the decision of the commissioner,” Hernandez said. “When a decision is made by the arbitrator, I will make my decision on what to do.”

Frank Cashen, the Mets’ general manager, said after meeting with Hernandez that Hernandez “is a very private person. He might find community service difficult.”

At Fort Lauderdale, Fla., though, Berra, a part-time infielder for the Yankees, said: “I’ve already made my decision. I want to do what I can to help preserve the name of baseball.”

Before canceling a Saturday news conference, the Cincinnati Reds’ Parker told the Cincinnati Enquirer: “Ten percent of a player’s salary obviously varies. In my case, it’s unrealistic. I’ve never heard of a fine that large being levied on anyone, in any industry. And there are people who have committed far more serious crimes.”

Andujar’s reaction: “I’m surprised, that’s it, real surprised.”

Reached by telephone at his home in the Dominican Republic on Friday night by the Oakland Tribune, Andujar added that he had been advised by his agent to make no further comments. He is scheduled to join the Oakland A’s in spring training on Tuesday, but when asked if he will follow that schedule, Andujar said, “I don’t know.”

At Mesa, Ariz., Chicago Cubs pitcher Lary Sorensen said he was “surprised and disappointed” with the commissioner’s ruling.

Sorensen, who along with Al Holland, Lee Lacy and Claudell Washington, was in the “second class” of alleged drug offenders, will have to forfeit 5% of his $265,000 base salary, donate 50 hours of community service and submit to drug testing--or be suspended without pay for 60 days.

But Sorensen, who donates many hours to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, said: “I don’t like anybody to have the power to tell me what to do, especially off the job. In the country we live in, you’re supposed to have freedoms. But evidently, because I throw a slider, I don’t have the same freedoms.”

Dusty Baker, the veteran A’s outfielder, was among a group of players whom Ueberroth ruled must submit to drug tests to continue playing.

Baker said: “I don’t know what decision I’m going to make.”

He will confer with family members, he said, “But the final decision will be up to me. Since the commissioner took his time making a decision, I’m going to take mine.”