Are the Padres Guilty of a Double Standard?

Wasn’t it only last season that the San Diego Padres’ front office made such a well-publicized display of ridding the team of Alan Wiggins, who is black, while proclaiming that there would never be a place on the club for anyone who used drugs? Now, we’re hearing that once LaMarr Hoyt, who is white, emerges from his drug treatment program, he will be welcomed back to the team with open arms.

What happened to the Padres’ so-called anti-drug policy? I may not have all the facts at my disposal but it certainly appears to me that the Padre management is practicing a most odious double standard and I have yet to see any of the local sports media question team officials about this point.

GERALD E. SHWARTZ

Los Angeles