USA Baseball Still Wants Pro Players

As Montreal Expo outfielder Terrmel Sledge joined Angel pitcher Derrick Turnbow in testing positive for a steroid banned in international competition, the executive director of USA Baseball said Tuesday he would not be deterred from using major leaguers on national teams qualifying for and playing in the Olympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee has threatened to eliminate baseball from the Olympic program if major leaguers are not included. Major league officials have adamantly refused to consider suspending the season to accommodate the Olympics or excusing any players on 25-man rosters, but USA Baseball has been permitted to use minor leaguers in recent international competitions, including the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, and major leaguers as available in off-season tournaments.

Although Sledge and Turnbow tested positive for substances permitted under major league rules but prohibited under international rules, thus becoming the first major leaguers publicly cited for flunking steroid tests, USA Baseball Executive Director Paul Seiler said he did not believe major leaguers would stay away from joining national teams. Nor, he said, would two positive tests compel USA Baseball to revert to stocking national teams with college players.

“Does this mean we want to shy away from professional athletes because we run this risk? No,” he said. “We have to educate the players. That’s part of our job.”

He said he would renew efforts to help players distinguish between substances allowed under major league rules and those allowed under international rules.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency reported Tuesday that Sledge tested positive for two substances classified as steroids and prohibited under international rules. So did Turnbow, whose test results were revealed last week. Turnbow said he took an over-the-counter nutritional supplement related to androstenedione, a legal substance forbidden by the IOC but not by Major League Baseball.

Neither Sledge nor Turnbow appealed the findings, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency spokesman Rich Wanninger said, and both accepted a two-year suspension from international play. The suspension is virtually irrelevant, because the U.S. did not qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games.

Seiler said he believed Sledge and Turnbow were the only two players to test positive among the 32 invited to try out for the national team that competed in an Olympic qualifying tournament in November. Turnbow tested positive Oct. 7 and Sledge Oct. 8, so neither player was selected for the team.

Sledge, 26, who attended Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State and lives in Valencia, played in the minor leagues last season but is expected to make the Montreal roster this season.