I've Changed My Mind About Revealing The 2003 "List"

Craig Calcaterra (a lawyer who blogs about baseball for THT) summed up the best argument against it though, in my opinion

The listed players have had at least two legal duties owed to them breached and two legal rights entitled to them violated: the fiduciary duties owed to them by their union, the contractual duties owed to them by baseball and the testing lab, their Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure, supposedly guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, and the right to have their medical information kept private, guaranteed by HIPAA.

Wanting a story to be over with is no excuse for breaking the law

Doug Glanville who wrote the brilliant piece about NOT taking drugs also wrote this

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/opinion/04Glanville.html?scp=2&sq=doug%20glanville&st=cse

some players ‘told’ MLB to place them on this ‘list.’ Why they would ask for this inclusion, I do not know.

Nomar Garciaparra was ‘allegedly’ one of those players, as per ESPN Radio.

The federal prosecutors in the Barry Bonds case impounded thhe list before it could be destroyed pursuant to baseball’s labor agreement. And now there are periodic and strategically placed leaks. The possibility that this leaks are designed to influence possible jurors in the Bonds’ case cannot be discarded. By prejudiciang them against the use of steroids they could poison the well of potential jurors, predisposing them against steroid users, including Barry Bonds.

If the federal prosecutors and agents haven’t really done this and haven’t disseminated the content of the list, then it’s in their interest as officers of the court to investigate the leaks to protect the judicial process.

is that it took this long for someone at the union or MLB to point this out.

What a pathetically run sport this is.

This also casts doubt on the Sosa positive test

the players to step forward and admit their usage.

this long for someone to point that out also raises skepticism about its validity…As a law student studying Collective Bargaining Agreements, fiduciary duties owed by Unions, and antitrust law, something seems fishy to me about a sudden statement that those names may or may not be of positive test takers. The league has an image to protect, and I would not be surprised that after Big Papi’s name was released the MLB got to work spinning the steroid ordeal into a further convoluted mess. I’m probably reading too much into it, yes, but the timing of that statement could not have been better, protecting one of the biggest stars in one of baseball’s biggest markets

MLB has never been serious about getting steroids out of the game. For years MLB could have been testing for the masking agent that would tell MLB if a player is likely to be taking steroids, but MLB didn’t bother fighting for this. Sophisticated testing gave way to testing that was backwards and easy to mask.

For a player to say, “I took a supplement and didn’t know it had anything in it.” Is BS. Did the player not notice the change in their body and not care to find out why? I always notice the slightest change in weight or blood results from meds that I take. If these guys don’t do the same given what they are paid, I have no sympathy for them or MLB.

They are all out to prolong their careers and make more money. Who is kidding whom? This list is irrelevant to the overall problem. Whether the list comes out or not, it doesn’t solve anything.

and the leaker prosecuted, along with the agent wossnames who got the list in his hands in the first place.

in obtaining the names in the first place. There is not a single court that has upheld the actions of the government, yet the list has found its way into the hands of 200 individuals, even though it is technically “sealed.”

In my business, I too was involved in a government investigation, and even though it was easy to provide evidence that neither I or my firm had any involvement in the problem they were investigating, the government first made me fill out very extensive forms listing every address I have lived in over the last ten years, every phone # I have, lots of info on relatives, every bank account, brokerage acct, etc… Why is the government allowed to build files like this on innocent people?

Remember: these baseball players agreed to the drug tests in 2003 because they were promised the results would remain anonymous. Why else would the have done it? We should all keep this in mind if we ever think we are involved in something where we are promised anonymity. There are no guarantees.

The whole situation differs completely from the Clemens scandal. In that situation there was a trainer’s name involved, the type of drugs used was identified, and his team mate Pettite declared he was guilty. With Ortiz it is different. Why would he come out with a comment about a 1-year ban in Spring Training if he knew he took steroids? Why hasn’t a trainer come forth or the type of drugs he used released to the public?

Personally, I think it is all hogwash, unless those two things come forth

As I said in another thread, this whole situation pivots on the obscurity of the source and the impossibility of verifying it. No one can even say with any degree of certainty that any of the “leaked” names are actually on some assumeably extant list (I’m not saying they aren’t there, or that the list doesn’t exist; all I’m saying is we, as fans, don’t know). That ambiguity is how the list has accrued so much power. It’s like the South Park “Imaginationland” trio; the steroid list is invading our imagination, and running wild.

I was really flabbergasted at the line “we deserve to know” from last week. I’m glad the uncertainties brought you over, while it should be enough that the players and the league had an agreement, I’m glad to have you over on the correct side of things anyway.

In many kinds of sports, e.g. many of the various Olympic Sports, fans are immediately aware of any questionable lab results. On the other hand, for example, professional cycling has become vastly discredited in Germany by their continuing denial, illegal behaviour and cover up. I’d rather see Baseball being forthcoming and not acquire the image of a “semi-criminal swamp.”

Or was steroid doping legal in professional baseball at the time – I don’t think so.