Baseball: Major League facing crisis as steroids scandal deepens

Major League Baseball (MLB) was facing one of the biggest crises in its long history today, after the name of Barry Bonds was added to a growing list of most valuable players (MVP) linked with steroid use.

One day after the San Francisco Chronicle reported excerpts from closed-door grand jury testimony from New York Yankee Jason Giambi in which he admitted using steroids, Bonds' lawyer told reporters the San Francisco Giants slugger had unknowingly taken substances that could have contained steroids.

"The use of these substances continues to raise issues regarding the game's integrity and raises serious concerns about the health and well-being of our players," said MLB commissioner Bud Selig in a statement today.

"I will leave no stone unturned in accomplishing our goal of zero tolerance by the start of spring training and am confident we will achieve this goal," Selig had told reporters yesterday.

"There will be no more debating about this."

Bonds' attorney Mike Rains spoke after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Bonds told a grand jury last year he unknowingly used substances at the heart of the BALCO steroid scandal.

Rains said Bonds took the substances out of blind faith in his personal trainer and best friend Greg Anderson, one of four facing federal steroid distribution charges in a case that has tarnished reputations of top athletes.

In an ABC News interview to air later today, BALCO head Victor Conte says he witnessed former Olympic sprint champion Marion Jones using steroids in a drug programme he devised.

It is the excerpts obtained from grand jury testimony, however, that have tarnished baseball, leaving disturbing questions hanging over MLB and several of the most treasured sporting records in North America.

The fascination with the home run and the men who hit them was underscored yesterday when a bat used by the legendary Babe Ruth sold for a record US$1.26 million ($1.77 million) to an unidentified collector.

As Bonds (703), the single-season home run record holder with 73, closes in on Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron's all-time home run record of 755, there are concerns about the Giants slugger's stunning feats.

A seven-times National League MVP and one of baseball's highest-paid players at US$18 million a season, Bonds has always maintained he has never knowingly taken steroids.

But there are growing indications the use of drugs in baseball is more widespread than previously believed.

Long before there was a doping scandal, Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco had admitted using steroids, while home run king Mark McGwire made no secret of the fact he was taking androstenedione, an over-the-counter supplement containing steroids, that has since been banned.

As the disturbing evidence mounts, Selig has vowed to clean up the sport by imposing tighter controls and harsher penalties before the start of spring training.

"As I have repeatedly stated, I am fully committed to the goal of immediately ridding our great game of illegal performance-enhancing substances," said Selig.

"I am aware the MLB Players' Association is having its annual meeting with its executive board of player representatives next week.

"I urge the players and their association to emerge from this meeting ready to join me in adopting a new, stronger drug-testing policy modelled after our minor league programme that will once and for all rid the game of the scourge of illegal drugs."

How much Selig can accomplish will depend on cooperation from the powerful players' association which has resisted tougher sanctions and controls.

Under the existing agreement, which runs through 2006, a player who tests positive for the first time must undergo treatment and counselling.

A second offence results in a 15-day suspension without pay or a fine of up to US$10,000. The penalties increase to 25 days or a US$25,000 fine forx a third positive test, 50 days or US$50,000 for a fourth and one year or US$100,000 for a fifth.

In comparison, those who test positive in athletics, swimming, cycling and most other Olympic sports face minimum two-year bans.

- REUTERS