3 strikes and you are REALLY out!

[Velcro]

Steroid penalties much tougher with agreementAssociated Press

WASHINGTON -- Major league players and owners agreed to toughen penalties for steroid use to a 50-game suspension for a first failed test, 100 days for a second and a lifetime ban for a third.

New steroids testing agreement at a glance

A glance at Tuesday's drug-testing agreement between baseball players and owners:

Steroid Penalties

• First positive test -- 50-game suspension, up from 10 days.

• Second positive test -- 100-game suspension, up from 30 days.

• Third positive test -- Lifetime ban, with player having right to apply for reinstatement after two years and an arbitrator being able to review reinstatement decision. Under the previous agreement, the earliest a player could be suspended for life was for a fifth positive test.

• In addition, a conviction for possession carries a 60-to-80 game penalty, while a second offense carries a 120-game to one-year penalty. A third offense nets the offender a lifetime ban. If a player is convicted for distribution, he will be suspended 80-to-100 games, while a second offense equals a lifetime ban.

Amphetamine Penalties

(There was no testing for amphetamines in previous agreement)

• First positive test -- Mandatory additional testing.

• Second positive -- 25-game suspension.

• Third positive -- 80-game suspension.

• Fourth positive -- Commissioner's discretion, with an arbitrator being able to review.

• In addition, a conviction for possession carries a 15-to-30 game penalty, while a second offense carries a 30-to-90 game penalty. A third offense nets the offender a one-year ban, while a fourth offense equals punishment at commissioner's discretion. If a player is convicted for distribution, he will be suspended 60-to-90 games, while a second offense equals a two-year ban and punishment for a third offense is commissioner's discretion.

Testing frequency

A player will be tested during spring training physicals and at least once during the regular season, with additional random testing. Under the previous agreement, each player was tested once from the start of spring training through the end of the regular season, with additional random testing. Both the new agreement and the previous deal provided for offseason testing.

Independent Administrator

A person not connected to management or the union will schedule and supervise the tests, which currently are administered by a join management-union committee.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this glance.

Baseball also will test for amphetamines for the first time starting next year under the deal, which must be ratified by both sides.

Baseball's current steroid penalties are a 10-day suspension for a first offense, 30 days for a second offense and 60 days for a third. The earliest a player could be banned for life is a fifth offense.

"This is an important step to reaching our goal of ridding our sport of performance-enhancing substances and should restore the integrity of and public confidence in our great game," commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "I appreciate the effort put forward by the players' association and our players in reaching this new agreement."

The sport's second new steroids agreement in 10 months came after lengthy negotiations prompted by urging from Congress -- including the threat of legislation that would require higher penalties and stricter testing standards.

"This agreement reaffirms that major league players are committed to the elimination of performance-enhancing substances and that the system of collective bargaining is responsive and effective in dealing with issues of this type," union head Donald Fehr said in a statement.

Representatives of the owners and players were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va. He's one of a handful of lawmakers who have introduced steroids bills -- and it was his panel that held the March 17 hearing with Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.

At that hearing, Selig and Fehr were scolded for what congressmen called a weak penalty system for drug testing.

The next month, Selig made a 50-100-lifetime proposal. In September, Fehr countered with 20 games, 75 games and, for a third offense, a penalty set by the commissioner.

At a Sept. 28 hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., scolded Fehr in particular for not having reached a deal on a new steroids policy.

"We're at the end here, and I don't want to do it, but we need an agreement soon. It's not complicated. It's not complicated. All sports fans understand it," McCain said at the hearing. "I suggest you act -- and act soon."

Last week, McCain and Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., revised their proposed legislation to soften the penalties from two years for a first offense and a lifetime ban for a second. The bill now calls for a half-season ban for a first positive test, one season for a second and a lifetime penalty for a third. Their bill would apply to the major leagues, the NFL, NBA, NHL and baseball's minor leagues.

Bunning said he would wait to hear more and would not be withdrawing his legislation immediately.

"This is what I had hoped for all along, for the two private parties to come to an agreement on their own without Congress having to do it for them," he said, but added that the deal is "not as tough as I would like."

While Davis didn't immediately address how Tuesday's news might affect pending legislation, he did issue a statement calling the agreement "the type of self-initiated action we were hoping for all along."

"While the new policy is not what it would be had I authored it, it is a much stronger policy, one with multiple random tests and far tougher penalties for even first-time offenders," he added.

Though steroids are a problem in many sports, baseball has been the focal point of congressional interest and pressure. As recently as 2004, there was no suspension for a first offense under the sport's steroid program. As recently as 2002, players weren't tested for steroids at all, unless there was cause.

Under the new deal, according to congressional aides, a first positive test for amphetamines will lead to mandatory additional testing, a second offense will draw a 25-game suspension, and a third offense gets 80 games.

A player will be tested during spring training physicals and at least once in the regular season, plus the possibility of random tests. The old agreement called for a minimum of one test from the start of spring training through the end of the regular season.

[Guest Sprtsfn627]

No way they suspend a Rafael Palimero or Sammy Sosa type for 50 days...they'll only take it out on some no-name player...probably a Devil Ray  :

[Velcro]

I don't believe that... there would be WAYYY too much pressure.  If any idiot gets caught now... knowing the penalties, they deserve EVERY single day of their suspension.

[smazza]

i will believe it when i see it

[___ Eats It]

How funny would it be to see Bonds get to 713 and then get a 50 game suspension?  Bwahahahaha!

[smazza]

never happen

bonds is MLB

[Velcro]

if MLB stands for "roided out cheater" then yes... Bonds is indeed MLB.