Drug testing particulars for college and minor league teams aren't easy to come about - "I've never been able to find a copy of the MiLB policy," says nationally-recognized baseball/PED expert George Godfrey of baseballssteroidera.com - but the first thing to know about them is this: they are by-God strict. Get busted in Division 1-A college baseball, and you face a one year suspension. Test positive in the minors, and you get suspended 50 games (as opposed to days). Get caught again, and you're looking at a 100 game suspension. Get caught three times, and the old maxim is true: three strikes, and you're out...of baseball, forever.
Division I college baseball players (players in any sport, actually) can now be tested randomly, at any time. If a given institution sponsors football, 18 football student-athletes plus eight student-athletes from one additional sport will be randomly selected for drug testing. If an institution does not sponsor football, only eight student-athletes from one sport will be randomly selected. These student-athletes are subject to drug testing before, during or after their competitive season(s).
It works like this: the National Center for Drug Free Sport (Drug Free Sport) notifies institutions via e-mail of their selection for drug testing no earlier than two days before the test day, and, in some cases, one day. Each institution designates an athletic administrator to serve as the drug-testing site coordinator. The site coordinator provides Drug Free Sport with a squad list containing the names of each student-athlete participating in a given sport. Drug Free Sport randomly selects student-athletes for drug testing and provides the names of those selected to the institution's drug-testing site coordinator. The drug-testing site coordinator then notifies the student-athlete, who is then required to sign the Out-of-Competition Student-Athlete Notification Form, acknowledging their selection for drug testing and promising that they will be present at the time and location designated by the drug-testing site coordinator.
Once at the site, the student-athlete must submit to a urinalysis, and are observed by a drug-testing crew member of the same gender. The student-athlete cannot be released from drug testing until an adequate specimen is provided, except to attend class.
The NCAA tests for stimulants (cocaine, amphetamines, ephedrine and Ecstasy), anabolic agents (anabolic steroids, boldenone, nandrolone and THG), diuretics, street drugs, and popular urine masking agents.
Although the NCAA tests for all banned drugs at its Division I championships, year-round NCAA Division I drug testing is for anabolic agents, diuretics, peptide hormones, urine manipulators, masking agents and ephedrine only. (Available statistics show that, in the 2002/2003 season, of all the baseball samples collected, there were only two positives. Things were similar in 2004-2005 - of 516 Division I tests, there were six positive tests.)
What are the penalties? Simple, and, as mentioned before, quite strict. After a first positive test, the athlete is suspended for one year from the date of collection. Following a second positive test, the athlete is banned from competition for life.
Minor League Baseball has been used as something of a proving ground for Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's office as far back as 2001, when drug testing was set into motion in the minor leagues. The program was then used to illustrate a proposal made to the MLB Players Association in 2002. In 2005, after much back and forth with Players Union head Donald Fehr and Co., the program was officially implemented.
Under the program, the use, sale or distribution of Schedule III steroids were effectively prohibited, though some over-the-counter drugs (such as Mark McGwire's favorite, androstenedione) were not included. Players can be randomly tested up to four times a year as well as any additional times that what MLB calls "reasonable cause" might justify.
The big difference between the major league and minor league policies lies with enforcement. In the minor leagues, players are subject to up to four unannounced tests per year, and can be tested with belief of reasonable cause. In Major League Baseball, players are tested five days prior to spring training, and are subject to one unannounced test on randomly selected date. An additional 600 unannounced tests conducted of randomly selected players can be conducted.
Whether for a failed drug test or failure to comply with a drug test, since 2005 both minor and major leaguers get an automatic 50-game suspension for testing positive a first time, 100 games for a second, and a lifetime ban for a third (except for a "drug of abuse" test, which, in the minors, first offense carries a treatment plan, with a second, third and fourth positive following the 50/100/Life model. Major League Baseball does not currently test players for drugs of abuse, such as marijuana and cocaine.
The minor league rules apply only to those players not on a major league team's 40-man roster - these players are subject only to the major league agreement.
-Timothy C. Davis, Staff Writer