July 22, 2002
Commissioner Allen (Bud) Selig
Major League Baseball
245 park Ave., 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167
|
Donald M. Fehr, Esq.
Major League Baseball Player's Assoc.
12 east 49th St.
New York, NY 10017 |
Dear Commr. Selig and Mr. Fehr:
As reports intensify of steroid use among major league baseball players, we urge you to adopt a mandatory drug testing program that would send a clear message to our children that steroids are illegal and morally offensive to America's competitive spirit.
In professional baseball's first 125 years, only two men hit 60 or more home runs in a season. But in the past four years, that milestone has been surpassed six times, and of the 238 times that players have hit at least 40 home runs in a season, 34 percent occurred in just the past five years.
These amazing statistics are not lost on our children. It is dead wrong to send the message to our kids that drug use is not only permissible, but desirable if you want to perform at your best. The truth is that steroids are dangerous and harmful to a person's health and have no place in professional sports and no place in our kid's lives.
Other professional sports, notably football, basketball, and even the Olympics ban steroids, a dangerous drug that often causes liver damage, heart disease, and brain tumors. The league's failure to test has led to speculation that the drug is widely abused by many players.
Sadly. the wrong message is getting through to our children. The question of rampant, systemic steroid abuse now hangs over a game that we love. It is our belief the only way to send the right message to the public and to protect the integrity of the game is to institute mandatory drug testing.
Sincerely,
Nancy L. Johnson
Member of Congress |
Jim Bunning
United States Senator |
Tom Osborne
Member of Congress |
J.C. Watts
Member of Congress |
