It looks like the leak of David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez’s names as having tested positive for steroids back in 2003 is going to have consequences after all. Just not for the players, or for the person who leaked the sealed information. Instead, EDITOR & PUBLISHER says that the MLB Players Union is focusing its wrath on NEW YORK TIMES reporter Michael S. Schmidt, who broke the story on Ortiz and Ramirez’s positive drug tests.
(Donald Fehr might be retiring, but he’s taking people down with him.)
Union head Donald Fehr issued a statement on Friday saying that Schmidt and the New York Times had broken the law by reporting the leaked information, and that the MLBPA intends “to take the appropriate legal steps to see that the court orders are enforced.” Which means that Schmidt might want to get a sitter for his cat, if the treatment of previous reporters breaking blockbuster baseball steroid stories is any indication.
After SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams broke the story about the BALCO investigation, they were rewarded with a meeting with President George W. Bush and an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” They also got to spend 18 months in jail for their troubles, as they were found to be in contempt of court after refusing to name the sources that leaked sealed information to them. It look lawsuits and Congressional intervention to get the court to release them.
So while Fehr’s assertion that reporting on sealed information is illegal is almost laughable, the danger is anything but funny for Schmidt. If Fehr is able to get authorities to look into who leaked the information (which is a crime), Schmidt could easy be subpoenaed and compelled to reveal his sources or face the same fate that Fainaru-Wada and Williams did.
The bottom line is that the MLBPA is clearly moving into bullying, threatening tactics in an attempt to scare future reporters off of pursuing further names from the 2003 testing. Which tells me that there must be some really big, shocking names on that list if they are so keen on blocking distribution of the list. Like it or not, this story is not going away any time soon.
6:58 pm on August 1st, 2009
Sounds like MLB is going to do everything they can to cover up the mess that THEY created. If they had a drug-testing policy in place earlier, they wouldn’t need to cover anything up? And if they are so worried about more names coming out, why didn’t they destroy the test results? Ultimately, what is going to come from this where Ortiz and Ramirez are concerned? The Red Sox aren’t going to lose anything. Ortiz & Ramirez aren’t going to be suspended? Why is this even news?
7:23 pm on August 1st, 2009
Good for MLB. As a lawyer myself, I would want this leak plugged as quick as possible.
I hope they find the leak and send his ass to jail for BREAKING THE LAW.
99% of those that support the list coming out would threaten a lawsuit if they signed something that was supposed to be secret yet it came out later.
It’s hilarious really to see such hypocrites
9:25 pm on August 1st, 2009
The biggest blight on MLB was not steroids. It was Donald Fehr.
12:22 pm on August 2nd, 2009
Too bad it took this long.
8:20 pm on August 2nd, 2009
Can’t blame the reporters for writing up these steroid using MLB players. Its their job to report upon matters of great public concern, and steroids in MLB certainly qualifies.
There are criminal laws dealing with the illegal use, possession, and distribution of steroids. So, maybe they should throw the asses of all these MLB players in jail. You may also want to throw in with them their drug suppliers and all those in the distribution ring that supply these dangerous substances to others such as kids.
But no, some people think we should incarcerate the people who expose these idiot cheaters who are destroying the integrity of the game of baseball. Strange argument.
2:57 pm on August 3rd, 2009
Not good for MLB. Fehr only has the intrests of the union in mind. He is a lawyer. Plain and simple. Release all the 103 names and move on already. This is guy is very bad for baseball. Always has been.