SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, who 15 years ago attempted to stake out the game's anti-steroids position, said that Bud Selig has little standing to suspend Barry Bonds for his alleged steroid use.
"It doesn't mean (Selig) shouldn't investigate, but it's going to be a very difficult position for him," Vincent said Friday in a phone interview with The Press Democrat. "If people suggest that he could use the 'best interest of baseball' clause to suspend Bonds, I think it would take the union about three minutes before a federal judge to get that enjoined."
This opinion comes from the man who was responsible for a little-known memo, entitled "Baseball's Drug Policy and Prevention Program." The memo, dated June 7, 1991, and sent to all major-league clubs, indicates that there was knowledge and a concern within the commissioner's office that steroids might become a problem.
"Major league players or personnel involved in the possession, sale or use or any illegal drug or controlled substance are subject to the discipline by the Commissioner and risk permanent expulsion from the game," the memo read.
"This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs and controlled substances, including steroids or prescription drugs for which the individual in possession of the drugs does not have a prescription."
The memo, which was recirculated by Selig in 1997, does not provide enough of a basis for the current commissioner to use against Bonds, though, Vincent said.
"The players are protected under the federal statutes," Vincent said. "That's a mistake a lot of people have made, thinking the commissioner can do whatever he wants. His powers over the players are very limited."
When the commissioner's office was established in the wake of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, the commissioner had broad disciplinary powers, and he could arbitrarily make rulings "in the best interest of baseball." Those powers have been eroded with the rise of the players union in the 1970s.
Vincent's comments echoed those of agent Alan Hendricks, who told USA Today this week that if Selig tried to suspend Bonds, "the union would squash him." Selig has remained noncommittal on the issue, saying publicly that he will "review" the allegations against Bonds, but he would not go so far as to announce a formal investigation.
Vincent, who was commissioner from 1989 through 1992, said that he sent the 1991 memo as a way to put the sport's anti-drug position in writing, even though he was aware there was no way to enforce the policy against major-league players in the union.
"I think it was a good thing that we did it," he said. "I'm really glad we did it, because it sent an important message; but at the time, we were dealing more with cocaine. I threw Steve Howe out of baseball after his seventh violation, and the union got him reinstated."
Vincent's seven-page memo was forwarded to the offices of the union, but Vincent said it probably didn't raise any eyebrows.
"The union might have gotten the memo and they might have said, 'That's nice that Fay is concerned, but that doesn't apply to us,'" he said.
One expert in sports law said the obscurity of the 1991 and 1997 memos also makes them difficult to use retroactively as a basis for discipline.
"If I was the lawyer for a suspended or banned player, I would argue it would be fundamentally unreasonable to ban someone for a result of a rule that no one knew about," said Gordon Hylton, former director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University. "You can't hold someone to a term of a contract you don't even tell them about."
Major League Baseball and the union first agreed to a steroid testing policy for the 2003 season, with penalties beginning in 2004. The penalties have been increased twice, and now players testing positive will be suspended for 50 games for a first offense, 100 games for a second offense and a lifetime ban for a third offense.
Bonds has not failed a drug test administered by baseball. While Bonds sits at the center of this storm of controversy, he continues to gain support from friends in baseball.
Former teammate Marquis Grissom, now fighting for a job with the Cubs, said his image of Bonds has not been changed by recent allegations.
"You know how I feel about Barry," he said before Friday's Giants-Cubs game. "I think he's the greatest player to put on that uniform."
Cubs manager Dusty Baker added that his view of Bonds is unchanged: "Not until you have 100 percent fact, you can't change. The amazing thing is it doesn't seem like it's affected him."
In the week and a half since excerpts were released from the upcoming book "Game of Shadows," various sources have attempted to punch holes in the steroid allegations against Bonds.
Victor Conte told USA Today in an interview from jail that he never directly provided Bonds with steroids.
Conte, one of the main targets of the BALCO investigation, told the newspaper he gave the steroids to Greg Anderson, Bonds' trainer.
"Understand that baseball didn't have any testing," Conte said. "They didn't need this highly undetectable stuff I was doing with Olympic athletes. They were in another world from me. My relationship with Barry Bonds was 100 percent about his nutrition, his younger brother's nutrition and about nutrition for his father."
"Game of Shadows" cites federal agents who claim that Conte admitted to supplying Bonds with steroids.
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