Anaheim Angels reliever Derrick Turnbow, the first major leaguer to test positive for a banned steroid, faces a two-year ban from international competition but will not face any sanctions from Major League Baseball. Turnbow, a right-hander with a 98 mph
Anaheim Angels reliever Derrick Turnbow, the first major leaguer to test positive for a banned steroid, faces a two-year ban from international competition but will not face any sanctions from Major League Baseball.
Turnbow, a right-hander with a 98 mph fastball, went 2-0 with 15 strikeouts in 15 1-3 innings after a Sept. 1 callup from the minors last season. He flunked the drug test during a U.S. Olympic training camp in October.
Turnbow told his agent, Jeff Borris, that the positive drug test was the result of an over-the-counter dietary supplement. The Major League Baseball Players Association said Tuesday that Turnbow did not use anything players with big league contracts are prohibited from using.
The case points once again to the dichotomy between strict international doping rules and those of baseball and other U.S. professional sports.
“International athletes are held to much higher standards than Major League Baseball, which has a program that has very little muscle at all,” said Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a harsh critic of baseball’s drug policies.
The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Turnbow tested positive Oct. 7 in Tempe, Ariz., for 19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone, which are chemical derivatives of anabolic steroids prohibited under international baseball rules.
The substances are related to androstenedione, which was popularized by Mark McGwire during his chase of the home run record in 1998. Andro is now banned in the minor leagues, but is not regulated in the major leagues.
“Derrick Turnbow did not test positive for a steroid. He tested positive for what the IOC (International Olympic Committee) and others regard as a steroid, but the U.S. government does not: the over-the-counter supplement androstenedione,” said Gene Orza, associate general counsel of the Major League Baseball Players Association.
“Baseball players are not currently prohibited from buying and using androstenedione,” Orza said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “The IOC and its affiliates can and do ban whatever they feel like banning, because the athletes they exploit have no rights.”
Major League Baseball will begin penalizing players for steroid use this season after more than 5 percent of last year’s anonymous tests came back positive. A first positive test for steroid use will result in treatment, but no suspension.
Since Turnbow tested positive in 2003, he will not be required to undergo such treatment.
