Union head Don Fehr put out a statement Monday night explaining that the MLBPA had begun the process of destroying the results from the 2003 survey but stopped less than a week later upon learning that those same results were being viewed as possible evidence by federal investigators; the union was concerned, understandably, about obstruction of justice.
From Fehr's statement: "In mid-November 2003, the 2003 survey test results were tabulated and finalized. The MLBPA first received results on Tuesday, November 11. Those results were finalized on Thursday, November 13, and the players were advised by a memo dated Friday, November 14. Promptly thereafter, the first steps were taken to begin the process of destruction of the testing materials and records, as contemplated by the Basic Agreement. On November 19, however, we learned that the government had issued a subpoena. Upon learning this, we concluded, of course, that it would be improper to proceed with the destruction of the materials."
Fehr should take at least one more step and explain to the players why the process of destroying the results required more than five days, rather than hours or minutes.
The cursory understanding of this in the media is that there were two entities in play -- the actual test results with numbers attached like codes and, in a separate place, the numbers tying the results to individual players.
Here are a lot of questions to which I don't know the answers: Was the information tying players to the results all on one sheet? Was it in a hand-written notebook? Was it in computer files, on a hard drive that could have been restored? Were the labs open to the required access on a limited basis? Did a pivotal person at the lab go on vacation, forcing the union to wait?
Based on the information we have, it's natural to wonder why at least one set of the records could not have been destroyed, rendering the other half useless. There are at least a handful of players, and probably many more than that, wondering why nothing happened in those five days between Nov. 14 and Nov. 19, 2003.
There might well be specific reasons that more than five days were required to destroy one set of results or the other. I don't know whether there is or isn't.
If the process could have taken less than five days, Fehr should hold himself accountable. If the process could have taken less than five days, someone in the union simply blew it -- like a baserunner who forgets how many outs there are -- and that someone should say so.
If somebody could have acted in a more timely manner and failed to do so, Fehr, as someone who works for the players, needs to disclose that to his clients.
If the results could have been destroyed quickly and weren't because of a lapse in judgment, to say anything other than "We blew it" would be just one more lame excuse in an era filled with too many lame excuses.
In this Michael Schmidt piece, one anonymous baseball official says all it would have taken
was a simple phone call to the lab.
Gene Orza and Fehr
should be the big stories here, Sam Donnellon writes.
Fehr says the list of 104 players
will be kept secret, Bill Shaikin writes.
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Buster Olney
