"That's Some Big Blood": Selig Implements HGH Testing in the Minor League

So, in light of the much publicized Human Growth Hormone (HGH) positive test result for rugby player, Terry Newton, earlier this year, Bud Selig has implemented HGH testing for minor league baseball players. Recall that the Commish can unilaterally impose such testing as Minor League baseball players are not represented by a collective bargaining group like their Major League counterparts, the MLBPA. The random testing will fall under the existing Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program, under which forty-nine Minor League players have been suspended in 2010. None of these suspensions were made for HGH use.

Testing will be done by the National Center for Drug Free Sport, which currently collects all urine samples for the Minor League. Blood samples will be taken from the non-dominant arm of the respective player. Testing will be performed by Sports Medicine Research and Testing Lab in Utah.

Current penalties for performance enhancing substances (PEDS) will apply to HGH as well: fifty game ban for the first positive result, one hundred game ban for the second positive result, and, finally, a third positive result could mean a permanent suspension from both the Minor and Major Leagues.

(And, yes, the photo in the top left is from an actual website advertising HGH.)

Check Rick Karcher's open letter to Bud Selig regarding HGH posted back in 2006 on this Blog.