MLB samples in Canada

Recent articles reference the seized 2003 MLB samples, scenarios of players being questioned by the Feds. On 4/11/08 was the new drug agreement. At the end of a 5/18/08 report on the 2003 seized names is this:

• "Under the rules of MLB's joint drug policy at the time, Quest Diagnostics of Teterboro, N.J., analyzed some 1,400 urine samples taken from players in 2004. Comprehensive Drug Testing of Long Beach, Calif., collected the specimens and compiled the data.

Those tasks have since been transferred to U.S. Anti-Doping Agency-approved labs in Montreal and California."

• MLB.com, "Feds to Use Drug Test Results," by Barry M. Bloom, 5/18/08

On 5/11/04 an MLB.com press release announced a business arrangement with a new lab.

• In Canada.

The minor league lab will be in

• California.

Not mentioned in any of these articles is the key distinction of the Canadian locale:

• LESS CHANCE THE FEDS CAN SNEAK IN AND RAID THE NAMES AS THEY DID WITH THOSE NOW IN THE NEWS.

Who figured this out? A person who is no longer living, the late Doug Pappas. He wrote on that date about the 5/11/04 announcement:

• "In MLB's press release, Rob Manfred and Gene Orza say nice things about the WADA, but never mention the biggest benefit of switching to this particular lab.

That benefit? The use of a Canadian lab will ensure that all of the 2004 drug testing samples are

• stored beyond the reach of U.S. prosecutors and grand juries, eliminating the possibility that last month's seizure will be repeated.

• This was no accident -- MLB chose to have its minor-league testing administered by the WADA-approved testing program at UCLA,

• which could certainly have handled the major leaguers' specimens, too."

• From Doug's Business of Baseball Weblog, 5/11/04, "MLB Drug-Testing Programs Move to Olympic Certified Laboratories"***********

Referenced paragraphs from the 5/11/04 MLB press release:

• "Major League Baseball announced today that it has reached an agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association to move the testing under the Joint Drug Treatment and Prevention Program to a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) certified testing facility located in Montreal, Canada, effective immediately.

Additionally, Major League Baseball has moved the testing under the Minor League Drug Treatment and Prevention Program to a WADA-certified testing facility located in Los Angeles, California."

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