MLB Players Union Accuses NY Times of Criminal Act after Red Sox players named

Editor & Publisher, Joe Strupp: NEW YORK : "The Major League Baseball Players Association is accusing The New York Times of committing a crime in its attempt to identify players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

• In a statement late Thursday, Players Association President Donald Fehr claims Times reporter Michael S. Schmidt broke the law when he sought to interview people with knowledge of a controversial 2003 list of some 100 players who tested positive. That list has been the subject of litigation and has been under court seal.

Fehr responded to Schmidt's Thursday story revealing that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were on the list. Last month, he previously had disclosed that former player Sammy Sosa was on the list.

• "Today The New York Times, once again, reports what it asserts to be information contained in documents under court seal. And precisely for that reason, the Players Association will not, indeed cannot, comment on whether the information is accurate," the statement says.

"But there should be no mistake. The leaking of information under a court seal is a crime. The active pursuit of information that may not lawfully be disclosed because it is under court seal is a crime. That its informants, according to the Times, are lawyers is both shocking and sad....

• Schmidt told E&P on Thursday that he had sought to interview anyone who might have knowledge of the list after Sports Illustrated reported in February that Alex Rodriguez had been among the 2003 players to test positive."... "" "Players Union accuses 'NYT' of Criminal Action in Steroid Reporting," Editor and Publisher, via Poynter.org/Romenesko

(I couldn't find any record that the players union accused Sports Illustrated and its employees in the Alex Rodriguez case). sm

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