The Final 9

Early next year, Major League Baseball will release the number of players who had first-time positive tests for amphetamines in 2008, according to The New York Times. The move is in line with one of the recommendations from the 2007 Mitchell report on performance-enhancing drugs, which advocated the need to make more data and test results public, according to The Times.

The test result numbers, along with other data and information related to the testing program, will be included in a public report to come out sometime in January.
"We believed that adding the yearly reports would allow us to get a better idea of how the program is functioning," Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, told The Times.

Major League Baseball started testing for amphetamines in 2006, but according to The Times, the number of first-time positive results for 2006 and 2007 will not be revealed.

Report: MLB to show more amphetamine test data....

Sporting News staff reports


If the World Series goes to a Game 6 this year, then presidential nominee Barack Obama will be the reason for the game's delayed start.

Major League Baseball agreed Wednesday to push back the start of Game 6 by about 15 minutes to allow a television commercial Obama plans to run on Oct. 29 — the Wednesday before the Nov. 4 election, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Obama's campaign purchased the same half-hour of prime time — from 8-8:30 p.m. ET on CBS and NBC (a deal with ABC is still in negotiations). FOX, which has broadcast rights to Game 6, planned to air a pre-game show, and the first pitch is usually thrown at 8:22 p.m.

Obama ad would delay start of World Series Game 6....

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

Major League Baseball will institute the use of instant replay on Thursday to determine disputed home run calls -- fair or foul, in or out of the ballpark, fan interference -- Commissioner Bud Selig announced on Tuesday.
The system, which has been under study since this past November when the general managers voted 25-5 to explore its use, will launch on Thursday when Minnesota opens a four-game series at Oakland, Texas is in Anaheim to play the Angels, and the Phillies are at Wrigley Field to play the Cubs.

Since it was determined that the use of replay should start when a series opens, it will be in use for all games beginning with Friday's action. Musing that implementing replay was really not like dealing with "Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity,'" the Commissioner said the apropos time to move ahead with it was now.

"I believe this is right," Selig said during a late afternoon conference call unveiling the new system. "I think the umpires believe it. I think the players believe it. The evidence [for using it] became overwhelming the more I looked at ballparks. You've got an umpire running out and he's 300-400 feet away, and it became impossible [for him to make the right call]. I'm delighted we're able to make this adjustment.

"As you well know, anytime you try to change things in baseball, it's both emotional and difficult, but this [decision] everyone really thought was in the sport's best interest. And that's why I made it."

Limited instant replay debuts Thursday....

BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — Major League Baseball and ESPN signed a new digital rights agreement that will allow the sports network to put baseball content on multiple platforms, including video game consoles and portable players such as iPods.

The deal announced Thursday extends and expands the agreement through 2013. The previous agreement could have expired as early as this year. Terms were not disclosed.

ESPN said the deal will allow for live game streaming and highlights packages on the Internet and mobile platforms. It also will allow ESPN to develop interactive television programming around baseball content.

ESPN will be able to put MLB content on download services like Apple's iTunes Store and console game systems such as Microsoft Xbox Live.

"Our goal is always to deliver sports to fans across any platform, and this is yet another agreement that fulfills that strategy," George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports, said in a statement.

ESPN signs digital rights deal with baseball....

By Mark Bowman / MLB.com

MIAMI -- When Braves manager Bobby Cox learned Tuesday that Major League Baseball had handed him a one-game suspension, he obviously wasn't pleased. But it's safe to say he wasn't nearly as upset as he was during Sunday's heated argument with umpire Chris Guccione.
After reviewing Sunday's argument, Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations for Major League Baseball, levied an undisclosed fine and the one-game suspension, which Cox chose to serve during Tuesday night's game against the Marlins.

In a release, Watson said that Cox's punishment was in response to "inappropriate conduct and comments."

Cox handed one-game suspension....

By Jerry Crasnick

NEW YORK -- Major League Baseball continues to work feverishly on its plan to blend technology with the human element on the field. Barring a glitch, the kinks could be ironed out in time to prevent a dreaded umpiring fiasco on a national stage in October.

Commissioner Bud Selig said Tuesday that instant replay, a long-debated topic in baseball circles, is being looked at "intensely," and that a system could be in place in time for postseason play.

Selig gives state of MLB address, says instant replay near....

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Major League Baseball announced a one-game suspension for umpire Brian Runge on Thursday for his actions in a June 24 contest between the New York Mets and Seattle Mariners.

Carlos Beltran began arguing balls and strikes with Runge in the bottom of the fourth inning, and Mets manager Jerry Manuel came out of the dugout to protest the umpire's strike zone as well.

MLB suspends umpire for bumping Mets manager....

By Kevin T. Czerwinski / MLB.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Aaron Hicks got most of the attention on Thursday at the Milk House simply because he chose to attend the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. While Hicks' presence made him the de facto face of Major League Baseball's Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., it didn't make him the program's lone representative.
Nine players with ties to the Academy were drafted on Thursday. Hicks and Kyle Skipworth went in the first round. Zach Collier and Mike Montgomery were selected in the Compensation round. That's a marked contrast to last year, when five Academy players were taken in the entire Draft.

MORE....

By Amalie Benjamin

The fallout from Thursday night's on-field brawl was far more than the scratches and abrasions that lined Coco Crisp's face. Around 5:15 p.m. yesterday, word came down that eight Red Sox and Rays players had been suspended by Major League Baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson for a total of 38 games, the longest bans going to the primary participants, Crisp and Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields.

Crisp received the most severe punishment, a seven-game suspension, with teammates Jon Lester (five) and Sean Casey (three) joining him. For the Rays, Shields got six games, Jonny Gomes and Edwin Jackson five, Carl Crawford four, and Akinori Iwamura three.

When asked about his suspension before last night's 8-0 loss to the Mariners, Crisp said, "I don't know nothing about it yet." But he appealed it and also said he wasn't surprised about the outcome, which included fines for each of the suspended players, saying, "Everybody gets suspended that charges the mound."

FULL ARTICLE....

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com






LOS ANGELES -- Major League Baseball is teaming up with entertainers, foundations, businesses and three of the top four television networks -- ABC, CBS and NBC -- in the quest to find a cure for cancer.
The new initiative, called "Stand Up To Cancer," was introduced on Wednesday morning on all three networks and at press conferences at the Paley Center for Media in both New York and Beverly Hills.

"This initiative has presented an historic and unique plan to fight this deadly disease, and it is a privilege for me and Major League Baseball to join this magnificent effort," said Commissioner Bud Selig, a survivor of skin cancer. "We have pledged many of our valuable resources in an attempt to assist in every way we can."

STORY....

By Jayson Stark
ESPN.com

Major League Baseball is making tentative plans to experiment with instant replay in the Arizona Fall League, according to a baseball official with knowledge of those discussions.

If that experiment proves practical and successful, MLB then is likely to continue the experiment next March during the World Baseball Classic and spring training games.


If no insurmountable problems arise, baseball could begin using replay -- though only to decide home run calls -- as soon as next season.


A top baseball official confirmed to The Associated Press Thursday that he will formulate a proposal for instant replay, although he wouldn't put a timetable on a replay plan.

"The times are such that our fans are used to seeing all the high technology and they're used to seeing the other sports that use these systems to make determinations, and the fans are clamoring for all the sports to look at that," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, the sport's executive vice president for baseball operations.

Story....

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

LOS ANGELES -- Major League Baseball directed its 30 clubs on Wednesday to pick up the pace of each game by primarily moving hitters in and out of the batter's box quicker and making pitchers adhere to a strict 12-second limit in between pitches, rules that are already on the books.
The game's pace has been an object of discussion since last October's World Series, when the Rockies and Red Sox played a 4 hour, 19 minute Game 3 at Coors Field. Boston won the game, 10-5, and went on to sweep the World Series.

At that point, the matter became an acute concern of Commissioner Bud Selig and was discussed at great length at last November's general managers' meetings in Florida. It also came up for discussion at the owners' meetings last week in Milwaukee. Club officials were briefed on the subject by Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB's executive vice president of baseball operations, during a series of conference calls on Wednesday.

STORY....

ESPN.com news services

After losing out on a clear home run ball Sunday for the second time this season, the New York Mets might become the newest proponents of Major League Baseball instituting instant replay.

In Sunday's Subway Series finale, a Carlos Delgado fly ball down the left field line was ruled a three-run home run for the Mets by third base umpire Mike Reilly. After Yankees captain Derek Jeter argued, home plate umpire Bob Davidson overruled Reilly and called the ball foul.

Davidson readily admitted his mistake to reporters after the game.

"I (expletive) it up. I'm the one who thought it was a (expletive) foul ball. I saw it on the replay. I'm the one who (expletive) it up so you can put that in your paper," Davidson said. "Bolts and nuts, I (expletive) up. You've just got to move on. No one feels worse about it than I do."

The home run did not end up factoring in the outcome of the game as the Mets routed the Yankees 11-2.

ARTICLE....

ESPN.com news services

As many as 104 Major League Baseball players could be subpoenaed by federal investigators in connection with the BALCO steroid distribution case after the United States attorney's office obtained positive steroid test results from 2003, according to a published report.

The results, according to The New York Times, were part of the 2003 tests conducted by Major League Baseball that were intended to be anonymous. But through some deft legal maneuvering, the U.S. government seized the records from two different companies hired to provide the tests.

An anonymous source told the newspaper that the federal government plans to question all 104 players about their positive steroid tests and how they obtained whatever substance was found in their urine sample.

The potential list of suppliers named by the players would be sent to federal prosecutors around the country. The investigations that result from that information could lead to player names being revealed in court documents.

FULL ARTICLE....