Thanks to a court ruling made yesterday, we may never know the identity of the 104 baseball players who tested positive for banned substances in 2003.
A federal appeals court berated federal invetigators in their ruling. The court ruled that the government had no right to seize drug records of ALL Major League Baseball players in their investigation of Barry Bonds. The court said it was an “obvious case of deliberate overreaching” by the government and players rights were violated. In a 9-2 decision, the court ruled federal agents had no probable cause or right to search union records for player drug use. The court also singled out the leaking of the names of Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa as proof that players’ rights were violated.
The union has contended leaking those names (not player drug use) is a crime. The only course left for the government is to appeal to the Supreme Court or turn over the records to be destroyed.
