European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday March 3, 1986 stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Ueberroth us thinks he decided Issue Peter Ueberroth Calls it his toughest decision since becoming baseball commissioner. He has made his pitch. He has come in with the Best one he feels he had. Not an overpowering one but a delivery in which he has so much Confidence he thinks he can get the Side out with it. Create a big enough Impact with the players the Public and everyone else connected with the game so that it will provide him a fighting Chance of fulfilling his rash Promise that baseball will be drug free in Little More than another month. By opening Day which Falls on april 7 this season. Now it s up to the players. Or rather the players association which represents the players. Everyone wants to know what they Are going to do. I la Tell you what i think they Are going to do. I think they Are going to fight Ueberroth on his decision. Don Fehr the head of the players association already has reminded everyone the players have a right to go to an arbitrator to find out whether the commissioner has just cause to take the action he has. Judging from the past the Union figures to make a grievance out of Ueberroth s determination to suspend Joaquin Andujar Dale Berra Enos Cabell Keith Hernandez Jeff Leonard Dave Parker and Lonnie Smith for one year unless they agree to certain conditions including being randomly tested for drugs the rest of their careers and donating 10 percent of their salaries this year to drug related facilities or programs. The players Union won t abandon Al Holland Lee Lacy Lary Sorensen or Claudell Washington either. Ueberroth put them in a second category which he found to be More limited in its drug involvement. So these four face Only a 60-Day suspension and would have to donate Only 5 per cent of their salaries. It does t matter that Ueberroth is willing to Deal less harshly with them. Nor does it matter that some of these 11 players like Cabell for instance May feel like going along with Ueberroth s decision. The players association rep resents and Speaks for All the players not just most of them. What makes me so confident the players Union in t going to hold still for Ueberroth s decision is the characteristic posture it has unfailingly adopted in the past. I m sure you remember Bowie Kuhn Ueberroth s predecessor. Of then let me test your memory some More. Up photo Peter Ueberroth. Reached eminently fair decision do you remember what he did in 1983 when he found out through sworn testimony that three members of the Kansas City royals Willie Wilson Willie Aikens and Jerry Martin had been using drugs in Case your memory is Rusty he suspended each of them for one year. You know what happened the players association filed a grievance and had the satisfaction of seeing the arbitrator overturn Kuhn s ruling and drastically reduce the suspension on All three players cutting it Back to May 15. Pascaul Perez came next. He was put in jail for three months in his native dominican Republic Early in 1984 for cocaine Possession and Kuhn drawing on the unsuccessful experience he had trying to Deal with Wilson Aikens and Martin sought to suspend Perez Only until May 15 after the braves Pitcher was released from prison. The players association filed another grievance and this time believe it or not the arbitrator ruled that Kuhn could t suspend Perez at All. Ueberroth did his Homework Well and reached an eminently fair decision. I m not the Only one who thinks so. Cabell already has said he s perfectly willing to abide by Ueberroth s ruling and i imagine Hernandez will also. But the players association still will insist on hav ing the last word. De. Note Hernandez did t. See Page 21. Quite naturally Bowie Kuhn Back with the same Law firm he was with before becoming commissioner was very interested in Ueberroth s decision and i asked him what he thought of it. I support Peter Ueberroth 100 per cent in his determination he said. Particularly on his need for drug  at this Point Ueberroth feels that is the Best possible Way of eliminating drugs from baseball. He lost a lot of sleep trying to come up with some kind of solution he admitted following Friday s news conference. I tried to keep coming Back to what was fair he said. He said he wanted to reach a decision that would t take these players out of the game but at the same time he wanted to Send a Clear signal to others that they face serious consequences if they use drugs in the future. After he had read his decision and answered a num Ber of questions Friday he had some other questions put to him. Can you legally do this somebody asked him. Sure he said. How do you know you re looking for a debate and i m not going to get into one Ueberroth said. According to his Powers As baseball commissioner Ueberroth has the authority to do what he has done. It s right there in the Book. The Only trouble is the players association goes by an altogether different Book and i think the Union ought to Wise up. People Aren t going to keep paying increased prices to go see players on drugs. By United press International Hernandez from Page 21 Fehr said adding it would not Surprise me to see one or More players Challenge  the Union already is actively contesting the drug testing clauses unilaterally placed in multiyear contracts. It is estimated that at least 250 contracts already include such testing clauses. Ueberroth on saturday said i think the players association will cooperate in the  everybody involved with baseball wants to get this problem out of our game the com missioner said in an Abc to interview. When Bowie Kuhn Ueberroth s predecessor slapped one year drug related sus pensions on several players without the buy out conditions offered by Ueberroth an arbitrator reduced some of the sus pensions to a few weeks. Under Ueberroth s ruling saturday Hernandez Berra Andujar Parker Smith Cabell and Leonard labelled by the com missioner As players involved in a pro longed pattern of drug use or distribution were told they will be suspended for All of 1986 unless each donates 10 percent of his base salary to a drug abuse prevention Center or pro Gram in his team s City. Contributes 100 hours of drug related Community service in each of the next two years. Participates in random drug testing by the commissioner s office As Long As each plays professional baseball. Monetarily it Means a Cost of As much As $135,000 to Hernandez or As Little As $45,000 to Cabell. Al Holland Claudell Washington Lee Lacy and Lary Sorensen engaged in More limited use or involvement with drugs Ueberroth said and can avoid 60-Day suspensions if they donate 5 percent of their Sala Ries to drug abuse programs contribute 50 hours of Community service for one year and accept random testing. I kept trying to come Back to what was fair Ueberroth said. I did not want to take the players out of the game. Instead i would let them give Back to the area of society that caused their  most of the players named by Ueberroth were either unavailable for comment or declined to discuss the matter. Parker who had said Friday he would hold a news conference saturday called it off on advice of his coun Sel a Cincinnati reds official said. On Friday Parker told the Pittsburgh press i have never heard of a Fine levied that Large anywhere in any Industry re Ferring to the estimated $87,500 he would have to donate and there Are people who have committed far More serious crimes. I have no problem doing Community work. I was doing those things Long before we went into court. And i have agreed to do the drug testing. But i be never heard of a Fine levied for As much As that. Ten percent of my salaries could feed a lot of Mouths. Basically 10 per cent of my salary sounds  Tom Reich Parker s attorney said he would study the commissioner s ruling be fore deciding whether to Appeal it or file a grievance. Reich also represents Cabell Lacy Holland and Leonard. Hernandez told a news conference that he had been in Contact overnight with his lawyer his agent and the Union. He declined to discuss details of the grievance. Sooner from Page 21 games was paced by Eric Brent s 20 Points. Navy the tournament s top seed took control with 6 36 left in the first half when it completed a 12-2 run that put it ahead 29-14. James Madison never pulled nearer than 10 Points after that. Syracuse 75, Connecticut 58 Hartford Conn. Dwayne Pearl Washington scored 17 Points and Rafael Addison added 15 As sixth ranked Syracuse routed Connecticut to earn a share of the big East conference regular season title Syracuse finished its regular season with a 23-4 record and tied St. John s for first place in the big East conference with a 14 2 Mark. St. John s will be the top seed in the conference tournament because it beat the third place team Georgetown twice while Syracuse split with the hoyas. Arizona 62, Washington St. 61 Tucson Ariz. Junior guard Steve Kerr scored 15 Points and pulled Down a clutch rebound in the final second As Arizona beat Washington state to stay alone atop the Pacific-10 conference standings. With four seconds left a 25-foot jumper by the cougars Chris Winkler bounced off the front rim and Kerr came up with the rebound As the clock ran out. Georgetown 93, Pittsburgh 62 Landover my. Georgetown for Ward David Wingate scored a career High 26 Points 16 of them in the decisive first half to Lead the the 15th-ranked hoyas to a big East conference Victory Over Pittsburgh. Wingate playing his final Home game made 11 of 19 Field goal attempts As Georgetown improved its record to 22-6 Overall and 11-5 in the conference. Michigan 86, Northwestern 64 Evanston 111. Roy Tarpley scored 21 Points As no. 10 Michigan took Over first place in the big ten conference with a Victory Over Northwestern. Michigan who had been tied with Indi Ana for the big ten Lead going into the game now is 12-4 in the big ten and 25-4 Overall. Northwestern fell to 2-15 in Confer ence play and 8-19 Overall. Kansas 90, Iowa St. 70 Lawrence Kan. Ron Kellogg scored 20 Points and Danny Manning added 19 As every Kansas starter reached double figures in the no. 2 Jay Hawks Victory Over Iowa state. The Jay Hawks who clinched the big eight championship a week ago never led by fewer than nine Points in the second half As they avenged their Only conference loss of the year. The Victory tied two school records and sent the Jay Hawks into this week s big eight postseason tournament with a 28-3 record. Their conference Mark of 13-1 was marred Only by a 77-74 loss last month at Iowa state. The 28th season Victory and a 33rd consecutive Home Victory tied school records. Kentucky 68, leu 57 Lexington by. Kenny Walker scored 17 Points to Lead no. 5 Kentucky Over Louisiana state in the final regular season game for both Southeastern Confer ence schools. The Victory boosted Kentucky to 26-3 Overall and 17-1 in conference play. The tigers fell to 21-10 and 9-9