Ethics Newsline®

TAMPA BAY, Florida
Tampa Bay Devil Rays center fielder Alex Sanchez last week became the first player in Major League Baseball (MLB) to be suspended for steroid use, though he denied knowingly using banned substances.

Sanchez tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during spring training in Florida, receiving his suspension on the day of his team’s opening game, reported the New York Times.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound player who came to the United States after fleeing Cuba initially denied any cheating, saying the positive test result must have been caused by some other drug or food supplement.

“I take some kind of stuff I buy over the counter. Multivitamin, protein shakes, muscle relaxers, that kind of stuff,” he told MLB.com. “I’m going to fight my case, because I never do any steroids thing, nothing like that.”

Later in the week, Sanchez dropped his appeal, saying he had discovered that one of his supplements — now banned by a law that took effect in January — contained an off-limits compound.

“First and foremost, it must be made clear that I do not condone the use of steroids, and I want to take this opportunity to warn everyone, especially children, of their danger,” Sanchez said in a statement. “If I am guilty, I am guilty of not taking the initiative to learn more about the contents of what I was taking.”

One day after suspending Sanchez, MLB officials announced automatic suspensions for 38 minor leaguers who also tested positive for banned substances, according to the Times.

All were first-time violators except for David Castillo, a catcher with the Oakland Athletics organization, whose positive test was a third strike, resulting in a 60-game suspension.

In related news, an Associated Press-AOL poll last week found that two-thirds of the U.S. public believe baseball players who test positive for steroids should be barred from the sport’s Hall of Fame.