Major League Baseball has reached a deal with its players’ association to expand the drug-testing program to include in-season blood-testing for human growth hormone and a new test intended to detect players using testosterone, according to a New York Times report.
The testing increase vaults baseball’s program ahead of the NFL, which doesn’t test for H.G.H. and doesn’t have a similar testosterone test. The plan will further Commissioner Bud Selig’s claims that his sport has the toughest testing program of any professional sport in North America.
The timing of the agreement comes a day after the announcement that first-time candidates Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa, along with returnees Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire, were denied entrance to the Hall of Fame. In fact, no one on the 2013 ballot received the necessary 75 percent support needed for induction. Those five players have direct connections to performance-enhancing drugs.
The new agreement is expected to be announced Thursday. It establishes a new testing protocol for testosterone, a preferred substance now because it quickly leaves a player’s system after being used.