CAUSE NEEDED TO TEST FOR DRUGS IN BASEBALL

Baseball has a drug-testing policy. It is just not the one some people,
including management officials, would like.

"It's testing based on reasonable cause," Gene Orza, the union's associate
general counsel, said yesterday. "We don't believe that people should have
to provide their urine to other people to prove they are innocent. That's
not the way America works."

In the recently concluded negotiations for a new labor agreement in
baseball, the players union agreed to a testing program for illegal
steroids. But it continued to rebuff management efforts to test for drugs
of abuse.

"If anybody suspects that a player is using something, they're recommended
to a committee of four," Orza said. "We can use diagnostic testing if we
think it's appropriate."

The committee Orza referred to is made up of himself, Rob Manfred, the
clubs' chief labor lawyer, and one doctor representing each side.

Orza declined to say how frequently players are asked to appear before the
committee, but he said: "Testing does take place. It takes place often
enough for me to feel quite comfortable with the problem."

The drug committee considered cases as recently as yesterday and Thursday,
Orza said. Without identifying the players, whose identities the committee
always keeps secret, Orza said the player in yesterday's case had been
previously tested.

In Thursday's case, he said: "We considered whether or not there was
reasonable cause to suggest that he had taken a prohibitive substance. We
have authorized testing."

Players who are on a team's 40-man roster are covered by the union, so they
cannot be randomly tested for drugs like marijuana and cocaine. Minor
league players, however, can be tested and are.

The National Hockey League has essentially the same policy as Major League
Baseball's. N.H.L. players can be tested only for probable cause.

The National Football League tests all players at the beginning of training
camp for illicit drugs like marijuana and cocaine. Players undergo random
testing for steroids during the season. The league has random computer
testing in the off-season.

In the National Basketball Association, all players are tested when
training camp begins. Rookies are tested on a random basis four times
during the season. All other players can be tested during the season if an
arbitrator decides there is reasonable cause to believe a player has used,
possessed or distributed any prohibited substance.