FILE: BASEBALL: Baseball celebrity Alex Rodriguez is banned by an arbitrator for the entire 2014 season and post season
Record ID:
566383
FILE: BASEBALL: Baseball celebrity Alex Rodriguez is banned by an arbitrator for the entire 2014 season and post season
- Title: FILE: BASEBALL: Baseball celebrity Alex Rodriguez is banned by an arbitrator for the entire 2014 season and post season
- Date: 11th January 2014
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - OCTOBER 4, 2013) (REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS OF LAWSUIT FILED BY RODRIGUEZ AGAINST MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AND COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG
- Embargoed: 26th January 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA3WQ0JCUC7V95J7FT1HEBQUB6P
- Story Text: New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez will be suspended for the entire 2014 Major League Baseball (MLB) season and playoffs for doping after an independent arbitrator on Saturday (January 11) rejected the All-Star third baseman's appeal.
Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz notified both MLB and the Players Association that Rodriguez "will be suspended for a period that includes 162 regular season games in the 2014 regular season as well as the entire 2014 post season", the league said in a statement.
Rodriguez, MLB's active home run leader and highest-paid player, was originally handed a 211-game ban by the league last season after he was implicated in an investigation looking into the now shuttered Florida anti-aging clinic Biogenesis that is alleged to have distributed performance enhancing drugs.
He appealed the decision and later sued both MLB and Commissioner Bud Selig, accusing them of trying to destroy his reputation and his career.
"For more than five decades, the arbitration process under the Basic Agreement has been a fair and effective mechanism for resolving disputes and protecting player rights," MLB said in a statement.
"While we believe the original 211-game suspension was appropriate, we respect the decision rendered by the panel and will focus on our continuing efforts on eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game."
Rodriguez, who has never failed a drug test but admitted using performance-enhancing drugs early in his career, issued a lengthy statement maintaining his position that he has been the victim of an MLB witch hunt out to destroy his career.
Commissioner Selig handed down the initial season-plus punishment in August for violating MLB's joint drug agreement through the Yankees third baseman's alleged involvement with the now-closed Florida anti-aging clinic.
Thirteen other players were suspended for their alleged ties to the Biogenesis clinic, with 12 of them agreeing to 50-game suspensions, and former National League most valuable player Ryan Braun accepting a 65-game ban.
Rodriguez, in appealing the suspension, has denied any wrongdoing and argued he was singled out for excessive punishment by MLB and called into question the way evidence has been gathered in the case. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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