Tuesday, February 29, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 3
Strawberry's future questionable after suspension
The Associated Press.
TAMPA, Fla. — A third strike for cocaine landed Darryl Strawberry a one-year suspension yesterday and left the New York Yankees and most of baseball wondering if he would ever play again Commissioner Bud Selig imposed the penalty and did not make any provision for the troubled slugger, who turns 38 years old next month, to return early for good behavior.
"This was a very difficult and painful decision for me to make," Selig said. "The meeting I had with Darryl and his wife, Charisse, last Tuesday was an emotional experience for all of us. I had no doubt that his remorse and sorrow were genuine, and I worried about the effect my decision would have on his health and the welfare of his family.
"In the end, I could not ignore Darryl's past infractions and concluded that each of us must be held
accountable for his or her actions. I am hopeful that he will use this time away from the game productively and will care for himself and his family."
Strawberry has not been at Legends Field since baseball ordered him out of the spring training complex Feb. 23, a day after his latest failed drug test became public.
His pinstriped uniform still hangs in his clubhouse locker, along with a batting helmet and spikes. There's also a stack of mail, though there's no telling when he'll ever get to pick it up.
Strawberry, an eight-time AllStar, had been expected to be the prime designated hitter for the two-time World Series champions this season. Instead, his third cocaine-related suspension from baseball in five years left his future in doubt.
"Bud just told me," said Yankees owner George Steinbrenner when he left the ballpark after an
intrasquad game. "We will abide by the decision. I feel badly for Darryl. My hopes and prayers are that he can do the things he needs to do to get his life in order."
Shortly before the penalty was made public, manager Joe Torre said: "You don't have to condone what he's done to have a feeling for him. He's not a bad person.
"I think you're always concerned. Obviously, it's a tough thing he's going through. He's fallen off here a couple of times. Sure, it's easy to say he's suspended. But what happens to him during this time?"
Strawberry is a career, 259 hitter with 335 home runs and 1,000 RBI, and a legacy of tape-measure shots. The National League Rookie of the Year with the New York Mets in 1983, his power seemed to have him headed to the Hall of Fame early in his career before multiple setbacks.
Legal trouble slowed him while drug and alcohol problems almost
derailed him. He had stays in the Smithers Center and the Betty Ford Center and then, during the 1998 playoffs, colon cancer was diagnosed in him.
Strawberry returned last season and hit .327 with three homers and six RBI in 24 games. He hit .333 (5-for-15) with two home runs in the postseason, showing the easy swing that made him so dangerous.
The Yankees now must decide how to fill the left-handed designated hitter spot Strawberry was supposed to occupy. Chili Davis, the team's top designated hitter last season, has retired.
Yankees designated hitters hit a combined .275 with 23 home runs and 84 RBI last year.
"I'm not in a reactionary mode because of Darryl's suspension," said general manager Brian Cashman. "Do I think we have the bats on our roster to at least duplicate that? Yes, I do."
Torre has talked about using
Tino Martinez, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill and Jorge Posada in the slot during their off-days, and Tim Raines is back in camp as a non-roster player.
There's also the chance the Yankees might make a deal. In fact, the front office began discussing trade possibilities once Strawberry's problem be ca me known.
Anaheim's Darin Estad and Jim Edmonds and
Strawberry: Suspended from the Yankees for one year
Cincinnati's Dmitri Young are among the players rumored to move.
"There's always going to be speculation," Cashman said. "If something presents itself that would
help improve the team, we'll look at it."
strawberry's options, however, are more limited. He could perhaps return to the independent Northern League, where he played for two months during the summer of 1996.
Strawberry was suspended in 1995 for 60 days following a positive test for cocaine use. In 1999, selig banned him again from April 24 to Aug. 4 after Strawberry was arrested for cocaine possession and soliciting a prostitute.
Strawberry later pleased no contest to the charges and was undergoing regular drug tests as part of his legal punishment. His Jan. 19 test came back positive and led to the latest penalty.
Given Strawberry's age, it's unclear if he ever will return to the game that made him famous.
"It's sad," said Ricky Ledee, Yankees outfielder. "Being older, if it's a one-year suspension, my guess is it would be tough."
Auburn forward suspended for taking an agent's money
The Associated Press
AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn forward Chris Porter admitted taking $2,500 from a sports agent, a confession his coach said he hoped would lead the NCAA to quickly reinstate the star player.
"Chris has admitted to a mistake," said coach Cliff Ellis yesterday. "He has been honest and forthcoming. I'm now hoping honesty prevails and Chris will be allowed back on the court."
Porter, a preseason All-America selection, was suspended Sunday before the No. 19 Tigers played No. 8 Florida after school
officials learned about the in tion. Porter returned to Auburn and admitted to school and Southeastern Conference officials that he had indeed accepted money.
Two sources familiar with the case, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of
Ellis would not directly confirm that.
ple for his sons by graduating from college.
anonymity, said yesterday that Porter needed money to prevent his mother from being evicted from her rural south Alabama home. Porter's mother, Emily, refused to comment on the situation when reached at her home in Abbeville, a town of about 3,000 located approximately 100 miles south of Auburn.
"I know that Chris had been distraught over what seemingly had been a family matter," Ellis said. "And last Thursday he was allowed to go home to Abbeville to attend to a family concern."
Porter has two 2-year-old sons who live in Abbeville, and in an interview with the AP in October said his mother often cared for them. But in the same interview, Porter said he passed up entering the NBA draft last year partly because he wanted to help Auburn reach the Final Four and partly to set an exam-
Porter was not allowed to practice with the Tigers yesterday, but Ellis said the player attended classes. Porter did not respond to a request for comment made through Auburn sports officials, and his telephone number is unpublished.
with a degree in criminal justice. He is averaging 14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds.
He came to Auburn from Chipola (Fla.) Junior College last season and helped the Tigers to a 29-4 record, their first Southeastern Conference regular-season title since 1960 and their first NCAA tournament in 11 seasons.
But since deciding to return to school, Ellis said it had been difficult to keep agents and their representatives away from him.
Team officials had to chase suspicious people out of the hotel lobby earlier this month in
Baton Rouge, La., and have resort-
6 using lake names for Porter, center Mamadou N'diaye and guard Doc Robinson when checking into hotels, Ellis said. Here is one of nos.
I am sick of people who prey on young people and hit them at a
Porter said in October that he had few friends in Auburn and was careful who he associated with. Faced with a financial crisis, Ellis said it would be hard for Porter to figure out who to turn to. He reportedly told Auburn officials he didn't know the man he accepted money from was a sports agent.
"If you are put in a situation, you can't turn to a coach, you can't turn to a booster, so sometimes in a weak moment you fall prey." Ellis said.
Auburn learned of the infraction Saturday while in Gainesville, Fla. School officials immediately sent Porter back to Auburn to talk with university and Southeastern Conference officials. SEC commissioner Roy Kramer is helping the school complete its investigation so that a report can be presented to the NCAA.
Auburn likely will ask the NCAA for a quick reinstatement, which Ellis said was unlikely to happen before tomorrow night's game against No. 12 LSU. Auburn needs to beat LSU to move into a tie with the Tigers for the SEC West lead.
Canucks forward recovering from attack
McSorley suspended for the regular season, may get assault charges
The Associated Press
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — One week later, Donald Brashear remembers nothing of the brutal stick attack.
"If you watch the tape, you can see I was out before I fell on the ice," the Vancouver Canucks forward said yesterday of the stick-swinging hit to the head by Marty McSorley.
He said he remembered waking up, but wasn't sure where. Brashear was found to have most serious kind of concussion and has headaches every day. He cannot exercise for at least two weeks and is expected to be out at least three weeks.
Brashear switched between English and French at the news conference, his first since the attack. He thanked hospital personnel and hockey fans for their support.
Asked whether he recalled taunting the Boston bench before he was struck on Feb. 21, Brashear said: "There's not much I remember. But I remember that was a game that I had to play hard, where I was just doing my job. I remember we got into a fight right off the start. Those are all things that I have to do during a game.
"In a game you try to make people lose their focus by any different way. Certainly not be hitting someone in the head with your stick."
McSorley has apologized profusely. The Boston defenseman was suspended for the rest of the regular season (23 games) and the playoffs. He must meet with commissioner Gary Bettman before he is reinstated.
Brashear takes some consolation in
still being able to function and think about a return to hockey.
"I'm just happy that I can walk right now and be on my feet and see my 4-month-old son, and keep living," he said. "But I'm not going to feel as good as when I'm going to be able to put my skates back on, give a hit or take a hit or get into a fight for my teammates. I'm not going to change the way I play the game in any way."
Brashear said McSorley telephoned him but he wasn't there to take the call. "I don't think I would have talked to him," he said. "Sometimes I wonder what went through his mind to do a thing like that."
Brashear had little to say about the investigation by police, who are considering assault charges.
"I'm not really concerned with that," he said. "That's not something I care about, that I think about every day. What I think about the most is getting healthy and getting back in my skates."
Criminal fraud case against sports agent begins
The Associated Press
Black walked into the courtroom wearing leg shackles and handcuffs that he had worn since turning himself in earlier in the day.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The U.S. government opened its criminal fraud case against agent Tank Black yesterday, accusing him of scamming NFL players out of millions of dollars since June 1996.
In a 20-page indictment unsealed by U.S. Magistrate Gary R. Jones, the government accuses Black and four employees of defrauding several former NFL clients, including former Florida stars Fred Taylor, Ike Hilliard, Reidel Anthony and Jacquez Green.
The accusations nearly duplicate those levied against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a civil case filed last week. The SEC accused Black of defrauding athletes of $5 million.
Unlike that case, this one carries possible jail time — up to 25 years if convicted on all counts.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry Sanford asked that Black be held without bond pending his arraignment on Monday, saying he was a risk to flee the country.
Sanford claimed Black took an April 1998 trip to Jamaica with two fugitive drug dealers from Detroit. The prosecutor claims Black took another trip to Rio De
Janeiro two months earlier with two purported drug dealers to buy property in Brazil.
"If Mr. Black has a history of assisting fugitives between countries, we have a strong belief he would be a risk to flee himself." Sanford told Jones.
Jones ordered a detention hearing for Thursday and released Black in the custody of his attorney, Peter George of Tampa.
Both Sanford and George refused to comment to reporters.
Black, usually outspoken in his own defense, left the courtroom without comment.
Black gained control of money paid to the players by their NFL teams, funneled it
into accounts and then used it for his own benefit, the indictment said.
Last month, Taylor accused Black of cheating him of nearly $3 million.
The indictment lists two payments — one of $2.4 million, another of $650,000 — from Taylor's account at Black's agency to accounts in the Cayman Islands that the government contends were used to launder the money.
Taylor was one of more than a dozen clients who invested a total of $12.5 million and $14 million, Sanford said.
Florida authorities have filed a sworn complaint against Black, accusing him of unlicensed agent activity in the state.
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