Former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda says it took congressional involvement to help Major League Baseball implement a testing policy for steroids. Lasorda made a stop in Waterloo and made his comments in wake of the Mitchell Report which connected several current and former major league stars with steroid use.
Lasorda says Congress is getting involved because it has been reported that there are 500,000 high schoolers taking steroids, and that is what legislators are worried about. Lasorda says the kids can’t be allowed to take steroids as it will "lead them down the path of destruction."
Lasorda says until Congress became involved there was no testing policy. He says a lot of people blame the commissioner, but Lasorda says it was in the player agreement that you couldn’t test for steroids. He says it’s something the union wanted to protect the privacy of players.
Lasorda says while the steroid scandal is a "dark period" for baseball it is something the sport will survive. "Nothing can hurt baseball," Lasorda says. He says they drew over 3 million people this year and says baseball will be here for a long, long time, no matter what adjustments have to be made.
Besides spending 20 years as the Dodgers’ manager Larsoda also managed team USA to a gold medal in the 2000 Olympic Games. He is currently a vice president with the Dodgers.