MLB Hook Up

Alex Rodriguez will have to live with the shame of knowing he juiced, but evidently not a suspension. A day after baseball Commissioner Bud Selig suggested in a published report he hadn't ruled out disciplining Rodriguez after A-Rod's admitted use of performance enhancers, Selig backpedaled yesterday. But a person familiar with Selig's thinking said it was a long shot the commissioner gave serious consideration to pursuing such action, given the resistance he would have faced from the Players Association. One prominent agent said yesterday that MLB would have exposed itself to numerous lawsuits - leaving a lingering focus on a steroid issue Selig just wants to disappear - if a decision was reached to punish Rodriguez. Maybe the biggest obstacle would have been separating Rodriguez from the other 103 players (who have not been named) that Sports Illustrated said also tested positive for illegal performance enhancers during 2003 survey testing.

New York Post