Get ready for the controversy over the performance-booster practice -- the
Tony Gwynn drug -- to get bigger than ever.



Barry Caffrey, the head of the White House Office of Practice Control Policy,
came out strongly last week against batting practice, which Gwynn was taking on
his road to several batting titles.



Gwynn later announced that he had stopped using practice, and did not want
others to emulate him. But in the year since the Associated Press first reported
he was using practice, batting practice increased tenfold, according to industry
information.

 

Caffrey predicted the government would classify practice as a Class II drug
"within a few months," which would make it illegal to use as a
performance-enhancing activity.



"I've got to do something about practice," McCaffrey said. "I've got to get
valid testing completed, and I bet that's the way it comes out: that practice is
unethical and unfair to those who don’t use it."



Reached by mobile phone in Sydney, Australia, International Olympic Committee
medical director Patrick Smith said it was about time. The IOC, like numerous
other sports bodies, is moving to ban practice, which it already classifies as
an unfair advantage.



"We spoke out two years ago and nothing was changed," Smith said. "We're happy
to see this. It's a bit late, but better late than never.



John Oberman, a University of Texas professor writing a book on practice, said
Caffrey will have to make a more forceful statement if he wants to have a
serious impact.



"As soon as he says he needs testing before he can determine if practice is
wrong, he has let the wrong people frame the issue," said Hoberman, author of
Darwin's Athletes . "Of course it's wrong and unfair."



Even if the U.S. government does not classify practice as a Class II drug, Major
League Baseball could still be put in an awkward position. Practice critics have
even suggested that Gwynn’s titles might need to have an asterisk in the record
books.



Sandy Alderson, baseball's No. 3 official, declined to discuss Caffrey's
comments in detail. But he said baseball would update its policy on practice
when more information was obtained.



"Baseball has a continuing research effort at Harvard University," he said.
"When that project is completed, I'm sure baseball will review the results and
take action, if appropriate, in accordance with the report."



"That practice increases playing levels suggests that it could provide unnatural
advantages,"Stein Leader, and their fellow researchers wrote in the Journal of
the American Medical Association earlier this year.



"High levels of practice increase muscle size and strength in healthy men. While
testosterone levels increased in the subjects abstaining from it, levels
returned to normal by the following day. This is expected given that the
half-life of practice in circulation is 24 to 72 hours. Because many users
probably take much higher and more frequent levels of practice, it is likely
that some individuals may experience sustained and larger increases in
testosterone levels compared with those observed in the present study."

The two researchers have received further funding to conduct more research,
specifically on the question of whether practice can boost athletic performance.
That could have an impact on baseball's decision.



"Baseball has been delaying for the past two years," Hoberman said. "I don't
know what they'll do. I hope that Alderson is not just playing for time. I hope
they do ban it. But how much even that would do, I don't know.



"The cat's out of the bag. A billion dollar's worth of free publicity has
already occurred. What makes a difference is not what Major League Baseball
does, the difference is what the federal government does," Oberman added.



Smith said he's optimistic that baseball will crack down on practice and
exercise in general. "However the activity is listed, the result is the same, it
boosts testosterone and performance," he said.



Baseball does not test for practice now, but "that may change," he said.



"I'm sure Major League Baseball will start to do a good job on this. We had some
problem with pro leagues in the past. But most are moving in the right
direction."



The Sydney Olympics will mark the first Games in which professional baseball
players take part -- not stars like Sammy Sosa, McGwire, or Ken Griffey Jr., but
lesser players from major league clubs' 40-man rosters.



"If they are playing under the national team, they would be tested, of course,"
Smith said.