Commissioner Ueberroth Suspends Players in Drug Scandal

On February 28, 1986, Commissioner Peter Ueberroth suspended 11 players and penalized 10 others in the most sweeping disciplinary action in baseball since the Black Sox scandal of 1919. The suspensions followed testimony at the 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials, where players admitted to cocaine use and described a network of dealers connected to the sport. Among those receiving year-long conditional suspensions were Keith Hernandez of the Mets, Dave Parker of the Reds, Joaquin Andujar of the Athletics, Lonnie Smith of the Royals, Jeff Leonard of the Giants, Dale Berra of the Yankees, and Enos Cabell of the Dodgers.

The penalties were conditional. Players could avoid serving them by donating a percentage of their salary to drug programs, performing community service, and submitting to random testing. All 21 players met the conditions and played in 1986. The scandal exposed the extent of drug use across the sport and forced baseball to reckon with a problem it had largely ignored. It also set a precedent for commissioner-led investigations that would surface again in later decades.

Three years later, on February 28, 1989, the Veterans Committee elected Red Schoendienst and umpire Al Barlick to the Hall of Fame. Schoendienst had spent 19 seasons as a player, mostly at second base for the Cardinals, and later managed St. Louis to the 1967 World Series title. Barlick umpired in the National League for 28 seasons and was assigned to seven All-Star Games and seven World Series. Both were inducted that July in Cooperstown alongside Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski, drawing what was then the largest crowd in induction ceremony history.

On this date in 1941, the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Giants 4-3 in their spring training opener in Havana, Cuba, one of several exhibition tours that brought major league baseball to the island before the Cuban Revolution ended the practice.