By: History.com Editors

1986

MLB commissioner suspends players in drug scandal

History.com Editors

Published: December 13, 2021

Last Updated: January 30, 2025

On February 28, 1986, Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth suspends 11 players. including some of the sport's biggest names, for their involvement with illegal drugs. The suspensions are the most severe in the baseball since the infamous "Black Sox Scandal" in 1919. The commissioner doles out lesser penalties to 14 other players for their use of drugs.

Among those to receive the stiffest penalty, a conditional one-year suspension, were: Dave Parker (Cincinnati Reds), Keith Hernandez (New York Mets), Joaquin Andujar (Oakland Athletics), Lonnie Smith (Kansas City Royals), Enos Cabell (Los Angeles Dodgers), Jeff Leonard (San Francisco Giants) and Dale Berra (New York Yankees), son of Hall of Famer Yogi Berra.

All 21 players played in 1986 after meeting conditions set by the commissioner.

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Group shot of the 1919 White Sox. They would after this year be known as the "Black Sox Scandal" team, due to the allegation that eight members of the team accepted bribes to lose the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.

By: Fred Frommer

The penalities, the result of an investigation conducted by Ueberroth, came after players testified before a federal grand jury leading up to the September 1985 trials in Pittsburgh of drug traffickers. The scandal, known as the "Pittsburgh Drug Trials," was one of the biggest in the sport's history.

While under oath, Hernandez estimated 40 percent of MLB players used cocaine. Even the Pittsburgh Pirates' mascot, the Pirate Parrott, was implicated for buying cocaine.

By the mid-1980s, major sports leagues realized cocaine use was a major problem.  The same week MLB announced the conditional suspensions, the NBA suspended Micheal Ray Richardson of the New Jersey Nets for life after he failed a third drug test for cocaine.

Ueberroth’s suspensions were much less severe because none of the players had failed drug tests and the abuse seemed to be a thing of the past. “Each player I met with maintains he is currently not using any drugs. I have no reason to doubt this,” he said in a statement following the suspensions.

In 1986, Parker and Hernandez played in the All-Star Game.

However, several of the players involved in the scandal continued to struggle with substance abuse. Willie Aikens, who played for the Angels, Royals and Blue Jays, served time in prison for cocaine distribution.

Timeline

Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on February 28th

1784

John Wesley charters first Methodist Church in U.S.

On February 28, 1784, John Wesley charters the first Methodist Church in the United States. Despite the fact that he was an Anglican, Wesley saw the need to provide church structure for his followers after the Anglican Church abandoned its American believers during the American Revolution.

1844

Tyler narrowly escapes death on the USS Princeton

On February 28, 1844, President John Tyler cruises the Potomac with 400 others aboard the U.S. Navy’s new steam frigate USS Princeton, not realizing that his life will soon be in danger. In attendance that day were political dignitaries and their guests, which included the wealthy New Yorker David Gardiner and his two daughters. The 54-year-old Tyler, a recent widower, had fallen for Gardiner’s youngest, the lovely 20-year-old Julia, to whom he had proposed marriage. She had not yet responded.

1861

Congress creates Colorado Territory

With the region’s white population booming because of the Pike’s Peak gold rush, Congress creates the new Territory of Colorado.

1878

Silver dollars made legal

Strongly supported by western mining interests and farmers, the Bland-Allison Act—which provided for a return to the minting of silver coins—becomes the law of the land.

1944

Test pilot Reitsch pitches suicide squad to Hitler

Hanna Reitsch, the first female test pilot in the world, suggests the creation of the Nazi equivalent of a kamikaze squad of suicide bombers while visiting Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden. Hitler was less than enthusiastic about the idea.

1953

Chemical structure of DNA discovered

On February 28, 1953, Cambridge University scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announce that they have determined the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule containing human genes. The molecular biologists were aided significantly by the work of another DNA researcher, Rosalind Franklin, although she is not included in the announcement, nor did she share the subsequent Nobel Prize award for it.

1982

Getty Museum endowed

On February 28, 1982, the J. Paul Getty Museum becomes the most richly endowed museum on earth when it receives a $1.2 billion bequest left to it by the late J. Paul Getty.

1983

Final episode of M*A*S*H airs

On February 28, 1983, the celebrated sitcom M*A*S*H bows out after 11 seasons, airing a special two-and-a-half hour episode watched by 77 percent of the television viewing audience. It was the largest percentage ever to watch a single TV show up to that time.

1987

Gorbachev calls for nuclear weapons treaty

In a surprising announcement, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev indicates that his nation is ready to sign “without delay” a treaty designed to eliminate U.S. and Soviet medium-range nuclear missiles from Europe. Gorbachev’s offer led to a breakthrough in negotiations and, eventually, to the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in December 1987.

1993

ATF raids Branch Davidian compound

At Mount Carmel in Waco, Texas, agents of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) launch a raid against the Branch Davidian compound as part of an investigation into illegal possession of firearms and explosives by the Christian cult.

1994

First NATO military action

In the first military action in the 45-year history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), U.S. fighter planes shoot down four Serbian warplanes engaged in a bombing mission in violation of Bosnia’s no-fly zone.

2013

Pope Benedict resigns

On February 28, 2013, less than three weeks after making the unexpected announcement that he would step down, 85-year-old Pope Benedict XVI officially resigns. Citing advanced age as the reason for giving up his post as the leader of the 1.2 billion-member Roman Catholic Church, Benedict was the first pontiff to relinquish power in nearly 600 years. Two weeks after Benedict resigned, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, was elected pope.

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Citation Information

Article title
MLB commissioner suspends players in drug scandal
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
March 22, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
January 30, 2025
Original Published Date
December 13, 2021

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