Major League Baseball stops testing its players for steroids after nearly 20 years, report says

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball has stopped testing players for steroids for the first time in nearly 20 years due to the expiration of the sport's drug agreement, two people familiar with the sport's Joint Drug Program told The Associated Press.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because no public announcement was made.

The halt in testing is a casualty of the sport's lockout that started Dec. 2 and a provision in the joint drug agreement between MLB and the players' association that states «the termination date and time of the program shall be 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 1, 2021.»

«It should be a major concern to all those who value fair play,» Travis Tygart, chief executive officer of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said Monday.

MLB and the union declined comment on the halt.

Just last month, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were denied election to the Hall of Fame by baseball writers over suspicions of PEDs use. Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez, who both served drug suspensions, fell well short in voting.

«If it's just a simple matter of agreeing to it.» Tygart said, «you would have hoped they would have been able to get that figured out, so that when the game does restart, you don't have questions hanging over individual players based on size, speed, batting percentage, home run numbers, whatever it may be, that people are going to call into question again.»

Absent fear of detection, it is hard to predict whether some players will attempt to use PEDs in the period before a new collective bargaining agreement is in place along with a restoration of the drug-testing program.

«You could easily do what the cyclists were doing even in a good testing program, which was microdosing of testosterone,» Tygart said. «You