Schmidt possible for Cubs

PHILADELPHIA – Mike Schmidt, the Phillies' All-Star third baseman, may be back in the lineup tonight when the Phillies open a two-game series at Veterans Stadium against the Chicago Cubs (7:35).

However, left fielder Greg Luzinski is doubtful. Luzinski complained to trainer Don Seger that his right knee was sore after Saturday's game in St. Louis. Seger said the injury isn t serious, but some fluid was drained from the knee Tuesday morning.

Schmidt was voted to a starting position on the All-Star team but did not play because of a hamstring pull that had limited him to two starts and one pinch-hit appearance in the Phillies' last 11 games.

SCHMIDT, TIED for the major league home run lead with 21, has more homers off Cub pitchers than any other club.

The Phillies come into the game with a 41-35 record and trail the National League East-leading Montreal Expos by one game as only five games separate the first four teams. The defending World Series and National League champion Pittsburgh Pirates are 1½ games behind the Expos and just a half-game behind the Phillies. The New York Mets, in fourth, are five games back.

DICK RUTHVEN (7-5) will start for the Phillies, with Mike Krukow (6-9) getting the nod for the fifth-place Cubs, who trail the Expos by nine games.

Drug probe clears Bowa, Schmidt

Phillies face no charges

By Rusty Pray of the Courier-Post

A Pennsylvania prosecutor says Phillies players Larry Bowa and Mike Schmidt have been cleared in a drug investigation which reportedly involved them, two other Phillies and four members of the club's top minor league franchise.

"As far as news reports of Schmidt and Bowa, the information we have on those two individuals shows no connection at all, even innocently," Berks County District Attorney George Yatron said yesterday.

"That is not to say that the others (Rose and Luzinski) were not connected in an innocent way," added Yatron, who would prosecute any crimes uncovered by the narcotics squad.

The investigation, which sources said is being conducted by the Pennsylvania Drug Law Enforcement Bureau, originally focused on Phillies Greg Luzinski, Pete Rose, Bowa and Schmidt, and four unnamed members of the Eastern League's Reading (Pa.) Phillies farm team.

Several players and some of their wives received amphetamine pills illegally from a Reading, Pa., physician, the sources said. The doctor, drug agents said, was handing out prescriptions without conducting state-mandated physical examinations of patients.

In some cases, the pills were reportedly hand-delivered to the players by an unnamed "runner."

It still is unclear if the recipients could be charged with a crime, and no charges have been filed in connection with the investigation.

Yatron said the investigation is continuing and likely to continue through the end of the month.

"At this point, we have no evidence that anybody has broken the law," the prosecutor said. "This is a routine investigation to determine what had occurred. We have to examine the issues to see if any violations were committed by anyone."

On Tuesday, Dr. Patrick Mazza, 56, said he probably was the target of the investigation even though he has not been contacted by law enforcement officials. He has been the only Reading physician associated with the farm club for the past 12 years.

Mazza volunteered to open his records to the state, if asked, to prove his innocence.

Yesterday, a copyright story in the Reading Times quoted an unidentified pharmacist as saying a “runner" filled approximately seven prescriptions for Phillies pitchers Steve Carlton, Larry Chnstenson and Randy Lerch and Bowa's wife Sheena over a two-year period, the last about 10 months ago.

All the prescriptions were for the amphetamine Desoxyn and were signed by Mazza, the pharmacist said.

Mazza denied prescribing amphetamines for Phillies players and their wives. "I don't recall that. I totally deny that," Mazza told the newspaper.

Phillies owner Ruly Carpenter said yesterday an anonymous caller tipped him off Monday morning about a newspaper story describing the investigation that was to appear in the Trenton Times.

Speaking at a Veterans Stadium news conference in Philadelphia, Carpenter said he called the reporter and cautioned him about having the facts straight before the story was published. Later, the owner said he called narcotics authorities, who he said advised him to remain silent until the investigation is completed.

Since the number of Phillies players implicated has dropped from four to two in three days, Carpenter couldn't resist a shot at the media.

"A two-for-four batting average is good in baseball, but not good in newspaper work," he said.

"No one has been charged with anything, no one has been accused, no one has broken any laws, it's all speculative,'' the owner continued. "It's not a big deal. But because they're professional athletes, they're news."

Carpenter said no action against the players is expected "until official charges are made and guilt is proven. I have spoken to the commissioner of baseball, Bowie Kuhn. He is aware of the accounts and said he will be looking into the matter."

En route from the locker room to the practice field at the stadium yesterday, first baseman Rose denied he had been notified by drug authorities and that he would be required to answer questions related to the probe this week.

"I made a mistake yesterday," h& said, referring to an earlier comment in which he stated he knew no doctors in Pennsylvania. “I know two doctors: The team doctor for the Pittsburgh Pirates and for the Philadelphia Phillies."

Third baseman Schmidt, shortstop Bowa and left fielder Luzinski were not immediately available for comment.

In Phila. sports, ban on drugs an unwritten law

By Laurel Reid Gravett and Louis T. Lounsberry of the Courier-Post

The policies may not be spelled out in writing, but spokesmen for Philadelphia's professional sports teams say drug abuse by players is strictly forbidden.

And they also say the national sports leagues play an active role in monitoring players' use of drugs.

Chick McElrone, spokesman for Eagles coach Dick Vermeil, said illegal use of drugs by players is not tolerated by the football team. If a player is suspected of using drugs, he said, the matter is turned over to the National Football League, which has a security unit to deal with such offenses.

A player suspected of illegal drug use also may be suspended at the discretion of the coach, he said.

McElrone said the only drugs players are permitted to use are medicines prescribed by the team physician or a private doctor for treatment of a particular medical condition.

He said no player has been suspended for illegal drug use since he joined the club in 1971.

(Three Eagles were arrested in a June 1979 drug raid in Gloucester Township and suspended before the 1979 season began. Two of the players – Mike Hogan, now with the San Francisco 49ers, and former player Will Wynn – were cleared of charges they conspired to distrubute cocaine. The third player – James Betterson – was placed on 13 months probation in May as a possible prelude to dismissal of the charges against him. He plans to try out for the team when training camp opens later this month.)

Bruce Bryde, public relations director for the Philadelphia 76ers, also said the use of illegal drugs is not tolerated by the basketball team.

Bryde said the National Basketball Association has a strict policy against the abuse of drugs and keeps a tight control over the handling of drugs by trainers and team doctors.

Dr. Edward Viner of Pennsylvania Hospital, physician for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, said he did not know whether the club has any written rules regarding drug use, and other team officials were not available for comment on that question.

But, like the Eagles' and 76ers' spokesmen, Viner said illegal use of drugs is not tolerated by the Flyers.

"There's no question there's an unwritten policy – no drugs," he said.

"I have never seen nor heard nor suspected any Flyer took anything of any consequence – any 'uppers,' 'downers,' anything like that, Viner said. "Nor have I ever had any reason to think any player is using them.

"They're very, very careful," he continued. "They are very concerned about their bodies. It translates in them not to abuse their bodies except on the ice."

He said most of the players he knows come from small town backgrounds and are not inclined to become involved with drugs. In fact, he said, he often has trouble convincing players to take medicines they need for treatment of medical conditions.

"They're a very different group of people," he said. "They're a very clean-living group of people... with none of the big city approach to life."

He also said he has never been pushed to supply pain-killing medicines to injured players to keep them on the ice during a game.

"They never go on the ice with any pain medication," he said.

If any players were suspected of abusing drugs, their cases would be referred to the National Hockey League, which takes a strong stand on drug use, according to NHL President John Ziegler.

"We have and continue to have a strong policy against the use of any of those (drugs)," Ziegler said yesterday. "It's forbidden. It has no part in our sport."

Penalties for drug abuse by players are left to Ziegler's discretion.

Two years ago, Ziegler said, he doled out a one-year suspension to Don Murdoch of the New York Rangers in connection with Murdoch's reported possession of a small amount of cocaine.

The suspension was shortened to six months because of Murdoch's good behavior, Ziegler said.

At the time of the suspension, Ziegler issued a public statement explaining the NHL policy.

"Any player presently in the NHL or who may hereafter join the NHL," his statement said, "must face the fact that if he wishes to be involved in illegal drugs, then he will, if discovered, lose his privilege of playing in the NHL."

Ziegler said the league carefully monitors the dispensing of drugs to players in league teams.

Frank A. Torpey, director of NHL security, said the league has conducted drug audits of all teams since 1973.

At the beginning of each season, Torpey said, team trainers must send the NHL a list of all drugs on hand. The type of drugs usually handled by the teams include penicillin, diuretics and muscle relaxants, he said.

Whenever a drug is dispensed, the person who receives it must sign a form indicating he knows the nature of the drug, what  Carolinais to be used for and in what dosage it should be taken, he said.

During the season, Torpey said, he and an assistant visit every club in the league, checking the existing drug supplies against the original drug list and the number of forms signed as the drugs were dispensed.

 Torpey said trainers like the audit, despite the added paperwork, because it protects them from future claims by players that they didn't know what kind of drugs they were taking.

Prosecutor:  Still No Evidence Phillies Have Broken Law

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Amid published reports linking more Philadelphia Phillies to the possibly illegal supplying of amphetamines, a prosecutor said Wednesday that there is no evidence so far that any laws have been broken. 

Such Phillies stars as Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt and Larry Bowa have been linked in newspaper accounts with the investigation into the alleged illegal prescribing of the stimulants by a Reading physician. 

"At this point, we have no evidence that would indicate that anyone has broken the law,” said Berks County District Attorney George Yatron, who would prosecute any alleged crimes uncovered by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Drug Control. He cautioned that the investigation has not been completed. 

"As far as news reports of Schmidt and Bowa, the information we have on those two individuals shows no connection at all, even innocently,” the district attorney said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. 

Yatron said his office has been kept informed of the investigation and provided legal advice. “I don’t think it jeopardizes anything to confirm that there has been an investigation…. At this time, I think it improper to go into details of the investigative means being used. 

"We hope by the end of the month perhaps to be in a position to make some official comments," Yatron said when asked when the investigation would be concluded. 

The state Justice Department, which administers the Bureau of Drug Control, had no comment on the investigation, a spokesman said. 

“No one has been charged with anything, no one has been accused, no one has broken any laws. It’s all speculative,” Phillies President Ruly Carpenter said in a press conference Wednesday. 

Carpenter reiterated the club’s policy against the use of drugs, saying that Phillies’ trainers don’t issue players drugs without a doctor’s prescription. 

Carpenter said Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn has been notified, and the club, its officials and players would have no further comment at the request of the Bureau of Drug Control and the Phillies’ attorneys. “We’re in a pennant race and the No. 1 priority in our minds is tomorrow (Thursday) night’s game with the Chicago Cubs,” Carpenter said. 

Reached at the All-Star Game Tuesday in Los Angeles, Schmidt and Rose denied receiving illicit drugs. Schmidt called the reports “totally ridiculous.” 

“I don’t even know any doctors in Pennsylvania,” said Rose. 

Besides Bowa, Schmidt, Rose and slugger Greg Luzinski, four other unnamed Phillies and several unnamed members of the Phillies’ Reading farm team were named in a copyright story about the investigation in The Trenton (NJ) Times Tuesday. Neither Bowa nor Luzinski could be reached for comment. 

In a copyright story Wednesday, The Reading Times said Phillies pitchers Steve Carlton, Larry Christenson and Randy Lerch, and Bowa’s wife got prescriptions for the amphetamine Desoxyn in Reading, according to an unidentified pharmacist. 

According to the pharmacist, a “runner” filled approximately seven prescriptions for Phillies players over a two-year period, the last about 10 months ago. All were signed by Dr. Patrick Mazza, the Reading Phillies’ team physician, the unidentified pharmacist was quoted as saying. 

Mazza denied prescribing amphetamines for Phillies players. “I don’t recall that. I totally deny that,” Mazza told The Reading Times. 

“It’s not good medical practice to prescribe drugs without a physical examination, and I’ve never done it,” Mazza told The Courier-Post of Cherry Hill, N.J. “I’m not afraid to open my records,” the doctor said.

Schmidt In, Luzinski Out?

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mike Schmidt, the Phillies’ All-Star third baseman, may be back in the lineup tonight when Philadelphia hosts the Chicago Cubs, but left fielder Greg Luzinski is doubtful, the National League team announced Wednesday. 

Luzinski complained to trainer Don Seger that his right knee was sore after Saturday’s game in St Louis. Seger said the injury isn’t serious, but some fluid was drained from the knee Tuesday morning. 

Schmidt was voted to a starting position on the All-Star team but did not play because of a hamstring pull that had limited him to two starts and one pinch-hit appearance in the Phillies’ last 11 games. 

Schmidt, tied for the major league home run lead with 21, has more homers off Cub pitchers than any other club.