Michael T. Mondak speaks: 40 til 40 day 37

 This is day 37 of the 40 til 40 series of blog entries leading up to Thursday and my 40th birthday.

In this entry I’m going to talk about the infamous Pittsburgh drug trials that took place 40 years ago in 1985.

The 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials were the catalyst for a cocaine scandal in Major League Baseball.  Many then-current and former major league players testified before a grand jury at the federal courthouse on Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh.

The following players testified:

  • Dale Berra

  • Lee Lacy

  • Lee Mazzilli

  • John Milner

  • Dave Parker

  • Rod Scurry

  • Willie Aikens

  • Vida Blue

  • Joaquin Andújar 

  • Al Holland

  • Lary Sorensen

  • Claudell Washington

  • Gary Matthews

  • Dusty Baker

  • Dickie Noles

  • Manny Sarmiento

  • Daryl Sconiers

  • Derrel Thomas

  • Enos Cabell

  • Keith Hernandez

  • Jeffrey Leonard

  • Tim Raines

  • Lonnie Smith

  • Alan Wiggins

Their testimony led to the September 1985 drug trials.  Eleven of the players were suspended in February 1986 by then-commissioner Peter Ueberroth.  The suspensions ranged from 60 days to the entire 1986 season.  However, all eleven were offered an out:  They could play under the condition that they had to contribute between five and ten percent of their salaries to drug abuse programs, submit to random drug testing and perform between 50 and 100 hours of drug-related community service.  The other ten players were not suspended or otherwise punished, but were subjected to random drug testing for the remainder of their careers.

Seven men pleaded guilty or were convicted:

  • Curtis Strong was convicted on 11 counts of possession of cocaine with intent to sell and was sentenced to 12 years in prison.  He was released after serving four years.

  • Dale Shiffman was indicted on 111 counts, 20 of which he pleaded guilty.  He was sentenced to 12 years, and served two of them in federal prison.

  • Shelby Greer pleaded guilty to seven counts.

  • Thomas P. Balzer pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to sell and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

  • Kevin M. Connolly pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to sell and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

  • Jeffrey L. Mosco pleaded guilty to three drug-related county and served 18 months in prison.

  • Robert W. McCue was convicted on seven counts of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Kevin Koch, the first person to play the role of the Pirate Parrot, was implicated but agreed to cooperate with federal investigators in exchange for the dismissal of more than 100 federal charges.  He nearly lost his job as the mascot, but ultimately kept the role for the rest of the 1980s.  One of his regular substitutes was current broadcaster Greg Brown, who had been a weekend sports anchor at WFMJ in Youngstown.

The 1985 season was a bad one for the Pirates.  The team lost 104 games, Bob Prince died, the team was put up for sale, the drug trials stole the national headlines, and manager Chuck Tanner was fired and replaced with Jim Leyland.

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