I understand the problem, but this solution seems rather troublesome to me:
Confronted with cases of identity and age falsification by Latin American baseball prospects, Major League Baseball is conducting genetic testing on some promising young players and their parents.
Many experts in genetics consider such testing a violation of personal privacy. Federal legislation, signed into law last year and scheduled to take effect Nov. 21, prohibits companies based in the United States from asking an employee, a potential employee or a family member of an employee for a sample of their DNA . . . Last week the Yankees voided the signing of an amateur from the Dominican Republic after a DNA test conducted by Major League Baseball's department of investigations showed that the player had misrepresented his identity.
As explained in the article, this is an area of science and medicine fraught with ethical landmines. This may be the best quote: "The funny thing about this all is that the most famous baseball player with a genetic disorder was Lou Gehrig. Would they have signed him if they knew he was predisposed to A.L.S.?" Not sure if that's as big a concern as it would be in an office setting -- baseball is generally done with its people by the time they reach the age genetic diseases start to affect them -- but it's not as if there aren't other concerns.
What happens when a team, looking to verify someone's biological information, finds out that their shortstop prospect isn't really the son of the man he thought was his father? What happens later, when a player reaches free agency and the team who signed him knows X about his predisposition to bone or ligament injury because they conducted the tests out of the country while other teams -- presumably subject to the new law -- do not and cannot?
I'm sympathetic to the teams in all of this because they're paying out huge amounts of money to players who are quite often lying to them and, unlike any other kind of business transaction, it's not as if they can easily sue to get their money back if fraud is discovered. Absent testing, that signing bonus is going to be long gone by the time a guy's true age comes to light, and the courts in the Dominican Republic may not be too terribly welcoming to the teams. Once a player reaches Miguel Tejada's age suing becomes impractical for numerous reasons, both legal and otherwise.
But are we cool with this? I'll take argument on either side of it, but it gives me some vaguely Orwellian chills.
Leave a Comment:
Saving...
I understand the concerns here, but I think we are still pretty far from Oceania. Big Brother put its foot down on everyone but a very small group of inner party members. This genetic testing will affect only a very small group of talented young people who stand to make millions assuming they are who they say they are.
A person's privacy is theirs to cherish or relinquish as they see fit, and I can't speak for every American, but I suspect many of us would allow a substantial violation of our privacy if we were given a multi-million dollar incentive for the violation. I know it is not that simple in this case, as MLB could require the DNA testing on a take it or leave it basis: either get tested and get signed or don't get tested and don't get signed. Still, for many of these foreign-born players, signing with a MLB team is a life-altering moment, both for them and their families. I think many of them would knowingly and willingly make that choice.
I think the results of the DNA test can be limited. Have doctors provide MLB with information confirming or denying parentage and then destroy the records of the test. If a DNA test can demonstrate a predisposition to arm and ligament damage (and I don't know whether it can or cannot), then don't allow the teams to have access to that information.
If I have a problem with the program, it is that it doesn't seem to prove anything. What if the prospect's parents are in on the deception? Does DNA testing help in that scenario? I don't think that DNA testing really will solve the problem of identity and age falsification, but I don't think that it is necessarily that frightening either.
Unfortunately if this is all they'll test for, I think you'll see an absurd number of "adopted" players hit the market.
"...and then destroy the records of the test."
After seeing what's happened with the 2003 PED sample testing results that were supposed to be anonymous but were never destroyed, I wouldn't trust anyone with MLB or MLBPA with my private medical records.
MLB is giving out larges sums of money to people who aren't who they say they are. This is a big problem. And something needed to be done. Until a better solution comes along, I'm okay with this.
Gattaca!!
Can't the testing be limited to proof of identity, and not allow for looking at diseases, etc? It would seem to me that as long as a prospect has the right to refuse the testing the rule is ok. After all, that gives the MLB teams the right to refuse to hire him. Athletes are often required to give up certain rights or privacy in exchange for $$. This is no different.
I think the issue of parentage testing for players is interesting, but as long as everything works correctly, teams using it test for a "predisposition to bone or ligament injury" is ridiculous. First of all, there is no testing for that...and, secondly (and probably more importantly) predisposition does not mean that it is a definite!
I work in genetics and I see how the general public freaks out about genetic testing, making laws like GINA necessary in legislature. I never thought about it crossing over into baseball, but if it makes people nervous enough, MLB should just ban it altogether.
However, since Bud Selig is commissioner, I'm not sure we can trust him to do anything beneficial to MLB regarding this matter....
A person, of any profession that lies about who they really are is not a problem for MLB to solve. It is a problem of violation of existing laws in other countries not just the Dominican Republic. MLB and MLB teams should sign those players that they feel comfortable with and that their independent research has provided substantial evidence that the player is equipped to play the game. Getting into DNA testing is a violation of a person's rights to privacy and for MLB to do this in the D.R and not other countries is unethical and discriminatory. Who's to say that Hideki Matsui is the son of a man listed on his birth certificate? Sure, we have seen cases where a player may have lied about his age and even name, but let's not assume that the problem or solution should be aimed at one nationality alone. If we can not set rules that can be followed by all clubs and players no matter where they come from, then it is a broken rule at the very start of its implementation.
Lets also not be as silly to believe that baseball clubs have nothing to do with this. A player that can sell tickets and make you money is an asset regardless of his name or parents. An owner will get him to the U.S no matter what the cost, and I'm willing to bet that the cost of doing so is much less than the return on that investment.
Also, lets not forget that MLB has no loyalty to confidentiality of private information nor that they can keep to their word of anonymity when it comes to this stuff (as in the famous list of 100 players that tested positive that revealed A-Rod's name as a steroids user). If baseball wants to clean this up, you start with the MLB teams that pay out this money to make taking the risk of falsification of ID be worth taking.