<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>American pitcher becomes first player to fail drug test in Japan
</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER type="block" width="1" height="1"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><STYLE type=text/css> td.yspwidearticlebody { font-size: 13.5px; }</STYLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspwidearticlebody>By JIM ARMSTRONG, AP Sports Writer
August 10, 2007
TOKYO (AP) -- A former Triple-A pitcher from California has become the first player in Japanese baseball history to flunk a drug test.
Rick Guttormson, who played in the San Diego and Seattle minor league systems, was suspended for 20 days Friday after testing positive for a banned substance. His team, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, was fined $63,000.
Japanese baseball officials said a postgame test July 13 showed Finasteride in Guttormson's system. Finasteride was in a hair-growing agent the 30-year-old Guttormson had been taking for two years. It's banned because it can be used as a masking agent.
"This is extremely regrettable," Japanese baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro said. "We have been very nervous about the issue of doping and we'll need to step up our efforts."
Guttormson is 5-6 this season with a 3.37 ERA for the Hawks. He was the winning pitcher Thursday night in a 5-1 victory over the Seibu Lions.
Guttormson, from Torrance, Calif., who has no major league experience, is in his third season in Japan. He pitched a no-hitter in 2006 for the Yakult Swallows.
The righty played in the Padres' system from 1997-2001 and made it as far as Triple-A. In 2004, he had 25 saves for Double-A San Antonio in the Seattle organization.
This isn't the first time an athlete has run into trouble using hair-growth tonic.
In 2006, NHL goalie Jose Theodore failed a drug test prior to the Olympic Games.
It was later revealed to be caused by hair-growth supplements that Theodore had been taking legally for eight years. The hair supplement Theodore was using, Propecia, could be used as a masking agent for the performance-enhancing drug Nandrolone. The goalie did not face any punishment from the NHL because he had received approval for therapeutic use, but was suspended from international play for two years.
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</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER type="block" width="1" height="1"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><STYLE type=text/css> td.yspwidearticlebody { font-size: 13.5px; }</STYLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspwidearticlebody>By JIM ARMSTRONG, AP Sports Writer
August 10, 2007
TOKYO (AP) -- A former Triple-A pitcher from California has become the first player in Japanese baseball history to flunk a drug test.
Rick Guttormson, who played in the San Diego and Seattle minor league systems, was suspended for 20 days Friday after testing positive for a banned substance. His team, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, was fined $63,000.
Japanese baseball officials said a postgame test July 13 showed Finasteride in Guttormson's system. Finasteride was in a hair-growing agent the 30-year-old Guttormson had been taking for two years. It's banned because it can be used as a masking agent.
"This is extremely regrettable," Japanese baseball commissioner Yasuchika Negoro said. "We have been very nervous about the issue of doping and we'll need to step up our efforts."
Guttormson is 5-6 this season with a 3.37 ERA for the Hawks. He was the winning pitcher Thursday night in a 5-1 victory over the Seibu Lions.
Guttormson, from Torrance, Calif., who has no major league experience, is in his third season in Japan. He pitched a no-hitter in 2006 for the Yakult Swallows.
The righty played in the Padres' system from 1997-2001 and made it as far as Triple-A. In 2004, he had 25 saves for Double-A San Antonio in the Seattle organization.
This isn't the first time an athlete has run into trouble using hair-growth tonic.
In 2006, NHL goalie Jose Theodore failed a drug test prior to the Olympic Games.
It was later revealed to be caused by hair-growth supplements that Theodore had been taking legally for eight years. The hair supplement Theodore was using, Propecia, could be used as a masking agent for the performance-enhancing drug Nandrolone. The goalie did not face any punishment from the NHL because he had received approval for therapeutic use, but was suspended from international play for two years.
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