Appeals court bars feds from using pro baseball players' steroids test results

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

It may have come too late for current and former baseball superstars such as Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz, but a federal appeals court Wednesday barred federal prosecutors from using the names and urine samples of about 100 Major League Baseball players who tested positive for steroids in 2003.

The decision most likely cuts off any further government investigation that could publicly expose all of those players and amounts to a slam to federal investigators who combed through the steroids tests in 2004 as part of the sprawling BALCO probe into doping in sports, including the possible steroid use of home run king Barry Bonds.