Posted on Fri Aug 10, 2007 at 11:10:29 AM EST in MLB
More on: Japan, baseball, drugs, suspension, Rick Guttormson (all tags)

It's bad enough when any professional athlete in any sport test positive for drugs. It's even worse when someone becomes the first player to fail a drug test in the history of a sport. But the absolute worst has to be getting suspended for pissing dirty and having the banned substance turn out to be a version of Rogaine!

American pitcher Rick Guttormson became the first person in the history of Japanese baseball to fail a drug test after officials revealed that Finasteride, a hair growing agent, was found in his system following a July 13 postgame test. So, why would someone get suspended over trying to get a thick, luxurious head of hair? Well, the stuff does more than conceal bald spots, it's also used by some as a masking agent.

Apparently, Guttormson has been taking the stuff for a couple of years now, but that doesn't make the Japanese Bud Seligs any happier about the situation. In addition to receiving a 20-day suspension from the Japan Pacific League, his team, the Softbank Hawks, were also fined $63,000. Now, we don't know much about the current state of the hair restoration market, but we're going to guess that a toupee would have been a whole lot cheaper.

Links:
[NewsChannel5.com]: A hair-raising story from Japan

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