Major League Baseball in North America has suspended 13 players, including New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, for their links to a now-closed clinic that allegedly supplied them with banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Rodriguez — baseball’s highest paid player with an annual salary of $25 million — was suspended Monday for 211 games, although he plans to appeal the decision and can play while it is being considered. His suspension would extend through the entire 2014 season.

The other 12 suspended all agreed to 50-game suspensions that begin immediately. They gave up their right to appeal.

Rodriguez, voted three times as baseball’s most valuable player, was the biggest name among those suspended.

But three others with 50-game bans were voted by fans as all-stars this year, including Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers, Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers and Everth Cabrera of the San Diego Padres. Another of the game’s biggest stars, Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers, recently accepted a 65-game ban in the same investigation.

The 13 suspensions announced Monday bring to 18 the total number of players linked to the now-closed Biogenesis anti-aging clinic in Miami, Florida. [Read More]

—–
Source: VOA News: Economy and Finance