At the Yankees’ camp, New York special adviser Reggie Jackson said Selig called him to give a “reprimand” after the Hall of Famer discussed steroids in a newspaper interview last year. Jackson said because of that, he couldn’t discuss the new program.

Pat Courtney, a spokesman for Selig, said the commissioner didn’t know what Jackson was referring to.

Rob Manfred, executive vice president for labor relations in the commissioner’s office, would not discuss how long it would take for Thursday’s test results to come back. He said the timing of when players are tested is determined by a random pull by hand. Last year, each player was tested only once unless a medical panel found “cause,” but the limit has been removed.

“A player always is subject to an additional test,” he said.

Howe, whose penalties were from 1983-92, now owns an energy drink company. He said players in recent years had faced pressure to produce power, with teams holding the attitude: “If you don’t hit home runs, then you’re going to be gone.”

Still, he doesn’t think the problem in baseball is widespread.

“For whatever reasons, holes have been dug by everybody, so you do what it takes to clear it,” he said. “A guy asked me one time, ’Well, how bad is the drug problem in major league baseball?’ And I go, ‘Go take a survey of your housewives, your doctors, your lawyers, your people down the street, and there you got your problem.”’

He also rejects the argument that baseball players should be held up as role models.

“The question needs to be asked: Why would your son choose me to be his role model rather than you, dad?” he said.

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