Sixteen members of the Chicago White Sox seemed willing Tuesday to be labeled as failing a steriods test and submit themselves to a treatment program in order to make testing in Major League Baseball mandatory through 2005.

The players were going to refuse to take the test, according to a report by Bruce Levine, who covers the White Sox for ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago. Refusing to be tested would automatically register each player as having a positive test for steroids.

According to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, if more than 5 percent of major league players test positive, mandatory steroids testing will continue until 2005. Testing, however, will stop if fewer than 2.5 percent of players test positive, according to the CBA.

But the plan to bypass testing did not sit well with some members of the White Sox, who were vocal in their opposition to the strategy. Many of the players opposed to the block of 16 cited the number of young players who followed veterans in eschewing testing.

"If you are a player who wants to stand for that, fine, but don't implicate young players," White Sox catcher Sandy Alomar said. "They said some of the veterans asked them not to do it. If you are a veteran guy and you don't want to do it, that is fine. The young guys do what they are told. They want to support the veteran guys."

After debate amongst the White Sox, player representative Kelly Wunsch contacted Orza, who convinced the players to submit to testing.

"They were talked out of this by Gene Orza, but they tried to do this not to protest, but to make steroid testing permanent," Levine said on the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio.

''There were some ideas floating around that got shelved quickly. It wouldn't be fair to the union,'' Wunsch said in Tucson, Ariz. ''If we do anything to subvert that process then we would be unfair to the union, and what was agreed upon in the agreement.

''I made a few calls to clarify a couple of things, and then I came back (into the clubhouse) and said, 'Let's take the test,''' Wunsch added.

Orza is the associate general counsel for the MLB Players' Association. All 16 players ended up taking the test, according to Levine.

Commissioner Bud Selig was angered when he heard some of the White Sox had considered not taking the test, according to a high-ranking baseball official.

Orza declined comment, saying only, ''The operation of the testing program by agreement of the parties is confidential.''

Rob Manfred, executive vice president of labor relations in the commissioner's office, also declined comment.

White Sox general manager Kenny Williams applauded his team's thought process.

"Although the players and their union do their own business, I admire our players greatly for taking a stand," Williams said.

Orza did say that the White Sox situation was an internal player matter and should be dealt with as such. Alomar made his feelings public, trying to explain his take on the situation."

"If you think 5 percent is what you want, if you want mandatory testing, stand for that," Alomar said. "But don't implicate the young players."

According to the CBA, a first-time positive test for steroids requires a player to be placed in a treatment program. If the player tests positive a second or third time, he will be subject to suspension from 30 days to two years.

Information from SportsTicker and The Associated Press was used in this report.