SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has granted the Major League Baseball Players Association a new hearing in their challenge of the government's use of the positive drug tests of more than 100 players in its investigation of performance enhancing drugs.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday set aside a three-judge panel's ruling that gave federal steroids investigators the authority to use drug-testing records of major leaguers that had been seized. The matter will now be heard by the full court.

The 2-1 ruling by the three-judge panel overturned three lower-court decisions that had determined the government's seizure of medical records was illegal.

The Major League Baseball Players Association is arguing that allowing the government to use the seized medical records without previous evidence of a crime would create a dangerous precedent.

If decision stands, the players who tested positive could be called before a grand jury and asked how they obtained their steroids. Investigators originally were interested in the test results for Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi and others.

The case is United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing Inc., 05-10067.