Alex Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003
According to a report by Sports Illustrated, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2003, when he was with the Texas Rangers and won the AL home run title and MVP award.
According to the report, which was posted Saturday morning on SI.com, sources told the publication that Rodriguez was on a list of 104 players who tested positive that year, when Major League Baseball conducted survey tests to see if mandatory, random drug-testing was needed.
Sources who know about the testing results told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan, an anabolic steroid.
In 2003, there were no penalties for a positive result.
Rodriguez, reached at a Miami gym Thursday for comment by Sports Illustrated, said: "You'll have to talk to the union."
Asked if there were an explanation for the positive test result, Rodriguez told SI: "I'm not saying anything."
Sources confirmed to ESPN's T.J. Quinn that Rodriguez was aware he tested positive for steroids in 2003.
Primobolan, also known as methenolone, is an injected or orally administered drug. It improves strength and maintains lean muscle with minimal bulk development and few side effects. It is not an approved prescription drug in the United States. Testosterone can be taken legally with a prescription.
In a December 2007 interview with "60 Minutes," however, three days after George Mitchell's report on drugs in the sport was released, Rodriguez denied using performance-enhancing drugs.
"I've never felt overmatched on the baseball field. ... I felt that if I did my, my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn't have a problem competing at any level," he said on "60 Minutes."
Scott Boras, Rodriguez's agent, did not immediately return calls from ESPN.com seeking comment.
Both the Yankees and the Rangers told ESPN they would not comment.
Michael Weiner, general counsel for the players' union, declined to comment, and said he did not know if the union would have any comment Saturday.
Major League Baseball plans to release a statement later Saturday.
Survey testing was created in 2003, in an agreement with the MLBPA, to see if mandatory testing and penalties were necessary to be implemented in 2004 -- it also was specifically designed to ensure players would not be identified.
The actual samples were kept in one lab in Las Vegas and had codes, not players' names. A list with the names and corresponding codes were in an office in Long Beach, Calif., and were never supposed to be united.
MLB and the union had a deal with the company that any negative samples were to be automatically destroyed after 30 days.
However, because of the current Barry Bonds investigation and the evidence the government is seeking to present in his current perjury case, it is now known that samples were not destroyed. It had been previously reported that Bonds did not test positive in 2003, but the government found the sample when all were seized, and had tested it.
According to court documents unsealed by a federal judge on Wednesday, Bonds tested positive three times for methenolone.
More than 5 percent of players in the majors tested positive for performance-enhancing substances in the '03 survey, and mandatory testing was implemented -- including provisions for penalties -- in 2004.
Even if Major League Baseball were to confirm that Rodriguez was one of the players to test positive in 2003, he would not be subject to any sort of discipline based on that testing.
However, if information emerges about positive tests from 2004 on, circumstances could change. There have been players connected with HGH purchases from 2004 and forward, for example, who have been subject to discipline by the commissioner's office.
"I think in the climate that we have today, you don't have much shock anymore," Rangers senior adviser John Hart said on the MLB Network. Hart was the general manager during the 2003 season. "Obviously Alex probably is the best player in baseball. This has always been a special talent and the guy has been putting up Hall of Fame numbers since the day he showed up in the big leagues. It saddens me. I've been in the game for almost 40 years and it hurts a little bit, if in fact this is true."
Rodriguez played for the Rangers from 2001 to 2003. He was traded to the Yankees in 2004. He is drawing a major league-high $27 million salary after signing a record $275 million, 10-year contract with New York in 2007.
Rodriguez until now has had an offseason dominated by talk of disclosures in Joe Torre's recently released book. The former Yankee manager wrote of the pressure A-Rod puts on himself and the third baseman's need to command the stage. Torre said some in the Yankees clubhouse referred to Rodriguez as "A-Fraud," although Torre made light of that during interviews promoting his book, "The Yankee Years."
"Alex is a great kid, he's got a conscience and loves the game of baseball," Hart said on the MLB Network. "I think, if anything, Alex tries to be a pleaser in a lot of ways. Looking up at what he's done and his career, I think it's going to affect him. He has the ability at times to tune it out, but he's in a huge media market there in New York.
"It's going to be a huge story, spring training is right around the corner, and you know what's going to happen when you show up at camp. I think it's going to be a little bit of an issue."
Information from The Associated Press, ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick, ESPN The Magazine senior writer Buster Olney, and ESPN's T.J. Quinn was used in this report.
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So much for a normal spring training :rolleyes:...
A-Rod admits using performance-enhancers
A-Rod admits using performance-enhancers
Mon Feb 9, 2:53 PM EST
Alex Rodriguez admitted Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-03, saying he did so because of the pressures of being baseball's highest-paid player.
``When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day,'' the New York Yankees star said in an interview with ESPN that was broadcast Monday shortly after it was recorded.
His admission came two days after Sports Illustrated reported he tested positive for steroids in 2003, one of 104 players who tested positive during baseball's survey testing, which wasn't subject to discipline and was supposed to remain anonymous.
``And I did take a banned substance and, you know, for that I'm very sorry and deeply regretful. And although it was the culture back then and Major League Baseball overall was very - I just feel that - You know, I'm just sorry. I'm sorry for that time. I'm sorry to fans. I'm sorry for my fans in Texas. It wasn't until then that I ever thought about substance of any kind, and since then I've proved to myself and to everyone that I don't need any of that.''
The 33-year-old All-Star third baseman was regarded by many in baseball as the most likely to break Bonds' record of 762. He's already 12th on the career list with 553 homers, 209 behind Bonds.
Rodriguez hit 52, 57 and 47 homers in his three seasons with the Rangers, winning the first of three AL MVP awards during his final season with Texas, where he received a $252 million, 10-year contract in December 2000.
``Back then it was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid,'' Rodriguez said. ``I was naive, and I wanted to prove to everyone that, you know, I was worth, you know - and being one of the greatest players of all time.''
He joined Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte among All-Star players who have confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs. Many other players have denied any use.
Barry Bonds, a seven-time MVP, is to go on trial next month on charges he lied when he told a grand jury in 2003 that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.
Roger Clemens, a seven-time AL Cy Young Award winner, is under investigation by a federal grand jury which is trying to determine whether he lied when he told a congressional committee last year that he never used steroids and human growth hormone.
In his 2008 book, ``Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball,'' Jose Canseco claimed he introduced Rodriguez to a steroids dealer. Canseco, who has admitted using steroids, subsequently said he had no knowledge of any drug use by Rodriguez.
``They are looking in the wrong places,'' Canseco said in a text message to The Associated Press. ``This is a 25-year cover-up. The true criminals are Gene Orza, (union head) Donald Fehr and (commissioner) Bud (Selig). Investigate them, and you will have all the answers.''
SI said that Orza, the union's chief operating officer, tipped off three players in September 2004 that they would be tested. Orza has repeatedly denied that he tipped off players, saying he merely reminded them late in the season that if they had not yet been tested, baseball's drug agreement required them to be tested by the end of the regular season.
Orza, who has been widely criticized by media since the SI report, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that he doesn't care what the media says.
``I know the facts,'' Orza wrote.
Rodriguez said Orza told him in August or September 2004 about the list of names that had been seized by federal investigators.
``He said there's a government list. There's 104 players in it. You might or might not have tested positive,'' Rodriguez said.
SI.com reported Rodriguez tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone.
``It was such a loosey-goosey era. I'm guilty for a lot of things. I'm guilty for being negligent, naive, not asking all the right questions,'' Rodriguez said. ``And to be quite honest, I don't know exactly what substance I was guilty of using.''
Monday's ESPN interview directly contradicted a December 2007 interview with CBS's ``60 Minutes,'' when Rodriguez said, ``No'' when asked whether he's ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance.
On Friday, Rodriguez is still expected to attend an event at the University of Miami, which is renaming its baseball field in his honor.
He gave $3.9 million to the school in 2003, the largest gift ever to the Hurricanes' baseball program and money that provided much of the resources needed for renovating the existing on-campus stadium. In return, the baseball complex will be called Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park.
Despite the scandal, the facility will continue to bear Rodriguez's name, a university official said Monday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitive nature.
Miami baseball players and coaches were not available for comment, spokesman Mark Pray said.
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Associated Press Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.
The Associated Press
Dont ya just love bud selig ?
to paraphrase-
selig says a-rod is a disgrace because he admitted using.
Gee in the face of overwhelming evidence, he did not stick his head in the sand. (comparing my opinion of a-rod & selig).
I heard the a-roid interview, I liked how he did not admit to what he used, its much better to only admit to what they know. ("the school called ? I know nothing about the fire in the teachers lounge....um, what fire. Its not about a fire?"- atributed to bart simpson).
I can not believe Selig's arrogance.
Oh well, - THESE ARE NOT THE STEROIDS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.
or There are no Steroids behind the curtain. Ignor the man beind the curtain.
:mickey:
