Grendel
02-07-2009, 02:53 PM
February 8, 2009
Rodriguez Tested Positive for Steroids in ’03
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
The New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, the year he won both the American League home run title and Most Valuable Player award when playing for the Texas Rangers, two people with knowledge of the results said on Saturday.
According to Sports Illustrated, which first reported the positive test results on its Web site on Saturday, the 33-year-old Rodriguez was among 104 players on a list who tested positive for performance-enhancing substances — in his case for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan.
All of the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize their access to sensitive information.
A publicist for Rodriguez did not return a telephone message seeking comment on Saturday. The Yankees declined to comment on their controversial third baseman, who with an annual salary opf $28 million is the highest paid player in baseball.
When questioned by a reporter for Sports Illustrated at a gym in Miami on Thursday, Rodriguez said, “You’ll have to talk to the union.” Asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I’m not saying anything."
Calls from Sports Illustrated to the head of the players union, Donald Fehr, were not returned.The use of steroids has been the central dilemma confronting the sport over the last several years, and the disclosure that one of its superstars tested positive six years ago unsettles baseball’s already shaky legitimacy.
Baseball began testing for steroids in 2003, Rodriguez’s last year with the Texas Rangers, but at the time there was no punishment for a positive test. The Rangers traded him to the Yankees before the 2004 season, when penalties for positive tests went into effect.
Rodriguez, who hit 47 home runs in 2003 and has 553 career home runs, has steadfastly denied he ever used steroids or human growth hormone.
Rodriguez’s name, according to Sports Illustrated, appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancers in a 2003 baseball survey. The 2003 test results were supposed to be anonymous and destroyed. Many of the test results, however, were not destroyed, and they were seized by federal agents in 2004 as part of the investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.
The magazine said that according to four unidentified sources, Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan.
Last year, Rodriguez was forced to confront accusations from the former player José Canseco that Rodriguez had used steroids. In Canseco’s second book on steroids in baseball, “Vindicated,” Canseco wrote that in the late 1990s he introduced Rodriguez to a trainer he identified as Max who was a “fan of steroids.” Canseco said that Max, later told him that Rodriguez had “signed on.”
When the book came out last year, Rodriguez denied Canseco’s assertions.
The 2003 test results were supposed to remain anonymous and were supposed to be destroyed, but the federal agents likely still had them because the results were connected to the Balco investigation.
In a December 2007 interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” with Katie Couric, Rodriguez flatly denied that he ever used steroids or human growth hormone.
“For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?” Couric asked.
“No,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he never felt tempted to use the substances.
“You never felt like, ‘This guy’s doing it, maybe I should look into this, too? He’s getting better numbers, playing better ball,’“ Couric asked.
“I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I’ve always been a very strong, dominant position. And I felt that if I did 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. So, no.”The Full SI story can be seen here (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/index.html).
A-Rod has taken a beating in NY since he arrived there and this ensures nothing is going to change any time soon...
Rodriguez Tested Positive for Steroids in ’03
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
The New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, the year he won both the American League home run title and Most Valuable Player award when playing for the Texas Rangers, two people with knowledge of the results said on Saturday.
According to Sports Illustrated, which first reported the positive test results on its Web site on Saturday, the 33-year-old Rodriguez was among 104 players on a list who tested positive for performance-enhancing substances — in his case for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan.
All of the sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to jeopardize their access to sensitive information.
A publicist for Rodriguez did not return a telephone message seeking comment on Saturday. The Yankees declined to comment on their controversial third baseman, who with an annual salary opf $28 million is the highest paid player in baseball.
When questioned by a reporter for Sports Illustrated at a gym in Miami on Thursday, Rodriguez said, “You’ll have to talk to the union.” Asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I’m not saying anything."
Calls from Sports Illustrated to the head of the players union, Donald Fehr, were not returned.The use of steroids has been the central dilemma confronting the sport over the last several years, and the disclosure that one of its superstars tested positive six years ago unsettles baseball’s already shaky legitimacy.
Baseball began testing for steroids in 2003, Rodriguez’s last year with the Texas Rangers, but at the time there was no punishment for a positive test. The Rangers traded him to the Yankees before the 2004 season, when penalties for positive tests went into effect.
Rodriguez, who hit 47 home runs in 2003 and has 553 career home runs, has steadfastly denied he ever used steroids or human growth hormone.
Rodriguez’s name, according to Sports Illustrated, appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancers in a 2003 baseball survey. The 2003 test results were supposed to be anonymous and destroyed. Many of the test results, however, were not destroyed, and they were seized by federal agents in 2004 as part of the investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.
The magazine said that according to four unidentified sources, Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan.
Last year, Rodriguez was forced to confront accusations from the former player José Canseco that Rodriguez had used steroids. In Canseco’s second book on steroids in baseball, “Vindicated,” Canseco wrote that in the late 1990s he introduced Rodriguez to a trainer he identified as Max who was a “fan of steroids.” Canseco said that Max, later told him that Rodriguez had “signed on.”
When the book came out last year, Rodriguez denied Canseco’s assertions.
The 2003 test results were supposed to remain anonymous and were supposed to be destroyed, but the federal agents likely still had them because the results were connected to the Balco investigation.
In a December 2007 interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” with Katie Couric, Rodriguez flatly denied that he ever used steroids or human growth hormone.
“For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?” Couric asked.
“No,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he never felt tempted to use the substances.
“You never felt like, ‘This guy’s doing it, maybe I should look into this, too? He’s getting better numbers, playing better ball,’“ Couric asked.
“I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I’ve always been a very strong, dominant position. And I felt that if I did 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. So, no.”The Full SI story can be seen here (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/index.html).
A-Rod has taken a beating in NY since he arrived there and this ensures nothing is going to change any time soon...