Feb 12 2009
Alex Rodriguez admits to using steroids for 3 years
Alex Rodriguez admits to using steroids for 3 years
Saying he felt pressure to justify the record-shattering contract he received as a 25-year-old, Alex Rodriguez admitted Monday that he used illegal performance-enhancing substances while with the Texas Rangers in 2001-03.
“This is no one [else’s] fault,” Rodriguez told ESPN’s Peter Gammons in an interview aired Monday. “It’s my fault. I’m deeply sorry for it.”
Rodriguez’s admission came two days after Sports Illustrated reported that he was one of 104 players to test positive in supposedly anonymous “sample” testing taken during the 2003 season, and 18 months after he told CBS’ Katie Couric he had never used steroids. He initially ducked Sports Illustrated’s questions but agreed to an interview with Gammons.
“When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure, I felt that I had all the weight of the world on top of me to perform, and perform at a high level every day,” Rodriguez said. … “Overall, I felt a tremendous pressure to play, and play really well. I had just signed this enormous contract [and] I felt like I needed something, a push, without over-investigating what I was taking, to get me to the next level.”
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Rodriguez, the youngest player ever to reach 500 home runs, is on track to pass Barry Bonds and become baseball’s most prolific home run hitter at some point during the nine years left on his contract with the New York Yankees. He joins Bonds and Roger Clemens as baseball icons who have been tied to steroid use over the 15 years in which players could try performance-enhancing substances without having to fear random testing, disclosure and testing.
Steroids have been a black cloud following baseball since federal agents raided a Burlingame, Calif., laboratory in September, 2003. They found files reportedly linking Bonds, other baseball players and stars from other sports, including track and field and the NFL, to detailed training programs built around the use of anabolic steroids.
Major League Baseball, with the cooperation of the players association, has since established a testing program that Commissioner Bud Selig calls “the toughest in professional sports.” But the game’s image continues to be damaged by revelations from its recent past.
Five of the top 12 sluggers on the career home run list have been linked to steroids. Bonds, Clemens and Rodriguez combined to win 17 Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards, and at least seven others who have won the MVP or the Cy Young have had their legacy diminished by steroids. It’s the reason Mark McGwire, who hit 70 home runs in 1998 and ended his career with 583 homers, received only 22-percent support in the 2009 Hall of Fame voting.
“Back then, [baseball] was a different culture,” Rodriguez said. “It was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance. For that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful.”
At one point in the interview, Rodriguez seemed tempted to blame his use on the sports itself. He stopped short, however.
“It was a culture back then,” he said. “Major League Baseball overall was very … I just felt that … ”
Then he stopped himself and took accountability. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry for that time. I’m sorry for my fans, sorry for my fans in Texas.”
Rodriguez, 33, who signed a $252-million deal with Texas in 2001 and a $275-million deal with the Yankees after the 2007 season, is the first baseball superstar in his prime to be tied to steroid use. He plans to play at least nine more years.
He told Gammons he has not used illegal substances since he left Texas after the 2003 season, when the Rangers traded him to the Yankees. Agent Scott Boras, who represents Rodriguez, had said on Saturday that Rodriguez has “the Good Housekeeping seal” for the last five seasons, referring to the lack of a positive test.
But Selig and others have been candid about flaws in the current system, especially the lack of a urine test for Human Growth Hormone, which MLB’s internal investigation, the Mitchell Report, cited as a substance still being abused with impunity.
Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez tested positive for Primobolon and testosterone, substances that are used in conjunction to improve strength without oversized muscle mass.
Rodriguez told Gammons that he does not know what he was taking during his three years of steroid use.
“To be quite honest, I don’t know exactly what substance I was guilty of using,” Rodriguez said. “I was stupid for three years. I was very, very stupid.”
Rodriguez said he stopped using illegal substances after an injury during the spring training in 2003.
“It wasn’t a real dramatic day,” he said. “I started experimenting with things that, today, are not legal, that today are not accepted … ever since that incident happened, I realized that I don’t need any of it.”
Rodriguez, who moved to third base after being traded to the Yankees, had been the most productive shortstop in history. He spent his first six seasons in Seattle, arriving in the majors as a 19-year-old and playing alongside Ken Griffey Jr., and was the object of the most intense free-agent bidding process ever after leading the Mariners to the American League Championship Series in 2000.
Rodriguez led the American League in home runs all three seasons he was with Texas, and also drove in a league-high 142 runs in 2002. He was voted the league’s MVP in 2003, when he had a .600 slugging percentage.
The Rangers’ franchise has been one of baseball’s steroid clusters. Rodriguez’s teammates there included Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez, all of whom have been implicated in the steroid scandal. Jose Canseco played alongside Palmeiro, Gonzalez and Ivan Rodriguez but not Alex Rodriguez.
Rodriguez does not appear to face any MLB sanctions or federal prosecution for his steroid use. He may be pressed by prosecutors to reveal the source of his drugs, as prosecutors have gone after distributors harder than users.
Article Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-alex-rodriguez-admits-steroid-use,0,2502408.story?track=rss
