Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003: report
Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in his MVP season of 2003, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.
The New York Yankees star tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources told Sports Illustrated in a story posted Saturday on its website.
His name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a 2003 baseball survey, the magazine said. He reportedly tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone while playing for the Texas Rangers.
Rodriguez declined to discuss the tests when approached by SI on Thursday at a Miami gym.
"You'll have to talk to the union," he told a reporter. Calls from SI to union head Donald Fehr were not returned.
Rodriguez played for the Rangers in 2003, when he won the AL home run title and MVP award. He was traded to the Yankees in 2004 where he draws a major league-high $27 million US salary after signing a record $275-million US, 10-year contract with New York in 2007.
Bonds trial set to start
The revelations come at a time when baseball's focus on drugs has concerned Barry Bonds and the legal manoeuvring leading to the start of his trial March 2. The government is trying to prove the home run king lied when he told a grand jury he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.
Rodriguez until now has had an off-season 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.
Baseball's drug policy has prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, but there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003.
As part of an agreement with the players' union, the testing in 2003 was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.
Meant to be anonymous
The results of the testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner's office and the union. SI reported Rodriguez's testing information was found after federal agents, with search warrants, seized the 2003 results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., in Long Beach, Calif.
That was one of two labs used by baseball in connection with the testing. The seizure in April 2004 was part of the government's investigation into 10 baseball players linked to the BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative) scandal, the magazine reported. Rodriguez has not been connected to BALCO, one of the biggest steroid scandals in sports.
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. Bonds tested positive three times for methenolone, according to court documents unsealed by a federal judge Wednesday.
Primobolan is not an approved prescription drug in the United States. Testosterone can be taken legally with a prescription.