Beast of the Month - June 2009

Beast of the Month - June 2009
Alex Rodriguez
Steroid-Fueled Baseball Star

"I yam an anti-Christ..."
John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) of The Sex Pistols, "Anarchy in the UK"

"Jose Canseco Smirking Smugly At Nation"
Recent article title found at Onion.com

Is Jose Canseco ever wrong? Seriously, give this man a Pulitzer. In April, he speculated the reason Manny Ramirez (a two-time World Series champion for the Boston Red Sox and current Los Angeles Dodger superstar) didn't receive a monster contract offer during the off-season was because the owner's knew he was a steroid juicer. More than likely, Canseco guessed, Manny was on the 2003 list of players who tested positive for doping, a list of names likely already leaked to MLB owners. On this score, Canseco said he was 90 percent sure.

For his wacky conspiracy theorizing, Canseco was once again lambasted in the media, the same way he has been repeatedly treated over the last four years since his book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big, was released. Since then, not one claim by him has been proven false, and many of his claims, even those sounding most luridly outlandish at first, have been proven true. Despite his track record, one sportswriter dismissed Jose C as "ridiculous and irresponsible" for engaging in "pseudo-slanderous steroid chatter" over Ramirez.

But what do you know? Barely a month after Canseco made his reckless hunch, Manny was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for a banned substance. While he wasn't actually caught taking steroids, the drug he did test positive for, human chorionic gonadotropin, is popular among roiders for stopping the side effects of ending a cycle. (You know, little things like lower sperm count and shrunken testicles.) Maybe there's another explanation for why Ramirez was taking a female fertility drug, but that he is indeed a drug doper as Canseco had suspected seems to fit Occam's Razor the best.

Of course, the whole steroid scandal may have jumped the shark with the Ramirez revelation. At this point, is anybody shocked when a ballplayer is revealed as a drug cheater? This is, after all, the third time since 2005 The Konformist has focused Beast of the Month on the subject, which means we've covered this more in our 13-year history than we have Israel's brutal treatment of Palestinians and Lebanon. Yes, baseball is America's game (well, really it's football, and anyone who claims otherwise is kidding themselves) and yes, the steroid scandal has tarnished the game's legacy, but at this point, we've got more important things to do, like investigate Wall Street mass thievery, remind people there are still bloody pointless wars being fought in the Middle East and search YouTube for videos of Lady Gaga. So consider this BOTM a kiss-off to the whole "professional baseball players cheat" moral outrage as we get onto better things.

But before we jump off the whole steroid scandal bandwagon, The Konformist needs to get one last jab in, to a guy really deserving it. After all, part of the reason the steroid outing of the best player on baseball's second most famous franchise received such a ho-hum response is because the best player on baseball's most famous franchise (Alex Rodriguez, The Konformist Beast of the Month) had been outed as a fraud only months before.

For those who don't follow baseball, Rodriguez, better known as A-Rod, is not only the best player on the New York Yankees, he is arguably the best player in baseball, period. (Only Manny and Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals come close.) He has already won 3 MVP titles, this despite not winning in 2001 and 2002, when he hit 52 and 57 home runs. In 2006, he was the only non-pitcher still active to make Sports Illustrated's Alltime All-Star Team. (Fellow Yankees Roger Clemens and reliever Mariano Rivera also made the team.) It is suspected by many that Barry Bonds, the man formerly viewed as the best player in baseball, was snubbed from the team thanks to the evidence against him as a steroid cheat.

Indeed, the conventional wisdom until last year was that A-Rod was going to be the hero who saved the game by restoring the integrity of the numbers. He ended last season with 553 career home runs, 13th all time. He is second to only Ken Griffey Jr. among current players, and Griffey (perhaps the only modern slugger without any steroid suspicion due to his non-muscled physique) appears soon to be headed to retirement. That left A-Rod with the best chance of surpassing Bonds' career total of 762* round-trippers, something he could conceivably do in four great seasons. After that, balance would be returned to the universe, as the most sacred record in American sports would not be held by a doping phony.

Even without the recent revelations, the "A-Rod as Christ savior" storyline had its problems. For all his talent, he's never been particularly loved by the public or, perhaps more importantly, his fellow teammates. He isn't a surly SOB like Bonds, but his well-noted narcissistic self-absorption (on full display on the April 2009 cover of Details where he was seen kissing his own image in a mirror) has made him a magnet for haters. As for his contributions to teams, here are some curious facts: in 2001, after he left the Seattle Mariners for a ten-year, $252 million payout with the Texas Rangers, the Mariners won an astounding 116 games. His Rangers, meanwhile, finished in last place the three seasons he was there. Since he has moved to the Yankees in 2004, meanwhile, they have yet to even appear in a World Series despite all their well-paid talent, while their nemesis in Boston broke the Bambino curse with two titles, starting coincidentally the year he started playing in the Big Apple.

Okay, maybe the bad luck of the Rangers and Yankees isn't his entire fault. (Although his notorious showing in post-season play, which has earned him like Bonds before the insulting nickname of "Mr. April-September" from some, certainly hasn't helped.) Still, entering his sixth year in NY pinstripes, he wasn't even half as loved by fans or fellow Yankees as fellow teammate Derek Jeter. This was underscored in manager Joe Torre's recently published book The Yankee Years, where he reveals A-Rod was derisively termed as "A-Fraud" by teammates annoyed by his shallow insincerity. His 2007 demand to renegotiate his record contract to an even larger ten-year, $275 million didn't help.

Torre's tell-all bio was only the second recent book to dish dirt on A-Rod. The first came out last year, when Canseco released his sequel to Juiced, titled Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball. The big bombshell in the tome: Canseco claims in the latter half of the 1990s, A-Rod asked for help in finding a trainer that would supply steroids. He refused to name the trainer (referring to him only as "Max") and when pressed on Nightline over his refusal to provide corroborating evidence, Canseco replied: "Let's see how Alex reacts. Let's see if they call me a liar again. How's that for ya? Let's see if all of a sudden they're gonna call me a liar again."

Surprise, surprise. As he was lambasted earlier this year over his Manny hypothesis, Canseco, despite his history of truth-telling, was indeed shredded in the press as a liar again in 2008 over the claim. In this case, it didn't help Jose that he has an admitted beef with A-Rod, claiming Rodriguez had an affair with Canseco's then wife. (Apparently A-Rod's affairs don't merely include cheating with wives of teammates: late last year, his wife Cynthia filed for divorce after a rumored adulterous affair between A-Rod and Madonna became top tabloid news.) His allegations did get some backing last year when former reliever John Rocker claimed MLB commissioner Bud Selig knew he failed a drug test for steroids in 2000, and doctors for both management and the players' association advised him and three other Texas Rangers - among them Alex Rodriguez - on how to use steroids. Of course, when the one person who helps confirm your story is a notorious pariah like the racist Rocker, it tends to undercut, rather than enhance, credibility.

Despite this, it appears Canseco is once again vindicated. In February, Sports Illustrated reported that A-Rod was one of the 104 players who tested positive for steroids. As the controversy became the talk of the news cycle, A-Rod finally fessed up and admitted, yes, he was a steroid cheat. The mea culpa came with a convenient asterisk, as A-Rod insisted he only did it from 2001-3 while with the Rangers, meaning he denied any usage after steroid use had penalties attached. In any case, his apology, especially the one he sent publicly to his teammates, was widely deemed as insincere.

Even with this limited hangout by A-Rod, outrage became the order of the day. No longer was "A-Fraud" enough of a put-down of the dude by his critics: "A-Roid" or (with even greater ingenuity, courtesy of a NY Post cover) "A-Hole" became the new insults. On David Letterman, a top ten joke list featuring messages left on A-Rod's answering machine included this knee-slapper: "Could you find a steroid that keeps you from choking in the playoffs?"

The SI report become the first shot of reporter Selena Roberts' A-Rod bio, the third book to talk smack about Rodriguez. Roberts claims A-Rod started his steroid regimen in high school, and that he has continued it during the Yankee years. She also made claims of another A-Rod cheating scandal: that A-Rod would tip buddies on other teams the pitch they were facing late in blowout games. According to Roberts, the quid quo pro deal allowed players in the pitch-tipping scandal to pad their stats in at-bats for games already decided, at the expense of late-inning pitchers. While the scheme wouldn't change the winner of the game, it certainly qualifies as an attack on the integrity of the game, perhaps even more so than steroids, and a betrayal of pitching teammates almost on par with sleeping with their wives.

(Adding insult to his injured reputation, a Yahoo! Sports article from August 2008 reported the next generation of Bill James wannabees had statistically uncovered a sabermetrics to measure clutch hitting, and A-Rod, as critics had long insisted, was indeed a pressure-situation choker.)

Fortunately for A-Rod, a cyst on his hip forced him to miss the first full month of the season. (Cynics note that a common side-effect of steroid usage is cysts developing at injection point.) By the time of his May 8th return, A-Rod outrage had dipped and been superseded by the Manny dope scandal, and hitting a home run on the first pitch certainly aided him in forgiveness. Come October, maybe A-Rod can finally earn the love (and the $275 million) he has long craved from fans by finally delivering in the playoffs, and the forgiveness that comes with it. Based on his track record, however, The Konformist is betting against him once again.

In the end, A-Rod is merely just another scapegoat in sports, a face for the public to focus wrath. And that's why we expect this to be the last steroid-related athlete BOTM we do, even if another great baseball superstar is eventually shockingly uncovered as a secret doper. But that doesn't mean we'll stop covering this issue: as The Konformist and Jose Canseco long have pointed out, the owners and the league itself have long sanctioned the steroid era with their covert consent. The tale of John Rocker, that the commissioner himself knew he failed a 2000 test and that management advised him on how to properly juice, provides ample evidence of just how complicit they are. Indeed, the evidence suggests that even as Bud Selig was personally promoting the "A-Rod as baseball savior" myth, he already knew via the 2003 tests that Rodriguez was a cheater. Meanwhile, as Nation magazine writer Dave Zirin has noted, owners "have yet to have to face any kind of Congressional subcommittee, grand jury or operatic media melodrama for their role in cheapening the sport." If they ever are, no doubt The Konformist will be there ready to point fingers again where they deserve.

In any case, we salute Alex Rodriguez as Beast of the Month. Congratulations, and keep up the great work, Al!!!

Sources:

Blum, Ronald. "A-Rod Says He Expects Questions on Drugs." Associated Press 20 February 2008 <http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCj65bmE8AEQ7MvFQrBVYXwwJp9QD8UUAVI80>.

Brinson, Will. "Jose Canseco Says '90 Percent Chance' Manny Ramirez Is on 'The List'." MLB FanHouse 6 April 2009 <http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/04/06/jose-canseco-says-90-chance-manny-ramirez-is-on-steroids-list>.

Canseco, Jose. Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005.

Canseco, Jose. Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008.

"Details on A-Rod's Alleged Pitch-Tipping Scheme in Texas." Sports Illustrated 30 April 2009 <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/04/30/roberts.qa>.

Escherich, Katie. "Exclusive: Jose Canseco Says 'The Truth Hurts'." ABC News 26 March 2008 <http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=4528387>.

Harris, Beth and Blum, Rondald. "Ramirez Suspended 50 Games for Drug Violation." Yahoo! Sports 7 May 2009 <http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AozPbdpnRxDcG.ttoQ3gr6URvLYF?slug=ap-dodgers-ramirez-drugs>.

"Jose Canseco Smirking Smugly At Nation." The Onion 12 February 2009 <http://www.theonion.com/content/from_print/jose_canseco_smirking_smugly>.

Passan, Jeff. A-Rod Is a $300 Million Migraine." Yahoo! Sports 31 August 2008 <http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AqYZcgXmuHwg3tDIHBh5_VYRvLYF?slug=jp-arod083108>.

Roberts, Selena. A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.

Roberts, Selena and Epstein, David. "Sources Tell SI Alex Rodriguez Tested Positive for Steroids in 2003." Sports Illustrated 7 February 2009 <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/index.html>.

Streeter, Kurt. "Manny Ramirez Blindsided Everyone but Jose Canseco." Los Angeles Times 7 May 2009 <http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-streeter-manny8-2009may08,0,5943246.story>.

Torre, Joe and Verducci, Tom. The Yankee Years. New York: Doubleday, 2009.

Verducci, Tom. "Alltime All-Star Team." Sports Illustrated 3 October 2006 <http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/magazine/10/03/bb.allstar1009/index.html>.

Zirin, Dave. "A-Rod, Anabolic Agonist Sports." The Nation 9 February 2009 <http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090223/zirin>.

Home Runs and Hypocrisy

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090525/zirin

Home Runs and Hypocrisy: The Shaming of Manny Ramirez
By Dave Zirin

You would think that Manny Ramirez was caught fighting pit bulls alongside Martha Stewart.

ESPN's Bill Simmons says that he is "confronting my worst nightmare." Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports believes that it is time to talk about "lifetime bans." Boston Globe writer Tony Massarotti says, "everyone is guilty until proven innocent."

The sports radio and comment boards have been cesspools of racism. It's always easy to hate, especially someone who plays a game for a living and makes millions of dollars.

All I know is this: thanks to Major League Baseball's hypocritical, idiotic and altogether morally bankrupt steroid policy, the sport will be without one of its premier attractions for fifty games, someone I would pay to watch at batting practice. Yes, Manny Ramirez, the finest right-handed hitter of his generation, has been sent to the showers and forced to surrender $7.7 million in salary after testing positive for what was initially called a "performance-enhancing substance."

The decision ends a stretch where the former World Series MVP was reviving baseball in Los Angeles, leading the Dodgers to a 21-8 start and a record thirteen straight wins at home to open the season. Los Angeles, a town built on artifice and home to hordes of performance-enhanced entertainers, not to mention led by a performance-enhanced governor, now demands purity of its athletes. This is not a column that aims to "defend" Manny Ramirez, but condemn Major League Baseball's steroid idiocy. Besides, the quizzically quirky Ramirez is not at this point defending himself. Ramirez will not appeal the suspension and apologized, issuing a brief statement, which read in part: "I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me." But MLB, in a typically classy move, has leaked to the press that Ramirez tested positive for the female fertility drug HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin. Steroid specialists have fanned out across the airwaves explaining that HCG is used to increase testosterone levels, usually after a heavy steroid cycle.

Former AL MVP, author of Juiced, and admitted steroid user Jose Canseco, who pleaded guilty last November to a misdemeanor of trying to bring HCG across the Mexican border illegally, also weighed in: "It could be that a player used it because he used steroids and went cold-turkey and needed HCG to get his [testoterone] levels back to normal."

The use of a "female fertility drug" also has sports radio hosts in a pubescent tizzy asking if "Manny is a mommy" and ESPN's Jayson Stark making an "octo-mom" joke.

From the juvenile to the pious, President Obama's press flack Robert Gibbs took time out from explaining why torturers are above the law to tell us, "It's a tragedy, it's a shame." There is a tragedy and a shame afoot, but it is not rooted in the choices of one player. It's in a baseball culture that continues to think embarrassing individual players and feeding on the resentment of fans is the best path to cleaning up the sport. Manny has now joined Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and many others as permanently stained with a scarlet S. No Hall of Fame, no old timers' games and a life as a cautionary tale.

Meanwhile we all get taken to the cleaners. We have billionaire owners making scapegoats of millionaire players to soothe our anxieties about the game and our lives. Meanwhile these same owners sit like pashas in a baseball palace that could be called the House That Steroids Built.

The man who wrote Juiced knows when a cycle has run its course. Canseco said that he believes the coverage on steroids in baseball has become "overkill" and the spotlight should now be on MLB and the players association. He called it "a complete conspiracy." He's absolutely correct. Baseball owners love conspiracies. For more than twenty years they have conspired to attain public funds for ballparks. In 2008, they collectively conspired not to sign the best hitter in the game, Barry Bonds. Now they are committed to the project of keeping the focus on the players, and off of themselves. We shouldn't let them. If Manny Ramirez is guilty of anything, it's being caught in between baseball's clubhouse culture and public sanctimony.

During the baseball's Summer of Love in 1998, when Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs and Sammy Sosa smacked 66, the money came pouring in. No one cared that McGwire and Sosa looked like a pair of defensive tackles. Soon publicly funded stadiums were included in budgets for Washington, DC, New York City and Minnesota. The home run became the most marketable baseball item since peanuts and crackerjacks and no one wanted to look behind the curtain. It was sports. It was entertainment. It was an escape. Then came 2001, when Barry Bonds hit 73, and all of a sudden we were supposed to be collectively sick at the thought of a home run. As baseball writer Adrian Burgos (Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line) said, "What continues to fascinate me is how MLB leadership is willing to allow individual players to take the full brunt of the collective failure of leadership. Today, pundits have ranted in at times rabid tones about the players who make millions for their role while those who make the hundred of millions (and even have billion- dollar stadiums constructed for them on the public dole) continue to profit. How many stadiums have been built since then and at what cost? All the wealth that has been accumulated at that level is in my mind just as, if not more, offensive, since the owners act as if they were not enablers and co-dependents as their players shot up, ingested and otherwise partook in performance-enhancing drugs."

We should always remember that former Texas Rangers owner George W. Bush made steroid persecution a recurring theme of his time in office, as long as owners were spared the spotlight. The hypocrisy should shame owners toward contrition--but they will happily crack some golden eggs, as long as it means that the goose that laid them lives. Even though come contract time, it's all about the numbers on your stat page, and not the number of clean tests. As baseball fan and poet Martin Espada told me, "Baseball is the Main Street of sports. (Think Cooperstown.) It's full of history and nostalgia, and paved with the bricks of hypocrisy. Now it's the rhetoric of the 'Drug War,' handed down from the Nixon White House forty years ago to MLB and ESPN today."

He is absolutely correct. We are supposed to tsk-tsk at players who are supposed to "just say no" to their addictions to fitness and monster stats, when their success at the park is our addiction as well. We also have yet to truly take owners to task for their addictions to public money and send them to detox.

Dave Zirin is the author of “A People’s History of Sports in the United States” (The New Press) Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.

Ramirez blindsided everyone but Jose Canseco

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-streeter-manny8-2009may08,0,5943246.story

KURT STREETER
Manny Ramirez blindsided everyone but Jose Canseco
Canseco voiced his doubts about Ramirez being drug-free. The admitted drug cheat and eternal conspiracy theorist was right -- again. Maybe next time we'll listen more closely.
May 7, 2009

On a day when we've been blindsided, a day we've found yet another hero has feet of clay, the great sage Jose Canseco strikes again.

Last month I sat in an auditorium at USC and listened to Canseco dish his doubts about baseball, drug use and Manny Ramirez.

There's something fishy about Ramirez, Canseco concluded. Why, he wondered, had it taken so long this off-season to sign one of baseball's premier power hitters? And why was the contract Ramirez signed so short: two years, with an option to leave after one.

In Canseco's mind -- the mind of an admitted drug cheat, the mind of a skeptical conspiracy theorist who happens to have been proven right time and again -- the powers that be in baseball either knew Ramirez was using, or they strongly suspected it. Otherwise, this off-season, someone would have quickly signed a supreme force like No. 99 to a bigger contract, no matter the economy, no matter the "Mannywood" flakiness.

It was a conclusion that came from his gut. Canseco lacked hard proof, but he stated Ramirez "is most likely, 90%" on the list of 104 players that failed a drug test in 2003; a test that was supposed to be anonymous but that snared Alex Rodriguez when his name was leaked.

Right now, with so little information from baseball, the Dodgers, or their left-fielder, we don't know if Ramirez was on that particular list. Could well be. Nobody can argue otherwise. Maybe a positive result in 2003 made baseball's drug testers zero-in on Ramirez. Maybe he was on the list and when he came up dirty more recently, Bud Selig and his crew, long guilty of skirting around the issue of drugs, figured even they'd had enough: The mega-star in baseball's second biggest market must walk the plank.

No matter the exact truth, we have to give Canseco credit. He stuck his head out and was willing to go where so many fear. Not that I needed more proof, but after today, every time Canseco says anything about drugs, I'm listening with serious intent.

He was certainly a lot more candid than Ramirez. Last month, when I went to Ramirez with Canseco's allegation, he sat in front of his locker and gave me a deer-in-the-headlights gaze, a sly laugh, and a calm evasion. "I got no comment," he said. "Nothing to say about that. What can I say? I don't even know the guy."

I wanted to believe. Just as I want to believe all of our great performers. We all do.

But we can't be ignorant anymore. Derek Jeter? Lance Armstrong? Rafael Nadal? Tom Brady? Kobe? All of the hockey players we're seeing in the NHL playoffs, a league that doesn't test for drugs except during the regular season? They might all be clean. Then again, they might not. A year ago, baseball sages were heralding Alex Rodriguez as the last great, unsullied power-hitter of his generation. What a scam. I'm sorry, but nobody is beyond reproach anymore.

It's pretty simple, and pretty sad. If we want to see things straight we need to be like Canseco: willing, like a skeptical conspiracy theorist, to put hard pieces of the puzzle together. Willing to come up with answers we don't want to hear. Willing to hold at least a small level of doubt about everyone.

Either that or we get blindsided, again and again, just like we've been blindsided today.

kurt.streeter@latimes.com

Is Jose Canseco Ever Wrong?

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/04/06/jose-canseco-says-90-chance-manny-ramirez-is-on-steroids-list/

Jose Canseco Says '90 Percent Chance' Manny Ramirez Is on 'The List'
Posted Apr 06, 2009
By Will Brinson

Filed Under: Dodgers, MLB Media Watch, MLB Rumors

Jose Canseco is well past the "naming names" stage of his steroid accusations. However, as ridiculous and irresponsible as Canseco seems with his chatter about this player and that player, he has, for the most part, been correct.

And the latest player that's the target of Canseco's pseudo-slanderous steroid chatter is Manny Ramirez, which is a most shocking revelation (although no more shocking than when Canseco accused Alex Rodriguez).

Canseco spoke to at the Brovard Auditorium on the USC campus recently and the Los Angeles Times' Kurt Streeter caught up with him afterwards, specifically interested about why Canseco stated that Ramirez's "name is most likely, 90 percent" on the list of players who used steroids.

Canseco asked questions as to the status of Ramirez receiving a long-term contract and why owners were so hesitant to sign him as "evidence" as to why Ramirez used steroids, but admitted he had "no way of knowing" whether Ramirez was guilty of using PEDs.

And that, in my mind, makes this allegation seem pretty silly: Ramirez didn't get a long-term deal because there was no chance of receiving the money he wanted over the course of a long-term contract. Additionally, he's 36, so it's not like every team out there should have been scrambling to lock him up in a 12-year uber-deal anyway. Oh, and perhaps Canseco missed it, but the economy collapsed while Ramirez was trying to get paid.

Manny, by the way, laughed off Canseco's allegations when Streeter followed up on the discussion, stating that, ""I got no comment, nothing to say about that. What can I say? I don't even know the guy."

In other words: Yes, Canseco has been right before, and plenty of times. Yes, he broke open the steroid scandal. But in this case, it just seems like he's in the same desperate corner of his, swinging wildly with names in the hopes that another name in a sea full of guilty players manages to stick on the wall and he can score a tiny extension on his 15 minutes in the spotlight.

Ramirez suspended 50 games for drug violation

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AozPbdpnRxDcG.ttoQ3gr6URvLYF?slug=ap-dodgers-ramirez-drugs

Ramirez suspended 50 games for drug violation
By BETH HARRIS and RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writers
5-7-9

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Manny Ramirez joined a growing lineup of All-Stars linked to drugs Thursday, with the dreadlocked slugger banished for 50 games by a sport that cannot shake free from scandal.

The Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder was suspended by Major League Baseball for a drug violation, adding a further stamp to what will forever be known as the Steroids Era.

“It’s a dark day for baseball and certainly for this organization,” Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti told reporters on the field at Dodger Stadium. “This organization will never condone anything that isn’t clean.”

Ramirez said he did not take steroids and was given medication by a doctor that contained a banned substance. A person familiar with the details of the suspension said Ramirez used the female fertility drug HCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the banned substance wasn’t announced.

“As tough as it is for us, it’s pretty tough for Manny, too,” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. “I know he’s the one that did the wrong thing and nobody is trying to cover that up, but it’s still something that I know he’s sorry about.”

HCG is popular among steroid users because it can mitigate the side effects of ending a cycle of the drugs. The body may stop producing testosterone when users go off steroids, which can cause sperm counts to decrease and testicles to shrink.

Ramirez’s suspension was based not on a spring training urine test result but rather evidence obtained afterward, a second person familiar with the suspension said, speaking on condition of anonymity because those details were not released. MLB had concluded the spring test was positive, but the person said the players’ association would have challenged the result because of “testing issues.”

Ranked 17th on the career home run list with 533, Ramirez became the most prominent baseball player to be penalized for drugs. His ban came three months after Alex Rodriguez admitted using steroids, and at a time when Barry Bonds is under federal indictment and Roger Clemens is being investigated by a federal grand jury to determine whether he lied when he told Congress he never used steroids or human growth hormone. And Miguel Tejada was sentenced in March to one year of probation after pleading guilty in federal court to misleading Congress about the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

No matter which way baseball turns, the legitimacy of many of its recent home run and pitching records is being questioned. Sluggers Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa have been tainted by steroid allegations, Rafael Palmeiro tested positive for a banned drug and Jose Canseco said he used them.

In every case, players once believed to be locks for the Hall of Fame may now be locked out.

“You can’t have arguably the greatest pitcher of our era, arguably the two greatest players of our era and now another very, very good player be under this cloud of suspicion and not feel like it has ruined it for everybody,” Atlanta star Chipper Jones said.

“But what are you going to do? You can’t be born in a different era. It is the Steroid Era,” he said.

Colletti and Torre said they found out about Ramirez’s suspension during an early morning phone call from team owner Frank McCourt. Both said they were surprised and saddened at the news.

Torre spoke to the rest of the team during a closed-door meeting before batting practice.

“The mood was sad in the clubhouse,” he said. “You can’t have someone who’s as much of an impact player and personality as Manny missing without it affecting people.”

The 36-year-old Ramirez tried to make amends right away, telling the Dodgers and fans he was sorry for “this whole situation.”

“Recently, I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me,” Ramirez said in a statement issued by the players’ union.

“Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.”

Baseball added HCG to its list of banned substances last year.

His suspension was first reported by the Los Angeles Times on its Web site.

While Ramirez had little to say, Canseco was quick to explain why someone might use HCG.

“It could be that a player used it because he used steroids and went cold-turkey and needed HCG to get his levels back to normal. I had to use it when I quit steroids cold-turkey,” Canseco, who pleaded guilty last November to a misdemeanor of trying to bring HCG across the Mexican border into the United States illegally, told the AP. “I had to go to a doctor to get it and get my levels back.”

Because MLB imposed the suspension as required by the drug agreement, the Dodgers cannot further discipline Ramirez. He is allowed to work out with the Dodgers but must be out of uniform when the stadium gates open for games.

Ramirez was not mentioned in the Mitchell Report, MLB’s official report on drug use, and there had not been whispers that he was among the sport’s juiced players.

“It’s kind of shocking that he got caught up in anything, honestly. Manny likes to play stupid, but he’s a pretty bright guy. And he’s definitely aware of a lot of things that he tries to act like he’s completely oblivious to,” said Cincinnati pitcher Bronson Arroyo, Ramirez’s former Boston teammate.

Ramirez’s agent, Scott Boras, and the players’ association had gathered materials for a possible appeal to an arbitrator, but Ramirez decided not to file one because he didn’t want to risk missing significant time in the second half of the season, the person familiar with details of the suspension said. The union said merely that he waived his right to contest the suspension.

Reaction to Ramirez’s ban came swiftly, from major league clubhouses to the White House.

“It’s a tragedy. It’s a shame. My sense is, it’s a great embarrassment on Major League Baseball,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

The penalty left the best team in the majors without its driving force and free spirit for nearly one-third of the season.

Ramirez’s suspension began Thursday, a day after the Dodgers broke the modern major league record for a home winning streak, opening the season 13-0. Barring any postponements, he will be able to return to the Dodgers for the July 3 game at San Diego. Ramirez will lose $7,650,273 of his $25 million salary.

Rodriguez and Ramirez are the two highest-paid players in the majors. With this suspension, six of the top 17 home run hitters in history now have been covered by the cloud of performance-enhancing drugs.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig couldn’t comment on the suspension because of provisions of the management-union drug agreement, spokesman Rich Levin said.

Ramirez became the fourth player suspended this year under the major league program, following Philadelphia reliever J.C. Romero, Yankees pitcher Sergio Mitre and San Francisco pitcher Kelvin Pichardo.

The Dodgers began the 50-game stretch without Ramirez on Thursday night against Washington. Juan Pierre received loud applause when he was introduced as Ramirez’s replacement in the starting lineup, but there were scattered boos when he came to the plate for the first time.

Losing Ramirez to suspension could be a huge blow financially for the Dodgers. The slugger has been single-handedly responsible for increasing attendance, merchandise sales and interest in the team, besides helping it win the NL West after his late-season arrival in 2008.

Los Angeles even renamed a section of seats in left field at Dodger Stadium “Mannywood” in his honor. Hours after the suspension, the team removed a reference to those seats from its Web site.

Torre, however, insisted Ramirez is welcome anytime.

“The thing that was toughest for Manny is how he disappointed everybody,” he said. “He loved it here, and he loves how the fans get turned on by him. He was devastated.”

Associated Press Baseball Writer Ron Blum reported from New York, with AP Sports Writer Beth Harris in Los Angeles. AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia, Joe Kay in Cincinnati, R.B. Fallstrom in St. Louis, Stephen Wilson in London and Steve Wine in Miami, National Writer Ben Walker in New York and AP Writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Jose Canseco Composes Opera About Steroids

http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/jose_canseco_composes_opera

Jose Canseco Composes Opera About Steroids
April 3, 2008 Onion Sports

NEW YORK — Just days after the publication of Vindicated, his second book concerning the use of steroids in professional baseball, former steroid-using baseball player and current steroid-awareness advocate Jose Canseco has debuted La Anabolica, an opera concerning the use of steroids in professional baseball. "I've done books, interviews, public speaking appearances, improv, and theater-in-the-round on the theme of steroids, and I was looking for something fresh and new, " Canseco said from the stage of the Met. "I think my libretto—especially the climactic scene in which fair Don Giambi is tempted to use the magic golden steroids to defeat evil knights Die Rosensox and their enchanted beast Il Monsto Verde—is exactly what is needed to bring the message of steroids in baseball to a new audience." Critics have not been kind to La Anabolica, noting that "the lyrics mostly consist of the word 'steroids' chanted over and over" and that "the ending, which occurs as a steroid-enhanced fat lady sings, is doubly and almost impossibly clichéd."

Jose Canseco Says 'The Truth Hurts'

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=4528387

Exclusive: Jose Canseco Says 'The Truth Hurts'
Canseco on Allegations in His New Book, Why He Thinks Clemens Was 'Telling the Truth'
By KATIE ESCHERICH
March 26, 2008

In an exclusive interview with "Nightline" co-anchor Martin Bashir, Jose Canseco talks about the explosive allegations in his new book, including his claim that he put star New York Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez in touch with a trainer who was also a supplier of steroids.

He did this, Canseco claimed, after Rodriguez asked him "where one would go to get steroids if one wanted them."

In the book, Canseco claims this took place "in the latter half of the 1990s."

Canseco acknowledged to Bashir that he does not know whether the trainer -- whom he calls "Max" -- actually provided steroids to Rodriguez.

"I cannot bet my life on it & that Alex Rodriguez ever used steroids," he told Bashir, "but in my opinion, I suspect he has, yes."

When challenged by Bashir to identify "Max" or to provide other evidence to support his claims, Canseco said "the timing's not right."

"That's just not a good enough answer," Bashir said. "Why don't you produce the evidence?"

"Let's see how Alex reacts to this," Canseco said. "Let's see how Alex reacts. Let's see if they call me a liar again. How's that for ya? Let's see if all of a sudden they're gonna call me a liar again."

Canseco also repeated to Bashir his allegation that he thought Rodriguez was pursuing a relationship with Canseco's then-wife Jessica.

When questioned about the severity of the allegations against Rodriguez and other players in the book, "Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars and the Battle to Save Baseball," Canseco said that "the truth hurts; that's all I can say."

Tuesday, Rodriguez reacted to Canseco's allegations, saying, according to published reports, "I really, absolutely, have no reaction." Of the claim about Canseco's wife, he said, "I don't know how to answer that."

When asked by Bashir why Rodriguez would seek out steroids when he was already performing at a high level, Canseco replied, "I have no idea. You should be asking him that."

The book also addressed other players, including Roger Clemens, as well as the 1998 party that became the focus of Clemens' testimony before Congress. Canseco insisted that Clemens did not attend that party. Clemens' former trainer Brian McNamee said in the Mitchell Report that Clemens first approached him about steroids shortly after McNamee saw him talking to Canseco at the party.

"Roger was never in my home," Canseco told Bashir.

In the book, Canseco wrote that he long suspected that Clemens had used steroids, but that he now believes Clemens did not use them. Canseco told Bashir, "If I were an investigator and I had to go on pure evidence that I have on Roger Clemens or dealt with Roger Clemens over time, then I would say no."

In answer to Bashir's question, "So you don't believe he did?" Canseco repeated his answer, "No."

Clemens' testified before the congressional committee that "I have never used steroids, human growth hormone or any other type of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I think these types of drugs should play no role in athletics at any level."

Canseco told Bashir, "I thought he was telling the truth. I watched it. I thought he was, you know, honest about everything. I thought he was sincere, and I feel sorry for him because our system is putting the greatest pitcher of our era through this. It's the mark of our times. They're not good."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Maybe Rocket was at Jose Canseco's party

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/02/22/2008-02-22_roger_clemens_attorney_maybe_rocket_was_.html

Roger Clemens' attorney: Maybe Rocket was at Jose Canseco's party
BY TERI THOMPSON, MICHAEL O'KEEFFE, NATHANIEL VINTON and CHRISTIAN RED
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS
Saturday, February 23rd 2008

Roger Clemens may be backpedaling on his long-time stance that he never attended a 1998 party at Jose Canseco's house.

In the wake of the Daily News' report Friday that a photograph exists of Clemens posing with a young man at Canseco's Florida home - a photo said to have been taken on June 9, 1998 - the Rocket's attorney issued a statement that seems to suggest Clemens may have attended the party after all.

Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer, has told federal investigators and Congress that Clemens was at the party and talked about steroid use with Canseco, while the seven-time Cy Young Award winner has vehemently disputed such claims. Clemens reiterated those denials before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last week. Canseco likewise submitted an affidavit to the committee that corroborates the Rocket's version of events.

In his testimony before Congress, Clemens told ranking member Tom Davis (R-Va.), "So could I have gone by (Canseco's) house later that afternoon and dropped my wife or her brother-in-law, the people that golfed with me? Sure, I could have. But at the time of the day that I would have expressed it to be, I was on my way to the ballpark. I know one thing. I wasn't there having huddled up with somebody trying to do a drug deal. I know that for sure."

Clemens attorney Rusty Hardin issued a statement Friday that in part reverses course. "We know that baseball announcers broadcasting the games at the time said Roger was not at the party. Jose Canseco has said Roger was not at the party, as has Canseco's former wife. Roger was playing golf at the time of the party, and has stated that he may have stopped by the Canseco house after playing golf before heading to the ballpark for the game," read Hardin's statement.

The proof Clemens attended may also lie in photographs from the party. As The News first reported, McNamee attorney Richard Emery was informed of the existence of the photograph that allegedly shows Clemens and the young man at Canseco's home. Emery also told The News a second photograph exists, showing Canseco posing with the same boy on the same day.

"I don't know anything about it. No one's talked to me or Jose. No one's said anything about it. We don't know the validity of (the photos)," Robert Saunooke, the attorney for Canseco, told The News on Friday. "There's no doubt that Roger Clemens has been to Jose's house. But the question was (about) this particular date for a barbecue and that didn't happen. You can take a picture of me every day of the week and I can say, 'This is one day and that's another.' How are you going to tell which day you took the photo of me?"

According to Emery, the photos in question have been turned over to federal investigators and Congress. Emery told The News that McNamee's lawyers, including Earl Ward, were called by the father of the boy in the photo following the Feb. 13 hearing in which Clemens faced off against McNamee. The boy was about 11 at the time the photo was taken.

The father of the boy informed McNamee's lawyers that he was frustrated by the attacks on McNamee, particularly those of committee member Dan Burton (R-Ind.), who repeatedly called McNamee a liar. The man told the lawyers about the photo of his son, and also that he had contacted Hardin before the hearing.

"I find it interesting that it was offered to Hardin on Feb. 12 - and he walked away from it, probably because he didn't want any contradictory evidence that showed Clemens was at the party," Emery said.

Emery has not seen the photos himself, but gave the information he learned about them to Congress and to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky, the lead investigator in the BALCO steroids case. The Justice Department could investigate Clemens for perjury and any such photographic evidence could prove damning if it's valid.

According to Emery, the boy’s father told McNamee’s lawyers that he wants to keep his son, who is now a college baseball player and is draft-eligible, out of the controversy.

Photo could tie Clemens to Canseco's party

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5563210.html

Feb. 22, 2008, 8:10PM
THE MITCHELL REPORT
Photo could tie Clemens to Canseco's party
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Houston Chronicle

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Brian McNamee's lawyers have informed the Justice Department that there is a picture that was supposedly taken of Roger Clemens at Jose Canseco's Miami home during a 1998 party that has become a central point of contention in the aftermath of the Mitchell Report.

"I think the Justice Department will get the picture or pictures," McNamee's New York-based attorney, Richard Emery, told the Chronicle via phone. "And perhaps the congressional (House Oversight and Government Reform) Committee will get them, too. I have not seen the picture. I do believe the people who have the picture are credible and acting responsibly."

In the Mitchell Report, which was prepared by former Sen. George Mitchell and released Dec. 13, McNamee, Clemens' former trainer, claimed he discussed steroids with the embattled pitcher not long after the June 1998 party at Canseco's home.

Clemens and Canseco were teammates with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998, and McNamee has claimed Clemens attended the party Canseco threw for his teammates while they were in town to play an interleague series against the Florida Marlins.

"This is a very respectful, decent upstanding family," Emery said of the family who reportedly have the picture.

According to Emery young man who was about 10 or 11 years old at the time attended the party and took a picture with Clemens.

"The boy remembers the party," Emery said. "He's 10 years older now, but it was the only time he was ever at Canseco's house. And all the baseball players were there. It was a big event in this kid's life. He has this picture on his wall, both pictures on his wall. He kept those pictures.

"The mother remembers dropping him off at 1:30 and picking him up two hours later. And Clemens was still at the party. It was very clear, but they didn't want to give us the picture because they were all concerned. Apparently he's a baseball player in college, draft-eligible perhaps. They were very worried about this picture affecting this kid's life."

According to a person who has spoken to the young man's family, he is from Florida and playing baseball in college. Emery declined to divulge the man's name.

McNamee claimed to Mitchell's investigators that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone multiple times. He also claimed he gave performance-enhancing drugs to Deer Park's Andy Pettitte and Bellaire High graduate Chuck Knoblauch, two of Clemens' former New York Yankees teammates who also trained with McNamee.

Pettitte and Knoblauch, who were called in for depositions by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, have admitted to McNamee's claims. Pettitte went a step further, admitting he also used HGH in 2004 with the Astros after receiving the drug from his father, Tom.

Pettitte also held a news conference in Tampa, Fla., on Monday, apologizing to his fans and former teammates for using HGH and for lying about the use earlier. Clemens has fiercely McNamee's claims, even denying that he took steroids or HGH while testifying under oath on Feb. 13 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Not long after the Mitchell Report was released, Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin, questioned the methodology Mitchell used in preparing the report, which was commissioned by Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Joe Householder, Hardin's spokesman on the Clemens matter, even chastised reporters from around the country often for not investigating McNamee's claims about Clemens being at Canseco's party.

On Friday, however, the New York Daily News first reported that the man has the picture of Clemens at that June 1998 party. Reached in Hawaii, where he was giving a speech to a trade group, Hardin didn't want to comment on the Daily News' report.

"It's impossible for us to intelligently comment on it until we see any photos that may exist," Hardin said. "I do know that TV baseball announcers at the time and Jose Canseco have all said that Roger was not at the party."

Canseco's party has been a central theme used by Clemens' supporters to undermine the credibility of the Mitchell Report and McNamee. Last week before the congressional hearing in which McNamee and Clemens testified, Hardin presented the House Oversight and Government Reform committee an affidavit from Canseco claiming Clemens wasn't at the party.

Clemens' lawyers also presented the committee with a receipt of greens fees showing Clemens golfed near Canseco's home that day. Moreover, they handed over video footage of announcers saying how the righthander had not attended the party.

McNamee stuck by his claims during last week's hearing, telling the committee that he remembered seeing Clemens' nanny run after one of the 11-time All-Star's children near Canseco's pool during that party. McNamee even described the bikini the nanny was wearing.

The committee asked Clemens' lawyers for the nanny's name and phone number on Feb. 8. Two days later, Clemens had her at his home even though the two hadn't seen each other in years. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., reprimanded Clemens during the hearing for inviting the nanny to his home in Memorial before giving the committee her number.

"Was it your idea to meet with her before forwarding her name to us, or did someone suggest that to you?" Waxman asked Clemens during the hearing, prompting Hardin and Clemens' D.C. lawyer, Lanny Breuer, to protest at the insinuation of possible witness tampering.

"Mr. Chairman, I was doing you all a favor," Clemens replied.

At those hearings, McNamee took the most vicious criticism from Dan Burton, R-Ind.

"I know one thing I don't believe, and that's you," Burton told McNamee at the hearings during one of his many statements implying that the former trainer was a liar.

Burton's comments may have helped inspire the young man's family to contact McNamee's lawyers about the photo. Emery also claims that the family with the picture first contacted Hardin on Feb. 12 to tell him about its existence.

"On the 12th of February when they read that Rusty Hardin and Roger Clemens were asserting that Roger Clemens wasn't at the party, they called Rusty Hardin," Emery said. "Then they watched the hearing. They weren't going to do anything. Then they watched the hearing.

"When Dan Burton started harassing Brian McNamee, they were offended by that. The day after the hearing or two days after, they contacted us, and we spoke to them extensively. They told us about the picture and said they felt bad about the way McNamee was treated."

Clemens filed a defamation suit against McNamee in early January. There remains a possibility that Waxman's committee could ask the Department of Justice to investigate whether Clemens perjured himself last week at the hearings and earlier in his deposition to the committee.

Hardin, who is expected to attend a wedding in Florida on Saturday, said he doesn't expect to be back at his Houston office until Tuesday.

jesus.ortiz@chron.com

Alleged Pic Puts Rocket at Canseco Party

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gt5ZQhxUOJjNoKi682LKsDdUKxpAD8V0B0TG0

Alleged Pic Puts Rocket at Canseco Party
2-24-8

NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Clemens' lawyer was told a photograph exists that shows the pitcher at a party hosted by Jose Canseco, an issue that was disputed in Congress this month.

A June 1998 party at Canseco's house in Florida was one of several topics discussed during Clemens' testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Feb. 13.

Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, said the seven-time Cy Young Award winner was at the party. Clemens denied being there when he gave a deposition to congressional investigators on Feb. 5, then testified eight days later that it was possible he could have stopped by after playing golf.

In the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball, released in December, McNamee alleged that Clemens spoke with Canseco at the barbecue and soon after approached the trainer about using performance-enhancing drugs.

McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times, possibly more, between 1998 and 2001. Clemens has vehemently denied those accusations several times, including under oath before Congress.

Congress is deciding whether to ask the Justice Department to investigate the contradictory testimony given by Clemens and McNamee under oath. Whether Clemens attended Canseco's party could affect both his and McNamee's credibility.

Clemens and Canseco played for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1998.

Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement Friday that on Feb. 12 he was contacted by a former neighbor of Canseco's.

"He said he had a photograph of his son with Roger in a pool at a party at Canseco's house. He said that friends who had seen the photograph were suggesting to him that he sell it. I expressed no interest in buying it, but urged him to let our investigator visit with him, view the photograph and interview him. He said he wanted to talk to his son first and would call me back that day. I gave him all of my phone numbers and urged him to call. Unfortunately, I never heard back from him," the statement said.

"It is impossible for us to comment on the photograph itself because we haven't seen it. We know that baseball announcers broadcasting the games at the time said Roger was not at the party. Jose Canseco has said Roger was not at the party, as has Canseco's former wife. Roger was playing golf at the time of the party, and has stated that he may have stopped by the Canseco house after playing golf before heading to the ballpark for the game."

McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, said Friday he didn't have the photo but thought at some point it would be obtained by the congressional committee and/or prosecutors.

The photo's existence was first reported by the Daily News.

A-Rod Says He Expects Questions on Drugs

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCj65bmE8AEQ7MvFQrBVYXwwJp9QD8UUAVI80

A-Rod Says He Expects Questions on Drugs
By RONALD BLUM
2-20-8

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Alex Rodriguez sat in the first-base dugout at Legends Field, surrounded by the usual circle of cameras, microphones and reporters. He knows the scrutiny will only increase as he approaches Barry Bonds' career home-run record, especially in an era when all top athletes must prove they haven't juiced up on performance-enhancing drugs.

In his first session with reporters during spring training, Rodriguez talked about baseball's drug-testing program and made a curious statement.

"Last year, I got tested 9-to-10 times," Rodriguez said. "We have a very, very strict policy, and I think the game is making tremendous strides."

Rodriguez could have been exaggerating about the amount of tests, he could have been selected for an unusually high number of checks or he might have dropped a clue to something else.

Under baseball's drug-testing rules, players are tested at least twice: within five days of arriving at spring training and again at a randomly picked unannounced date. There also are 600 additional random tests throughout the major leagues, of which as many as 60 may be conducted during the offseason.

If Rodriguez's statement was correct, that means he was selected repeatedly for the random tests. Another possible explanation is that he tested positive for a stimulant, which would have subjected him to six additional unannounced tests over the following year.

Initial positive tests for stimulants are not subject to discipline and are not announced.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said that because of the confidentiality of baseball's drug program, he didn't know if Rodriguez was tested that many times. Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, and Michael Weiner, general counsel of the players' association, didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

"I don't know many times he was tested. We don't talk about that," baseball spokesman Rich Levin said. "Theoretically, it is possible. But I don't know if he was just throwing those numbers out."

Rodriguez wasn't available for questions after the Yankees' workout.

"Right now, the game is in a very not-trusting situation with our public, with our fans," A-Rod said during his morning session with reporters. "Some of the things that I've accomplished and potentially some of the things that people think I can accomplish, my name has come up and will probably come up again in the future."

A-Rod stated categorically that he had never taken steroids or human growth hormone. He said he isn't worried about Jose Canseco, who has hinted without going into detail that he will make allegations of some sort against Rodriguez in an upcoming book.

Rodriguez also denied a claim last week by former Texas teammate John Rocker that doctors from management and the players' association told A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez and Rocker following a spring training meeting how to effectively use steroids. Rodriguez and Rocker were with the Rangers in 2002.

"That did not happen," A-Rod said.

Rodriguez said he still hasn't spoken with Scott Boras since negotiating his new contract without his longtime agent. A-Rod, however, has been dealing with others in Boras' office.

Rodriguez signed a record $275 million, 10-year contract to remain with the New York Yankees.

Just 32, he is an 11-time All-Star who led the with 54 home runs and 156 RBIs last season and won his third AL MVP award. Heading into this year, he's 17th on the career list with 518 home runs, 244 behind the record Bonds established last year.

He wouldn't talk about why he opted out of his record $252 million, 10-year contract last October only to return a few weeks later.

"It was just a big misunderstanding," Yankees senior vice president Hank Steinbrenner said. "We really didn't know that he wanted to come back and he was very concerned, very alarmed when he found out we didn't know he wanted to come back and he made it clear he did, and everything was great from there."

Wherever A-Rod goes, there are questions. He is 8-for-59 (.136) in the postseason dating to 2004 and hitless in 18 consecutive playoff at-bats with runners in scoring position.

No matter how many home runs he hits, without a World Series ring he can't take a place alongside Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio, can't be mentioned with Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson.

"I think there's a sense of urgency," new manager Joe Girardi said. "There's no better year than the present, right?"

Playing for the Yankees has largely robbed A-Rod of his privacy. Whether he's sunbathing in Central Park or walking through a Toronto hotel lobby with a blond stripper, paparazzi are usually hiding nearby.

"When you're as good as Alex, you're going to be scrutinized more, and people are always watching," Girardi said. "When you're a great player, people never take their eyes off of you, so everything that you do is under a microscope, and he's doing it at the highest level in New York."

Across town, the Mets have their own icon to show off this year. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana is the Queens ace to play opposite A-Rod's Bronx bravura.

"I'm glad for a guy like Santana, gets to play in a city like New York," Rodriguez said. "He's the best pitcher. He deserves to be in the city, and in a forum. I thought it was a fantastic move by the New York Mets."

Rodriguez also praised teammate Andy Pettitte, who was forced to give a deposition and affidavit to Congress in which he admitted using HGH in 2002 and 2004. Pettitte also said Roger Clemens discussed HGH use nearly a decade ago — Clemens said Pettitte "misremembers."

"Andy is one of the greatest human beings I've ever met," Rodriguez said. "I have two daughters — well, I have one and one on the way. If I had a daughter, I would want 'em to marry Andy Pettitte. The age difference might be a little awkward, but in today's day and age anything is possible."

What Jose Canseco wrote about Roger Clemens

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/subwaysquawkers/2008/02/what-jose-canseco-wrote-about.html

February 10, 2008
What Jose Canseco wrote about Roger Clemens
In an apparent response to Brian McNamee having saved DNA evidence against Roger Clemens, the pitchers’ attorneys have launched another salvo against the trainer.

They claim that they can prove that Clemens was not at a 1998 party Jose Canseco threw for the Toronto Blue Jays, the team they both were on at the time. McNamee told Mitchell Report investigators that Clemens asked him about steroids not long after talking with Jose at that party.

Rusty Hardin, one of Clemens’ attorneys, said that Roger was not at the party, and was in fact golfing. He also claims that there is a videotape of Blue Jays’ announcers discussing how Clemens was not at the party.

As this evidence has not yet been released to the public, I don’t yet know how damning this is. What I do know is what Canseco wrote about Clemens in his book, “Juiced.” And one wonders why Clemens’ attorneys would bring up Jose in the first place, given what the player wrote about Roger - and so-called “B12 shots” - in his book. To put it mildly, Jose (and “Juiced”) doesn’t exactly help their case.

Check this out - Canseco writes on page 211 of the hardcover edition of “Juiced” about how steroid use was so “open” in the locker room that:

“…the trainers would jokingly call the steroid injections ‘B12 shots,’ and soon the players had picked up on that little code name, too. You’d hear them saying it out loud in front of each other, ‘I need to go in and get a B12 shot,’ a player would say, and everybody would laugh.”

Canseco then described what was really in the so-called ‘B12 shot’: “a combination of steroids - in most cases Deca and some form of testosterone.”

But isn’t is possible that there could be some players who didn’t know what was really in this shot? Canseco acknowledges that, writing:

“The funny part is, there might have been a few players who didn’t even know what was in the shots they were getting. I never pulled any of them aside and asked, ‘Did you know he’s injecting you with steroids?’ I just assumed they all knew, but looking back, I’m not so sure. There may have been a few who were so out of it that they weren’t even aware of what was going on. You’d have to ask them about that yourself.”

So, couldn’t that be an out for Clemens - that he really thought it was B12, and it was his trainer’s fault? Well, no, given that Canseco mentions the Rocket by name in the very next paragraph, writing:

“It was the pitchers who really kept that ‘B12’ joke going. For example, I’ve never seen Roger Clemens do steroids, and he never told me that he did. But we’ve talked about what steroids could do for you, in which combinations, and I’ve heard him use the phrase ‘B12 shot’ in respect to others.”

Fascinating, given what Roger told Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes” about all those B12 shots he got. Too bad nobody at the time looked at Canseco’s book, and mentioned Jose writing about Roger talking about this very subject.

Canseco goes on to write on P. 212 of his book that Clemens said this about steroid use in baseball:

“‘You hitters are so darn strong from steroids,’ he’d say.

‘Yeah, but you pitchers are taking it too. You’re just taking different types,’ I’d respond.”

He noted that Clemens would often “vent his frustration” over “lesser players” getting hits off him, due to steroid usage, to which Canseco responds in the book: “What could I tell him? All’s fair in love and steroids.”

Jose also wrote this about Clemens:

” I can’t give chapter and verse on Roger’s training regimen. But I’ll tell you what I was thinking at the time.

One of the classic signs of steroid use is when a player’s basic performance actually improves later in his career.

Canseco goes on to talk about how the Rocket’s performance improved after Dan Duquette saying that Clemens was in the twilight of his career.

The other noteworthy thing Jose writes about Roger in his book is that, according to Canseco, “He’s one of the very few baseball players I know who never cheated on his wife.”

Anyhow, I don’t quite understand what Clemens’ attorneys are trying to do here with bringing up Canseco. It’s not just that what Jose wrote in his book about Clemens and steroids not only is completely consistent with what McNamee said. It’s not just that Canseco’s book, which came out three years ago, not only describes a ‘B12 shot’ as a euphemism for steroids, but also quotes Clemens as knowingly using that term.

It’s the fact that according to the AP story about this party, the Mitchell Report “…goes on to say that Canseco told Mitchell’s staff ‘he had numerous conversations with Clemens about the benefits of Deca-Durabolin and Winstrol and how to ‘cycle’ and ‘stack’ steroids.’” This, of course, is absolutely consistent with not only what Canseco wrote about how he and Clemens talked “about what steroids could do for you, in which combinations.”

So it seems to me that even if it can be proven that Roger wasn’t at Jose’s party, it doesn’t exactly get Clemens off the hook, given that Canseco’s own words over the years have essentially, and consistently confirmed one thing about Clemens - that Roger is a steroid user.

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Roger Clemens
By Lisa Swan on February 10, 2008

Canseco's new book expected by Opening Day '08

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3173585

Sunday, December 30, 2007
Reports: Canseco's new book expected by Opening Day '08

Jose Canseco has finalized a book deal for his sequel to "Juiced" and it is expected to hit bookstores by Opening Day of the 2008 season, two New York newspapers reported Sunday.

Robert Saunooke, Canseco's lawyer, told The New York Daily News and The New York Post that the book, which has a working title of "Vindicated" will be co-authored by former Sports Illustrated writer Don Yaeger.

The Daily News first reported the story Saturday on its Web site.

"Jose already has a lot of stuff put together," Yaeger told The Daily News.

Disappointed by the Mitchell report, Canseco hopes to publish "an unjaundiced view, without the rose-colored glasses" of steroid use in baseball, Saunooke told The Post.

"The book is basically going to be -- I don't want to say an attack -- but it will be a clarification of why certain names should have been mentioned [in the Mitchell report] that were not mentioned," Saunooke said of the new book. "We had hoped that the Mitchell report would have been more revealing. It basically ended up being nothing more than [Mitchell saying], 'I talked to a lot of people, some people wouldn't talk to me and it's up to the commissioner,'" Saunooke told The Daily News.

Saunooke told The Post that he and Canseco talked to Sen. Mitchell and provided him with "tons of information and background" on steroid use in baseball. But when the Mitchell report was released, he and Canseco were disappointed that names like Rafael Palmeiro and Ivan Rodriguez were not named.

Canseco's name appears 105 times in the Mitchell report, more than that of Barry Bonds (103) or Roger Clemens (82). In all, the 409-page report identified 86 names to differing degrees, but Clemens clearly was the symbol.

"I saw the list of players, and there are definitely a lot of players missing," Canseco told Fox Business Network this month. "I don't know what they accomplished or what they are trying to prove."

Prodded further about players not included, Canseco said this of Alex Rodriguez: "All I can say is the Mitchell report is incomplete. I could not believe that his name was not in the report."

One of the topics of Canseco's new book, Saunooke told The Post, will be how Mark McGwire asked for immunity before his appearance before Congress in 2005.

Another topic of Canseco's new book might be A-Rod.

In July, Canseco told WEEI Radio in Boston that he had "other stuff" on Rodriguez, who he called a "hypocrite" who "was not all he appeared to be."

"Jose has information about A-Rod and the Yankees that will be in the book. But, I am not sure if Jose is willing to disclose it at this point," Saunooke, told The New York Times in July.

In Baltimore for a Yankees' game against the Orioles that month, Rodriguez told reporters that he hadn't heard Canseco's comments about him. "And I have no comment."

In "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big," Canseco called himself the "godfather of steroids in baseball," saying, "I single-handedly changed the game of baseball by introducing them into the game."

He wrote in that book that he personally injected McGwire with steroids and that he saw McGwire and Jason Giambi inject each other.

Canseco also claimed he introduced the performance enhancers to Palmeiro, Rodriguez, and Juan Gonzalez when he joined the Rangers in 1992.

Canseco hit 462 home runs in a major league career between 1985 and 2001. He played seven full seasons for the A's before being traded to Texas in '92. He also played for Boston, the Yankees, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Oakland again, and the White Sox.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

A dark day for the game

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-mitchell14dec14,0,1058154,full.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports

A dark day for the game
Mitchell names 86 players as users and spreads blame for 'steroid era'
By Bill Shaikin
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 14, 2007

NEW YORK -- — In a blow to the reputations of baseball legends, journeymen players, team owners and union representatives, an investigative report on drug use in the major leagues released Thursday by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell blasted America's pastime for its slow and ineffective response to what it called "baseball's steroid era."

The 409-page report released here amid great fanfare and serial news conferences cited performance-enhancing drugs as a widespread problem that involved players from each of the 30 teams in both the National and American Leagues.

Mitchell named 86 current and former professional players as drug users, saying they ranged from those "whose major league careers were brief to potential members of the Baseball Hall of Fame." But it was that group of big names that turned Mitchell's report into an instant sensation and one of the biggest scandals in modern U.S. sports.

Among the report's disclosures were:

Seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Roger Clemens repeatedly used steroids and human growth hormone, injected by his conditioning coach. The same conditioning coach, Brian McNamee, also provided human growth hormone to Clemens' New York Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte, who wanted to speed recovery from an elbow injury.

Former Angels and Boston Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn, a one-time American League Most Valuable Player, acquired human growth hormone when he was recuperating from a serious ankle injury. The report reproduced copies of checks for $3,200 and $2,200 written to a trainer who provided the hormones.

Former Dodgers relief pitching ace Eric Gagne had human growth hormone shipped directly to the clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. And former Dodgers catcher and fan favorite Paul Lo Duca thanked his drug supplier with a handwritten note on Dodger Stadium stationery.

Adding to the impact of Mitchell's report was his extensive use of canceled checks and other documents, among them internal correspondence from front offices in Los Angeles and Boston indicating that management knew about drug use and took it into consideration during trade talks.

"Everyone involved in baseball -- the commissioner, club officials, the players' association and the players -- shares responsibility," Mitchell said.

Mitchell urged baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to grant amnesty to players in the interest of moving forward, but Selig pointedly reserved the right to suspend any active players cited by Mitchell.

Selig, who appointed Mitchell to conduct the investigation, had hoped the report would satisfy congressional critics pressing for reform. However, within two hours of its release, Selig was summoned for hearings before two committees in the House of Representatives.

Critics sounded off from all sides.

Clemens' attorney Rusty Hardin issued a statement denying the pitcher used steroids and all but threatening a lawsuit. The Houston attorney said: "There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today."

Hardin also complained that Clemens has "no meaningful way to combat what he strongly contends are totally false allegations. He has not been charged with anything, he will not be charged with anything and yet he is being tried in the court of public opinion with no recourse. That is totally wrong."

Jose Canseco, who fingered former teammates as steroid users in a book referenced in Mitchell's report, expressed disappointment in its contents. He called the report "a slap on the hand" and said some names of drug users were missing. He told Fox Business Channel that New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez should have been included.

"I could not believe that his name was not in the report," Canseco said. Scott Boras, Rodriguez's agent, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Besides Clemens, Pettitte and Vaughn, other stars listed by Mitchell included former Dodger Kevin Brown, David Justice and Barry Bonds. Another former Most Valuable Player on the list, Miguel Tejada, was recently traded from the Baltimore Orioles to the Houston Astros.

"Other investigations will no doubt turn up more names," Mitchell said.

Selig said he commissioned this investigation against the wishes of his closest advisors. The probe is believed to have cost owners more than $20 million, but neither Mitchell nor Selig would provide a figure.

"If there were problems, I wanted them revealed," Selig said. "If there were individuals who engaged in wrongdoing, I wanted those facts to come to light. If there were recommendations that would improve our drug testing program, I wanted to improve them. His report is a call to action. And I will act."

Mitchell issued a series of recommendations, among them to let a third party independent of owners and players run the sport's drug testing, to increase random year-round tests, to establish an investigative unit to pursue allegations of drug use beyond testing and to record every package received by a player in a clubhouse.

Selig said he would implement all recommendations that do not require union consent and ask the players' association to discuss the rest "in the immediate future." Donald Fehr, executive director of the association, said the union would consider Mitchell's recommendations. Selig also said he would convene an "HGH summit" shortly.

Mitchell's report indicated human growth hormone has replaced steroids as the performance-enhancing substance of choice because baseball does not test for human growth hormone.

The owners have funded research for a urine test -- and Fehr said the players would agree to such a test if one can be developed -- but said current blood tests for human growth hormone are of "dubious or little practical value."

In his report, Mitchell cited a "widespread misconception" that baseball did not ban steroids and other performance-enhancing substances until 2002. Baseball expressly prohibited the illegal use of steroids as far back as 1991, according to the report, but did not test for them until 2003.

Although the union had consistently opposed testing without reasonable cause, thus "delaying the adoption of mandatory random drug testing in major league baseball for nearly 20 years," Mitchell also chided owners for not pushing for testing sooner "because they were much more concerned about the serious economic issues facing major league baseball."

Said Mitchell: "With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that baseball missed the early warning signs of a growing crisis."

In general, Mitchell said, his corroboratory evidence included other interviews, phone records, shipping documents, canceled checks and money orders.

"Many players are named, their reputations adversely affected forever," Fehr said, "even if it turns out down the road they should not have been."

Fehr said he welcomed Mitchell's suggestion that active players not be suspended but said the union would fight on behalf of any player who might be disciplined. Mitchell said Selig should grant amnesty to those players and look to the future.

Said Mitchell: "Spending more months, or even years, in contentious disciplinary proceedings will keep everyone mired in the past."

Yet Selig insisted he would consider suspensions "on a case-by-case basis" and act "swiftly" in doing so. "I think, frankly, that is a byproduct of this investigation that I need to address."

The Kansas City Royals signed outfielder Jose Guillen for $36 million last week, well aware he would be suspended for reportedly ordering steroids and human growth hormone. On the day Guillen signed, Selig suspended him for 15 days.

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

Times staff writers Dylan Hernandez and Lance Pugmire contributed to this report.