Details on A-Rod's alleged pitch-tipping scheme

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/04/30/roberts.qa/

Thursday April 30, 2009
Details on A-Rod's alleged pitch-tipping scheme in Texas
Story Highlights
Roberts: Rangers people noticed Alex doing obvious signs to opposing hitters
Roberts: He'd tip a buddy on the other team and the player would return the favor
According to Roberts, some Rangers were aware of A-Rod's pitch-tipping
Alex Rodriguez allegedly made movements with his glove and leaned different ways to indicate pitch and location.

A report in the New York Daily News alleged that in a new book on Alex Rodriguez to be published this Monday by Harper Collins, the star tipped pitches when he was with the Texas Rangers, essentially signaling to friendly opponents what pitch was coming. SI senior writer Selena Roberts, who along with David Epstein broke the story in February about A-Rod's use of performance enhancing drugs, wrote the book and talked to SI.com about the allegations.

SI.com: The book claims that A-Rod tipped opposing players to pitches in the late innings of blowouts, an affront not only to teammates but also to the integrity of the game. How often was this practice performed and how does this affect his standing with his peers?

Selena Roberts: The pitch-tipping was often enough over three years to become a pattern noticeable by the ex-Rangers sources that I spoke to. Only a small number of Rangers knew about the quid pro quo that Alex was involved in and did not want it to spread around the clubhouse because it would have been devastating to the team.

SI.com: How did this pitch-tipping originate?

Selena Roberts: I don't know the history of how it has worked in the major leagues, but from my reporting and the people I spoke with on the Rangers, what they noticed was a pattern of behavior by Alex over a pretty lengthy period of time, two or three years, where it just became more noticeable that his mannerisms on the field were different in games that were already over, its 10-2, something like that. When games were already decided, they noticed this behavior with Alex where he would do very obvious signs, presumably to an opposing hitter who would be a middle infielder on an opposing team, where they believed that he would tip the signs.

SI.com: Why was he doing this?

Roberts: What this was all part of was a quid pro quo, according to the people I spoke with. Alex would tip his middle infielder buddy on the other team and the player on the other team would in turn tip Alex. What it was was slump insurance. You could count on your buddy to help you break out of your slump, if you're 0 for 3 or you've had a bad week. There was no intent to throw a game or change the outcome.

SI.com: How would he tip the pitches?

Roberts: If it was a changeup, sources say, he would twist his glove hand. To indicate a slider, he would allegedly sweep the dirt in front of him, and he would bend in the direction of where the pitch was going to be, inside or outside. I don't know that it's easy to decode. You're talking about people who see a player on an every-day basis, day after day, year after year. I don't know that it would be at all obvious to people who are watching or to a television audience. These are people who would know how to detect when things don't feel right. If it happened once or twice, people might say, Let's give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe we didn't see what we thought we saw. But according to the people that I spoke with, this was a pattern of behavior.

SI.com: So if teammates noticed it, how did they handle it?

Roberts: At least one teammate in a very gentle way did say, "Hey, you might be tipping a little too soon out there." What would usually happen would be for Alex to signal the pitch to his teammates as the pitcher was in the windup; that way the batter is focused on the pitcher and not able to see the sign. However, these signs Alex would flash came before the windup and that made it more noticeable. This is the critical difference between signaling your infield as quarterback and giving away the pitch to the hitter: when you flash the sign. This was done to give the batter plenty of time to see it and figure out what to do about it.

But one player trying to be diplomatic told me that he said, "I think you're tipping a little too soon," and the response from Alex was, "What are you talking about?" I don't think Alex was irritated at the player; I think he felt that he had been scrutinized too closely, that someone else was trying to tell him how to do his job. These people who knew about it or witnessed it knew how it would play in the clubhouse if it became an issue. These were all reasons why it didn't become a bigger deal than it was, because people wanted to keep it under wraps.

SI.com: How many people knew about this?

Roberts: I think it was kept to a very small group of people. The people that are noticing this, it's not something that you want to tell anybody else. You want to keep it to yourself until it becomes something you can't ignore anymore. If this had been a situation where it was determining the outcome of a game, obviously it would have been a much different story.

A-Rod mum on claims he used steroids in H.S.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gDyhPDBjnfHf9yHdoOLA9DsFnGAAD97T02G81

A-Rod mum on claims he used steroids while in H.S.
4-30-9

NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Rodriguez refused to address allegations that he used steroids when he was a highly touted high school player and with the New York Yankees. Rodriguez admitted in February to using performance-enhancing drugs while with the Texas Rangers but insisted he stopped before he was traded to the Yankees in 2004.

He brushed off a question Thursday about some details from Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts' upcoming book "A-Rod" that cast doubt on his earlier statements.

"I'm not going there," he said after homering in an extended spring training intrasquad game in Tampa, Fla. "I'm just so excited about being back on the field and playing baseball. My team has won two games (in a row) up there and hopefully I can come back and help them win some more."

The Daily News reported in Thursday's edition that Roberts' book offers an unflattering portrait of the MVP slugger as a needy personality who wanted his ego stroked constantly.

The paper doesn't say how it obtained a copy of the Harper Collins book, scheduled to be released on Monday.

A high school teammate of A-Rod's told Roberts that the future No. 1 draft pick was on steroids as a prep player and his coach knew it — an allegation the coach, Rich Hofman, denied.

Rodriguez said he wasn't worried that the steroids issue was being brought up again.

"No. Not really," he said. "I'm in a good place. I think more importantly physically I feel like I'm getting better everyday. We've had a great week here. We've worked extremely hard, and I'm just very anxious to do what God put me on this earth to do, to play baseball."

In the book, an unnamed major leaguer is quoted as saying A-Rod and former Yankees pitcher Kevin Brown, who was named in the Mitchell Report, were seen together with human growth hormone — or HGH — in 2004.

The book also goes on to say that two anonymous Yankees said they believed A-Rod was using banned substances based on visual side effects, and that a clubhouse staffer said management had a suspicion that that the third baseman may have been juicing.

Rodriguez, in Florida rehabbing his surgically repaired hip, went 1-for-6 with two walks in the extended spring game. He had a long homer to left center in his sixth plate appearance.

He will play in another extended spring game Friday against Pirates minor leaguers at Pittsburgh's complex in Bradenton, Fla.

Rodriguez said he needs to run the bases at full speed and is still on target to return to the Yankees in May.

"I think the last thing I'm going to do here before I leave is sliding," he said. "I think sliding is probably the thing I have the most reservation about because you have to get on your hip and bounce on it a little bit. Everything else seems so far on schedule."

Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/index.html

Sources tell SI Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003
Story Highlights
Rodriguez tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone while with the Rangers
Under the 2003 survey testing, there were no penalties for a positive test
Rodriguez was one of 104 players who tested positive that year
Saturday February 7, 2009
By Selena Roberts and David Epstein

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently told Sports Illustrated.

Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. "You'll have to talk to the union," said Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I'm not saying anything."

The MLBPA issued a statement on Saturday, saying "Information and documents relating to the results of the 2003 MLB testing program are both confidential and under seal by court orders. We are prohibited from confirming or denying any allegation about the test results of any particular player[s] by the collective bargaining agreement and by court orders. Anyone with knowledge of such documents who discloses their contents may be in violation of those court orders."

Rob Manfred, MLB's Executive Vice President of Labor Relations, also released a statement on Saturday, saying, "We are disturbed by the allegations contained in the Sports Illustrated news story which was posted online this morning. Because the survey testing that took place in 2003 was intended to be non-disciplinary and anonymous, we can not make any comment on the accuracy of this report as it pertains to the player named."

Though MLB's drug policy has expressly prohibited the use of steroids without a valid prescription since 1991, there were no penalties for a positive test in 2003. The results of that year's survey testing of 1,198 players were meant to be anonymous under the agreement between the commissioner's office and the players association. Rodriguez's testing information was found, however, after federal agents, armed with search warrants, seized the '03 test results from Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., of Long Beach, Calif., one of two labs used by MLB in connection with that year's survey testing. The seizure took place in April 2004 as part of the government's investigation into 10 major league players linked to the BALCO scandal -- though Rodriguez himself has never been connected to BALCO.

The list of the 104 players whose urine samples tested positive is under seal in California. However, two sources familiar with the evidence that the government has gathered in its investigation of steroid use in baseball and two other sources with knowledge of the testing results have told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez is one of the 104 players identified as having tested positive, in his case for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan. All four sources spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the evidence.

Primobolan, which is also known by the chemical name methenolone, is an injected or orally administered drug that is more expensive than most steroids. (A 12-week cycle can cost $500.) It improves strength and maintains lean muscle with minimal bulk development, according to steroid experts, and has relatively few side effects. Kirk Radomski, the former New York Mets clubhouse employee who in 2007 pleaded guilty to illegal distribution of steroids to numerous major league players, described in his recent book, Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseballby the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report, how players increasingly turned to drugs such as Primobolan in 2003, in part to avoid detection in testing. Primobolan is detectable for a shorter period of time than the steroid previously favored by players, Deca-Durabolin. According to a search of FDA records, Primobolan is not an approved prescription drug in the United States, nor was it in 2003. (Testosterone can be taken legally with an appropriate medical prescription.)

Rodriguez finished the 2003 season by winning his third straight league home run title (with 47) and the first of his three MVP awards.

Because more than 5% of big leaguers had tested positive in 2003, baseball instituted a mandatory random-testing program, with penalties, in '04. According to the 2007 Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball, in September 2004, Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the players' union, violated an agreement with MLB by tipping off a player (not named in the report) about an upcoming, supposedly unannounced drug test. Three major league players who spoke to SI said that Rodriguez was also tipped by Orza in early September 2004 that he would be tested later that month. Rodriguez declined to respond on Thursday when asked about the warning Orza provided him.

When Orza was asked on Friday in the union's New York City office about the tipping allegations, he told a reporter, "I'm not interested in discussing this information with you."

In its statement on Saturday, the MLBPA said, "As we have explained previously, in detail and in public, there was no improper tipping of players in 2004 about the timing of drug tests. As set forth in our letter to Chairman Waxman of the House Government Reform Committee, in September 2004 MLBPA attorneys met with certain players, but we are not able to confirm or deny the names of any of the players with whom we met."

Anticipating that the 33-year-old Rodriguez, who has 553 career home runs, could become the game's alltime home run king, the Yankees signed him in November 2007 to a 10-year, incentive-laden deal that could be worth as much as $305 million. Rodriguez is reportedly guaranteed $275 million and could receive a $6 million bonus each time he ties one of the four players at the top of the list: Willie Mays (660), Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762), and an additional $6 million for passing Bonds. In order to receive the incentive money, the contract reportedly requires Rodriguez to make extra promotional appearances and sign memorabilia for the Yankees as part of a marketing plan surrounding his pursuit of Bonds's record. Two sources familiar with Rodriguez's contract told SI that there is no language about steroids in the contract that would put Rodriguez at risk of losing money.

Arguments before an 11-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena are ongoing between government prosecutors and the players' association over the government's seizure of the test results from the Long Beach lab. The agents who collected the material had a search warrant only for the results for the 10 BALCO-linked players. Attorneys from the union argue that the government is entitled only to the results for those players, not the entire list. If the court sides with the union, federal authorities may be barred from using the positive survey test results of non-BALCO players such as Rodriguez in their ongoing investigations.

Rocker says baseball knew he was using steroids

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3241448

February 12, 2008
Controversial Rocker says baseball knew he was using steroids

Former major league pitcher John Rocker said Monday that baseball commissioner Bud Selig knew he failed a drug test in 2000 and that doctors for the "league" and the "players association" advised him and several Texas Rangers teammates on how to effectively use steroids.

Rocker, no stranger to controversy, made those comments on Atlanta radio station Rock 100.5.

Later Monday, he told Atlanta sports talk radio station 680 The Fan that "between 40 to 50 percent of baseball players are on steroids" and "in 2000 Bud Selig knew John Rocker was taking the juice."

Last March, Rocker told ESPN Radio that, by his own guess, "less than 10 percent" of players were using illegal performance-enhancing substances while he was in the majors.

"Basically it's a lot of media propaganda. It's a great scandal to drive ratings and sell newspapers," he said in March 2007.

Rocker was suspended for the first 14 days of the 2000 season by Selig for making racial and ethnic remarks the commissioner deemed insensitive. The penalty, originally set to cover 28 days, was reduced by an arbitrator following a grievance.

"As part of the disciplinary process, Mr. Rocker was referred to the confidential Employee Assistance Program," Major League Baseball said in a statement. "Any test of Mr. Rocker would have been conducted by professionals who ran the EAP. Those professionals were obligated to maintain the confidentiality of the result and to use it in developing a treatment and education program for Mr. Rocker. Further discipline was not an option legally available to Major League Baseball at that time."

In a later interview Monday with ESPN Radio's "The Pulse", Rocker said he came forward now because of the Mitchell report and said Selig was trying to "pass the buck" for things he knew to the report's author, former Sen. George Mitchell.

"Bud Selig knew this was going on," he said. "I failed the test, yet nobody heard about it."

Reached Monday by ESPN, Rangers executive vice president of communications Jim Sundberg said the Rangers will have no comment.

Rocker's name was mentioned in the report delivered by Sen. Mitchell regarding baseball and performance-enhancing substances in December.

The report cited a Sports Illustrated story that said "according to the Applied Pharmacy Services database, former pitcher John Rocker received two prescriptions for human growth hormone (somatropin) between April and July 2003. Rocker initially denied the allegations, but his spokesperson later reportedly said that Rocker had been prescribed human growth hormone in connection with shoulder surgery."

Rocker denied using HGH during his big league career in a March 7, 2007 interview with ESPN Radio.

"I never had a prescription for any HGH. If somebody's got a beef to make with me, show me a prescription," he said.

A day earlier, Rocker's publicist, Debi Curzio, said Rocker had purchased HGH, but only for medical reasons. Rocker said he was directed to purchase over the counter supplements before he had shoulder surgery in 2003.

"I was trying to pitch all the way up until a week before I had my surgery. And obviously feeling as bad as I was, I called every doctor I could [to find out] what can I do to strengthen my shoulder and give me more arm strength,' he said. "Every one of them said go to a GNC, buy something over the counter, human growth hormone, these very several amino acids ... basically [that] is the way its done."

"Did you take anything that you did not buy over the counter?" ESPN Radio host Erik Kuselias asked Rocker.

"Absolutely not," Rocker said.

In 2000, MLB had no drug-testing policy for major-league players, and it is unclear whether drug testing was ordered for Rocker during that season.

Rocker was a member of the Atlanta Braves that season. He appeared in 59 games, going 1-2 with a 2.89 ERA and 24 saves. A year earlier, he had a career-high 38 saves for the Braves.

Rocker played in 30 games for Texas in 2002, throwing 24 1/3 innings.

Rocker's controversial past includes a 1999 Sports Illustrated story, where he was quoted as saying he would never play for a New York team because he didn't want to ride a subway train "next to some queer with AIDS." He also mocked foreigners and described an unnamed Latin teammate as a "fat monkey." Rocker later issued a statement admitting he went too far and told ESPN that his comments made him sound like "a complete jerk." Rocker was later suspended until May 1, 2000, and fined $20,000.

Rocker apologized for making anti-gay statements he made at a Dallas restaurant in 2002.

Rocker last played in the major leagues in 2003 for Texas. He appeared in two games.

He tried to come back in 2005 in the minor leagues, but later quit. That year, he told ESPN.com: "I've taken a lot of crap from a lot of people. Probably more than anybody in the history of this sport. I know Hank [Aaron] and Jackie [Robinson] took a good deal of crap, but I guarantee it wasn't for six years. I just keep thinking: How much more am I supposed to take?"

Rangers score 30 in twin-bill opener

http://www.mlb.com/news/gameday_recap.jsp?ymd=20070822&content_id=2163692&vkey=recap&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

Rangers score 30 in twin-bill opener
08/23/2007 1:00 AM ET
By T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com

BALTIMORE -- The Rangers smashed their way into the record books on Wednesday night with the biggest offensive outburst seen in the Major Leagues in 110 years.

Marlon Byrd and Travis Metcalf both hit grand slams and Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Ramon Vazquez hit two home runs each as the Rangers walloped the Baltimore Orioles, 30-3, in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Camden Yards.

The 30 runs were the most in the Major Leagues since the 19th century and set a new American League record. The Boston Red Sox scored 29 runs on June 8, 1950, against the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Sox matched that on April 23, 1955, against the Kansas City Athletics.

The most runs scored in a Major League game was 36 by the Chicago Colts (now the Cubs) against Louisville in the National League in 1897.

The Rangers completed the sweep in Game 2 with a 9-7 victory, and set a new American League record for most runs in a doubleheader with 39. The old record was 36 set by the Detroit Tigers against the St. Louis Browns on Aug. 14, 1937.

Metcalf, just called up on Wednesday, had eight RBI in two games. That ties a club record held previously by Toby Harrah and Bobby Bonds.

The Rangers entered the doubleheader hitting .190 with 10 runs scored in their previous five games, but they ended up setting a new club record with 29 hits in Game 1. The previous record for most runs came in a 26-7 victory over the Orioles on April 19, 1996, and they had 23 hits on three separate occasions.

"It was awesome," Rangers manager Ron Washington said. "The whole offense just came to life. I've never seen anything like it. I was hoping we would open up offensively but I wasn't expecting anything like that."

Byrd and Metcalf, who was just called up from Triple-A Oklahoma, became only the second pair of Rangers to hit grand slams in the same game. The other was July 4, 2004, when Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira went deep with the bases loaded.

"We were just out there shaking our heads," Byrd said. "No one has seen that before and you won't see it again. The whole offense was clicking. Things were just going our way. Everybody was just trying to get hits regardless. It's a pride thing. You're trying to get hits and score runs but you don't expect that."

The Rangers, who trailed 3-0 after three innings, did all their scoring in just four innings. They scored five runs in the fourth, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth and six more in the ninth.

Every starter had at least two hits and scored at least one run. Every starter but right fielder Nelson Cruz had an RBI. The 49 total bases on 21 singles, two doubles and six home runs was also another single-game club record.

Saltalamacchia and Vazquez both finished with a career-high seven RBIs, two short of the club record for one game set by Ivan Rodriguez on April 13, 1999. Saltalamacchia and David Murphy tied a club record by scoring five runs, done previously by Pete O'Brien, Luis Alicea and Kevin Mench.

"It was unbelievable," Saltalamacchia said. "That was ridiculous. I've never been in a game like that in my life. It was one of those things. We were just seeing the ball and hitting the ball. You can't help but laugh. It's nothing they did. It's not like they made a lot of errors. It was just ridiculous. Everybody is going to remember it."

Metcalf's grand slam was the first of his career and just his second home run. He had been called up earlier in the day and didn't even get into the game until he replaced shortstop Michael Young defensively in the bottom of the seventh inning.

"It was great to be a part of," Metcalf said. "It was amazing in capital letters."

Amazingly, there was one negative note. The Rangers struck out 11 times, giving them 41 over a three-game stretch. That also tied a club record.

Rangers left-hander Kason Gabbard picked up his second victory for the Rangers despite trailing 3-0 after three innings. He ended up going six, allowing seven hits and a walk and striking out three. He is now 6-1 with a 3.65 ERA overall with both the Rangers and the Boston Red Sox.

Wes Littleton threw three scoreless innings in relief which actually qualified for his first save of the season.

The Rangers wiped out the Orioles three-run lead in the top of the fourth against Orioles starter Daniel Cabrera. Saltalamacchia got the scoring started with a two-run single and Vazquez followed with his first home run, a three-run shot over the right-field wall.

Saltalamacchia then hit a home run to lead off the sixth, the first of 10 hits the Rangers had that inning. That tied a club record set on May 17, 2001, against the Cleveland Indians.

Reliever Brian Burres replaced Cabrera and the Rangers loaded the bases on a single by Vazquez, a walk to Frank Catalanotto and a single by Young. Byrd then crushed one high and deep into the left-field seats for a grand slam, the third of his career.

That gave the Rangers a 10-3 lead but they didn't stop there. Burres struck out Jason Botts, but the Rangers followed with six straight singles to bring home four runs. The Rangers finished with nine runs that inning but weren't even close to being done.

Metcalf entered the game defensively for Young and hit a grand slam in the eighth inning off reliever Rob Bell. Saltalamacchia added a three-run home run in a 10-run inning. This was the sixth time in Major League history that a team has scored at least nine runs in an inning twice in one game.

The Rangers scored six more in the ninth with the help of a two-run double by Botts and a three-run home run by Vazquez. The hits and runs given up were the most in Orioles history and it was also their worst defeat in club history.

"You just have to have a short memory and let it go," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said.