Use of performance-enhancing drugs
In July 2007, former outfielder and steroid-user Jose Canseco said that he was planning to publish another book about Major League Baseball, to follow his 2005 bestseller Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big. Canseco said his new book would have "other stuff" on Rodriguez, and called him a hypocrite.[160] At the time, Rodriguez denied accusations of steroid use.[161] In a 2007 interview with Katie Couric, Rodriguez flatly denied ever having used performance-enhancing drugs.[162]
In February 2009, Selena Roberts and David Epstein of Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for two anabolic steroids, testosterone, and Primobolan, during his 2003 season playing for the Texas Rangers, the same season in which he captured his first American League Most Valuable Player award, broke 300 career home runs (hitting 47 that year),[163] and earned one of his ten Silver Slugger Awards. The information had been part of a government-sealed report detailing 104 major league players (out of 1200 players tested)[76] who tested positive for performance enhancers during a 2003 drug survey. Approved by the players themselves with the promise of anonymity,[76] the survey was conducted by Major League Baseball to see whether a mandatory drug testing program might be necessary. At the time, as the result of a collectively bargained union agreement,[76] there was no penalty or punishment for a positive test.[75][164] Because more than 5% of the samples taken from players in 2003 came back positive, mandatory testing of major league baseball players began in 2004, with penalties for violations.[77]
Alex Rodriguez during the 2009 World Series parade.
The 2003 test results were supposed to remain anonymous and the samples destroyed. However, a coded master list of 104 players was seized during the BALCO investigation, turning up in a 2004 federal raid on Comprehensive Drug Testing's facility in Long Beach, California. A month later, the physical samples were seized by federal agents raiding Quest Diagnostics in Las Vegas, Nevada.[77] The list of the 104 positive-testing players was released to the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) in 2004.[4] The players' union later said that the 104 positive samples were in the process of being destroyed when they were subpoenaed by federal authorities in November 2003, making continued destruction "improper."[165]
Although testosterone is available by prescription for some uses, Primobolan has no approved prescription use.[75] Also known as methenolone or metenolone enanthate, it is the same steroid that Barry Bonds is alleged to have tested positive for in 2000 and 2001.[77] A fairly weak steroid on its own, it is generally used in conjunction with other steroids.[166] The drug is generally preferred in injected rather than oral form due to its cost.[166] An official statement by Major League Baseball made shortly after Rodriguez's test results became public expressed "grave concern" without naming Rodriguez, noting that "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."[167]
In an interview with ESPN after the report came out, citing "an enormous amount of pressure to perform", Rodriguez admitted to using banned substances from 2001 to 2003.[4] "All my years in New York have been clean", he added, saying he has not used banned substances since last taking them following a spring training injury in 2003 while playing for the Rangers.[4][5] "Back then, [baseball] was a different culture", Rodriguez said. "It was very loose. I was young, I was stupid, I was naïve. And I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance. And for that, I am very sorry and deeply regretful."[4][5] Rodriguez said he could not be sure of the name(s) of the substance(s) he had used.[4][5]
Rodriguez said he was never told that he was among the 104 players who tested positive, only that a tip came in August 2004 from Gene Orza of the MLBPA that he "may or may not have" failed his 2003 test.[4] Orza is accused by three (unnamed) MLB players of tipping Rodriguez to an upcoming drug test in September 2004. Orza and the MLBPA have denied the allegations.[168]
Rodriguez absolved the players' union of any blame for leaking his positive test results, saying he alone was responsible for his mistakes.[4] Friend and former teammate Doug Glanville, while noting the outrage over Rodriguez's years of steroid use, berated Rodriguez's critics for their "lack of outrage about how a confidential and anonymous test could be made public."[76] No Major League player, Glanville wrote, would have participated in the 2003 survey if he had thought the results had even a chance of becoming public. "It has e