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I took drugs for an energy boost: Rodriguez
2009-02-17
TAMPA, Florida (Reuters) - Alex Rodriguez initially believed using performance-enhancing drugs would give him an energy boost, the scandal-scarred New York Yankees slugger said Tuesday. Rodriguez, baseball's highest paid player, told a packed news conference of around 200 reporters at the Yankees training facility that he and his cousin began taking the drugs in 2001. "My cousin would administer it to me but neither of us knew how to use it properly, proving just how ignorant we both were," Rodriguez said, sitting alongside Yankees manager Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman. "It was at this point we decided to take it twice a month for about six months during the 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons." In an interview with ESPN last week, the 33-year-old third baseman created a firestorm when he admitted he had used performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003 when he played for the Texas Rangers. His comments came in response to a report in Sports Illustrated that he had been one of 104 players who had tested positive for the steroid Primobolan and for testosterone in a confidential doping survey in 2003 that led to mandatory testing of all players starting in 2004. Rodriguez said the substance he took was called "Bole" and that his cousin injected him. Rodriguez said his cousin got the drugs over-the-counter in the Dominican Republic, adding that it was his cousin's "understanding" that it would give Rodriguez "a dramatic energy boost and was otherwise harmless." "We consulted no one and had no good reason to base that decision. It was pretty evident that we didn't know what we were doing," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez said he and his cousin, whom he did not identify, did everything they could to keep the drug-use to themselves. "I stopped taking it in 2003 and haven't taken it since," he said. Rodriguez was overcome with emotion during his opening statement, taking a long pause before thanking his team mates including captain Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera for their support. "I'm here to say I'm sorry," said Rodriguez, who is on course to surpass Barry Bonds as home run king of Major League Baseball. "I guess when you're young and stupid, you're young and stupid. I was pretty naive." Standing at the back of the tent were most of Rodriguez's Yankee team mates and principle owner Hank Steinbrenner. "We're going to get through this. We're a family," Girardi said. "I thought Alex did a nice job. I believe him. I saw tears in his eyes. I saw remorse," Girardi said, adding that Rodriguez would have to earn back the trust of fans and other players. Cashman said Rodriguez, in the second year of a 10-year, $275 million contract with the Yankees, had just begun to face his mistakes and had a long road ahead. "This was an important step in the process of moving forward," he told reporters. "The interview he did with ESPN left a lot of questions to be asked and this gave him a forum to respond. "People will decide if his answers are acceptable to them, but he filled in a lot of blanks. "This story will follow him, regardless." (Additional reporting by Robert Green) (Editing by Ed Osmond)
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