Well, Hank Aaron said that he’d like for 102 players who tested positive in MLB’s confidential drug tests to have their names revealed, and little by little he’s getting his wish. THE NEW YORK TIMES is reporting that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, throwing somewhat of a wet towel over Boston’s World Series championship season in ‘04 — which ended an 86-year drought.
FYI, it’s also Bud Selig’s 75th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Bud! We filled your cake with dog s***.
THE TIMES, sourcing “lawyers with knowledge of the results,” says that Ramirez and Ortiz join five other players, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Jason Grimsley and David Segui, who also tested positive for PEDs that year. Ortiz has continually denied that he ever took performance enhancing drugs.
Asked about the 2003 drug test on Thursday in Boston, Ortiz shrugged. “I’m not talking about that anymore,” he said. “I have no comment.”
The union has argued that the government illegally seized the 2003 test results, and judges at various levels of the federal court system have weighed whether the government can keep them. The government hopes to question every player on the list to determine where the drugs came from. An appeals court is deliberating the matter, and the losing side is likely to appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
Manny’s travails are well known — you don’t earn a 50-game suspension by drinking too much Jolt Cola. But Ortiz has denied time and again that his numbers are enhanced, even though it was suspicious that a player let go by the Twins in ‘02 should turn up the following season with 31 homers and 101 RBI for the Red Sox. He then went 41-139 and 47-148 the following two seasons.
Then of course his anemic start this season, after more stringent drug testing had been put in place.
Ortiz has admitted that he knows Angel Presinal, Alex Rodriguez’s personal trainer who has been banned from MLB clubhouses because of his links to steroids. But he said he never took PEDs.
The best part: Ortiz said in February that players who test positive for steroids should sit out an entire season.
“I think you clean up the game by testing…You test positive, you’re going to be out. Period,” Ortiz said Monday after the first day of workouts.
Can’t wait for the next batch of names.
Red Sox fans are, um, not taking this well. From the BOSTON HERALD comments section:
- ezmover2020 — I hate the way they selectivly release the names instead of just publishing the entire list. Just doesn’t seem fare to me.
- John_Dennis_Call –NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
- KP – oh please.. from a NY paper ? why would I suspect anything from the Times? I’ll wait for the real report thanks
- gormenghast – If this is true, I’m officially done rooting for this team.
- Sorry, but the post that was in this spot has been removed as it did not follow our guidelines. #764339 - Jul 30, 2009 1:15 PM EDT
1:12 pm on July 30th, 2009
What now Red Sox Nation (even though no one outside of New England likes you)??!!!?!!?!?!!?!?!?
1:37 pm on July 30th, 2009
Bill Simmons is climbing the State House dome with a sniper rifle as I type………
1:52 pm on July 30th, 2009
I guess the guy named KP in the Boston Herald Comments section doesn’t realize that the NY Times, who reported the story, is a minority owner of the Red Sox. Sorta throws a wrench in his NY conspiracy story
2:30 pm on July 30th, 2009
To the guy who said he doesn’t believe it bc its the Times doesn’t he know the Globe is owned by the Times. LOL
2:31 pm on July 30th, 2009
um hello!! To KP in the fan posting section…
The NY times OWNS 17% of the Red Sox… WHAT AN IDIOT. You don’t even know who owns your team! Quite Laughable!
And to ezmover2020 - you’re probably one of the guys who laughing when ARod’s name came out. I’m sure you were content with his being the only name released. I bet it wasn’t “unfair” then.
Get real…these guys CHEATED! They shouldn’t be treated “fairly”
2:32 pm on July 30th, 2009
Who. Gives. A. Shit. For starters, just release the god damn list already instead of a name a month. As much as baseball purists like to pretend, baseball has never once been a pure sport. Racial divides, spiked cleats (looking at you, Ty Cobb), gambling, raised mounds, amphetamines. You name it, baseball’s done it wrong. Steroids and other PEDs are just the latest and greatest in baseball’s sordid history.
I hope for the day when baseball players get busted, they get treated just like NFL players. They server their penalty and move on with their careers without all the fuss.
The 2004 Red Sox were just as dirty as the 2000 Yankees…2005 White Sox…2009 Phillies….etc.etc.etc
2:33 pm on July 30th, 2009
Anyone surprised by this? He was a warning track hitter for the Twins. And all of a sudden he’s consistently hitting 40 homers a year? *** rolls eyes at the naivety of fans***
7:55 pm on July 30th, 2009
What the **** ever happened to confidential medical records? They should start outing the media and the leakers who sit on their high horses.
The players weren’t cheating. At the time of the test there weren’t any rules against it.
8:01 pm on July 30th, 2009
I ALWAYS KNEW ORTIZ DID SOMETHING. COME ON JUST LOOK AT HIM, ITS KIND OF OBVIOUS! http://askthecollegekid.blogspot.com/
9:12 pm on July 30th, 2009
Masschine has nailed this one: The NYTimes may have broken the law in trying to railroad Ortiz and Ramirez.
This is not the first time the NYTimes has taken fabrications and printed them as news. Exhibit A: Judith Miller. Exhibit B: Jayson Blair.
9:21 am on July 31st, 2009
If they are going to break the law and release any names, they should all be released. It looks as though a lot of players’ records are suspect, a lot of world series victories tainted. Baseball is to blame because they refused to address the problem of drugs until after the 2003 testing.