Baseball's Steroid Era

Manny Ramirez

According to the New York Times, Manny Ramirez tested positive for a performance enhancing drug during Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing.

From the New York Times Article:

"Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the sluggers who propelled the Boston Red Sox to end an 86-year World Series championship drought and to capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the results."

• Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz on 2003 Steroid List

David Ortiz

According to the New York Times, David Ortiz tested positive for for a performance enhancing drug during Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing.

From the New York Times Article:

"Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the sluggers who propelled the Boston Red Sox to end an 86-year World Series championship drought and to capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the results."

• Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz on 2003 Steroid List

Sammy Sosa

According to the New York Times, Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids during Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing. The Times cited "lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results" but did not know for which drug Sosa had tested positive.

From the New York Times Article:

"Sammy Sosa, who joined with Mark McGwire in 1998 in a celebrated pursuit of baseball's single-season home run record, is among the players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year."

• Sammy Sosa Tested Positive for PED in 2003 Survey Testing

Alex Rodriguez

In February 2009, Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez had tested positive for Primobolan (an anabolic steroid) and testosterone in MLB's anonymous 2003 "survey" testing.

From Rodriguez' interview with Peter Gammons:

"Gene was very specific in 2004. We had a meeting in September or August. Don't quote me on the date. But he said there's a government list, there's 104 players on it. You might or might not have tested positive."

• Alex Rodriguez Tested Positive for Steroids in 2003

Jason Grimsley

Grimsley told IRS investigators that he was told by Gene Orza that he had tested positive in 2003.

From the Grimsley Affidavit:

"Grimsley stated that during Major League Baseball's 2003 drug-testing program for anabolic steroids, he tested positive. Grimsley stated Major League Baseball Players' Union representative Gene Orza told him about the positive test. Although Grimsley stated that he used the anabolic steroid Deca-Durabolin in the past, he felt that his positive test in 2003 was a result of using 1-AD, a prohormone that he purchased and used from the "Eco-Labs" website."

• Jason Grimsley Affidavit Unsealed, No Clemens, Pettitte, Roberts, Gibbons

David Segui

The Mitchell report refers to an unnamed player who was told by Gene Orza that he tested positive in 2003's survey testing. In his book, Bases Loaded, Kirk Radomski identified the player as Segui.

From the Mitchell Report:

"A former major league player... said that in September 2004, Gene Orza of the Players Association told him that he had tested positive in 2003 and that he would be tested in the next two weeks. Independently, Kirk Radomski told us that this former player had earlier told him the same thing about Orza's statements shortly after the conversation between Orza and the former player occurred."

From Radomski's Bases Loaded (referring to the above passage):

"I knew that Senator Mitchell was quoting David Segui because David had told me exactly the same thing."

• Book: Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball by the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report

Larry Bigbie*

In his book, Bases Loaded, Kirk Radomski states that Bigbie had been told by Gene Orza that he had tested positive in 2003. The wording in Radomski's book is unclear as to whether he's referring to information contained in the Mitchell Report or first hand knowledge. The Mitchell Report does not specifically say that Bigbie tested positive.

"Both Jason Gimsley and Larry Bigbie also said that they'd been told that they had failed the obviously not-so-anonymous tests in 2003."

• Book: Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball by the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report