By Frank James
Add another baseball superstar who's extraordinary exploits on the baseball field stand to be forever tarnished by reports that he was "juiced;" the New York Times is reporting that Sammy Sosa tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003.
Barry Bonds, left, and Sammy Sosa shared a laugh before a game on Feb. 28, 2002 in Mesa, Ariz. AP Photo/Paul Connors
The Times attributes the information to lawyers familiar with the test results.
An excerpt:
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.The disclosure that Sosa tested positive makes him the latest baseball star of the last two decades to be linked to performance-enhancers, a group that now includes McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Rafael Palmeiro.
Sosa, who is sixth on Major League Baseball's career home run list and last played in 2007, had long been suspected of using performance-enhancing drugs but until now had never been publicly linked to a positive test.
In a recent interview with ESPN Deportes, Sosa, 40, said he would "calmly wait" for his induction into baseball's Hall of Fame, for which he will become eligible for induction in 2013. But his 2003 positive test, when he played for the Chicago Cubs, may seriously damage his chances of gaining entry to the Hall, a fate encountered by McGwire, who has attracted relatively little support from voters in his first three years on the ballot.
The 2003 positive test could also create legal troubles for Sosa because he testified under oath before Congress at a public hearing in 2005 that he had "never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs...
... A lawyer for Sosa, Jay Reisinger, declined comment, as did an official with Major League Baseball."
The only good thing about this latest disclosure is that so many people suspected Sosa of using steroids, there is likely little shock value in the latest revelations. While it's certainly not good news for baseball, it probably doesn't inflict much if any new damage on the sport either.
categories: Sports
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