David Ortiz: I was 'careless' with supplements
Photo credit: AP | David Ortiz responds to questions during a news conference Saturday at Yankee Stadium. (Aug. 8, 2009)
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An emotional David Ortiz Saturday said he never used or bought steroids but was “a little careless” with supplements before baseball instituted a drug-testing policy. The Red Sox slugger intimated that that carelessness could be the reason his name is on a list of about 100 players who came up positive for performance-enhancing drugs in a survey test in 2003.
“I used a lot of supplements and vitamins,” Ortiz said. “But I never used or buy any steroids.”
Some of the names on the list are being slowly -- and illegally -- leaked to the media, with Ortiz being the latest big fish to find himself in the PED fishbowl. Other big stars who have been “outed” in media reports as being on the 2003 list include Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa.
Ortiz claimed he doesn’t know what specific supplements he was taking at the time, but said he doesn’t take them anymore. He apologized to Red Sox fans, his teammates and the team’s owners for causing a distraction. He also said he doesn’t think the names of the other players who are on the list should be released.
“I don’t think I’d really like to see another player go through what I’ve been through this week,” he said.
Ortiz made his comments at an unusual news conference at Yankee Stadium before Saturday's Yankees-Red Sox game. Boston’s beloved Big Papi sat at a podium with Players Association general counsel Michael Weiner, who has been named to replace the retiring Donald Fehr as union executive director.
With Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, manager Terry Francona and two public relations officials from Major League Baseball in the room, Ortiz made an opening statement without notes before taking questions. Ortiz’s teammates watched on television in the Red Sox clubhouse as Ortiz made his first expansive comments since a July 30 New York Times story revealed his inclusion on the list, which is now in government possession and is the subject of ongoing litigation.
Ortiz said he still doesn’t know what he tested positive for, but left the impression the result could only have been caused by a “legal supplement.”
“I consider myself one of those guys who was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying supplements and vitamins over the counter, legal supplements and legal vitamins," Ortiz said. "But I never buy steroids or used steroids.”
“I want to apologize to the fans for the distraction,” he said. “This past week has been a nightmare to me. I’m the kind of guy I think about the fans every day. I don’t think the game would be as good as it is without the fans. I try to do things the right way.”
Ortiz went into Saturday's game in the midst of a two-season decline from the heady days when he was leading the Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. Once of the game’s most feared and most clutch sluggers, the 33-year-old was batting .221 with 15 home runs and 61 RBIs.
Still, there was no talk of the 2009 version of Ortiz at the news conference. Most of it after the opening focused on whether he could identify what supplements he had taken (he said he couldn’t) and Weiner’s attempts to clarify just how many players tested positive in 2003 and his outrage at the anonymous sources who have leaked the results.
The union and the commissioner’s office each issued statements trying to clarify the numbers; the commissioner’s office’s statement urged “the press and public to use caution in reaching conclusions based on leaks.”
The Red Sox also issued a similar statement, and Francona said, “I was very proud of the way David handled himself, which shouldn’t be a surprise. I know it’s been a long 10 days for him.”
