BASEBALL

David Ortiz on steroid list

08-10-2009 | AFP

Panama Star NEW YORK. David Ortiz said he never knowingly used steroids and that over-the-counter supplements and vitamins likely caused him to land on a list of alleged drug users circulated by the federal government. Major League Baseball and the players' union said just because a player's name was on the list didn't mean he used steroids.

"I definitely was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying supplements and vitamins over the counter — legal supplements, legal vitamins over the counter — but I never buy steroids or use steroids," Ortiz said during a news conference that began about 3 1/2 hours before his Boston Red Sox played the New York Yankees. "I never thought that buying supplements and vitamins, it was going to hurt anybody's feelings."

MLB said in a statement Saturday that at most 96 urine samples tested positive in the 2003 survey — and the players' association said 13 of those were in dispute. The New York Times reported last month that Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were on the list and said in June that Sammy Sosa was on it. In February, Sports Illustrated reported Alex Rodriguez was on the list, and Rodriguez later admitted using Primobolan from 2001-03.

Ortiz said that when he met with union general counsel Michael Weiner in 2004, he wasn't told he tested positive for steroids. Weiner, who has been designated to succeed union head Donald Fehr, said that because the list is under court seal, the union can't confirm to Ortiz that he tested positive.