A-Rod: I've Never Used Steroids
Tells Katie Couric He's Never Been Tempted To Use Performance-Enhancing Drugs
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60 Minutes: A-Rod On Steroids
Baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez talks about George Mitchell's report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.
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A-Rod: Hi-Tech Practice
Alex Rodriguez says his game has been improved by a state-of-the-art batting cage he built near his home. The star says that being a successful hitter is 90 percent mental and 10 percent technical.
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A-Rod: 'No' To Doping
Alex Rodriguez says that he has never used performance-enhancing drugs and has never been tempted to because he has always been happy with his performance on the field.
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Alex Rodriguez (CBS)
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Steroids & Baseball
Steroid use allegations plague Major League Baseball
Opt-out, meaning he was leaving to become a free agent. That announcement upstaged one of the biggest nights in baseball.
"Can you understand why so many people found that so incredibly offensive?" Couric asked.
"Absolutely. A hundred percent," Rodriguez said. "If I was a sports writer, if I was a fan, I would have been very, very upset. I was angry and upset. Shocked -- disbelief. I mean, I'm sitting in my living room."
"You were watching the game?" Couric asked.
"Yes. And that was very, very difficult," Rodriguez said.
Asked what he did when he heard it, Rodriguez told Couric, "Nightmare -- you know, I got white like a ghost. I just couldn't believe my eyes. I was under the impression that it would come out a day or two after the World Series concluded. And I would never do anything to harm the game … to the Red Sox and the Rockies, my deepest apologies, and to all of Major League Baseball."
"You got hammered by the press. A number of respected sports writers called you, among other things, 'A gold plated phony.' 'Pay-Rod in Pinstripes.' They say you upstaged more World Series games than you actually played in. Were you surprised at the level of vitriol that came your way?" Couric asked.
"No. If I was a writer, I would have done the same thing, because it was unacceptable. And inappropriate," Rodriguez said. "And, you know, when you do things the wrong way, that’s what you get."
The whole debacle started, he says, when his agent, Scott Boras, told him the Yankees didn’t want him anymore.
"But they were trying to reach out to you. It's kind of hard to believe that you were taking Scott Boras' word as gospel when you had all these other signs coming from Yankee management," Couric remarks.
"You're right," Rodriguez says.
Asked why he fell for that, Rodriguez said, "Why wouldn't I trust my attorney. Most people trust their attorneys. I'm a baseball player. I'm not an attorney. I've never negotiated a contract."
But at the age of 32, he was about to.
"When I realized things were going haywire, at that point, I said, 'Wait a minute! I got to be accountable for my own life…this is not going the way I wanted to go and I got behind the wheel,' and I called Hank," Rodriguez recalled.
Hank, as in George Steinbrenner's son, who is now in charge of the Yankees. Taking the advice of his friend billionaire Warren Buffet, A-Rod says he negotiated directly and personally with the Yankees.
Scott Boras, who told 60 Minutes he couldn't talk about his clients, was not welcome at the table, but he still stands to make about $15 million on the deal. A-Rod says he will pay him, and will keep him.
"What is your relationship like with him today? Why do you have to think about that so much?" Couric asked Rodriguez.
"Well, the whole situation saddens me a little bit," he replied.
Asked if he talks with him at all, Rodriguez said "No."
"Do you think that will change?" Couric asked.
"We’ll see," Rodriguez said.
Asked if he was talking to Boras during the negotiation process, Rodriguez said, "No, I wasn't. I was talking with my wife."
"Cynthia, how do you think Alex changed as a result of this?" Couric asked.
"He wasn't used to having to take such initiative and such action, especially in this arena….and he actually had to pick up the phone, make the calls, make some decisions and stand behind them…be confident and be sure…it was very difficult, but it was a huge growing experience," Rodriguez's wife replied.
Produced By Kyra Darnton, Michael Radutzky, and Lori Beecher
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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See all 96 Comments"IF" Alex..."IF"?? C''mon!
You''re what? 31, 32 years old? Surely you''ve been around the block enough times to KNOW that performance enhancing drug use is rampant in Major League Baseball and that, if anything, Mitchell is understating the problem. It can not possibly have escaped your notice the incredible body changes and performance numbers that have taken place in players who are far too old to be able to generate with out a LOT of chemical help.
It''s not just steroids; it''s HGH, amphetemines, EPO and who-knows what else that is so severely impacting the credibility of the major leagues.
I don''t believe you "use" personally; or if you do, it is something relatively harmless. Definitely not steroids or HGH. I also think you are one of the greats (rafterman''s contrary opinions notwithstanding) and don''t need to.
But you and other great players who have a modicum of class need to step up and condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the culture of drug use to get an edge presently practised. It not only impacts the integrity of the game but your ability to negotiate those awesome salaries you guys command.
...oh and butterfingered Romo WILL lose the big one for the Dallas Cowgirls...LOL
First, if it''s anything, it''s libel (written), not slander (spoken). Second, this doesn''t qualify as libel. And it doesn''t take a lawyer to know that. Just spend 30 seconds on Wikipedia and you''ll realize you sound silly.
While you can''t criminally convict based on mere hearsay (evidentiary rules would preclude such evidence from being admitted in either a criminal or a civil court), the court of public opinion is open to all forms of information. And the verdict is in...
Canseco clearly had real dirt on a lot of former teammates and customers of his steroid suppliers. But A-Rod is neither. Canseco is just lashing out at big names, claiming everyone is as corrupt as he was. He did an important service by helping bring the full scope of steroid use to public notice, but now he really needs to shut up.
So, I''ll be sending my money in on Sunday for the simple reason Ron Paul is an honest man among charlatans and power seekers. And he gives me hope when it is in short supply.
It is also fun to think of what a Paul administration would do if the establishment allowed him to get that far.
Hope, truth and justice are in short supply in what is now the United States. When they are offered, they should be grabbed and protected like the rare treasures they have become. Ron Paul offers those things.
Certainly it is another David and Goliath struggle, and the Davids have rarely won since the original face-off. But, that is why we have hope.
Now they''''re #1 in juiced players... Clemens, Pettitte, I count at least 22 current or former pinstriped supermen.
All their achievements are now tarnished and the Yankees'''' four World Series championships last decade can kiss my drug-free *ss!!
And since we don''t really know who was on steroids and who wasn''t, the game remains tainted at least back to 1998 or earlier. Wipe out all the record or get your asterisks ready by the hundreds.
In my book, the REAL homerun kings are Roger Maris and Hank Aaron.
Continue to hate the Bombers, but lay off A-Rod...he is only the best player of this generation!
1994 Seattle Mariners 0 2
1995 Seattle Mariners 19 58
1996 Seattle Mariners 36 123
1997 Seattle Mariners 23 84 (injured)
1998 Seattle Mariners 42 124
1999 Seattle Mariners 42 111
2000 Seattle Mariners 41 132
2001 Texas Rangers 52 135
2002 Texas Rangers 57 142
2003 Texas Rangers 47 118
2004 New York Yankees 36 106
2005 New York Yankees 48 130
2006 New York Yankees 29 113
2007 New York Yankees 54 156
Looks consistent to me...his biggest numbers comming in his "prime"
Posted by motom171
Yeah, A-Roid came into his "prime" just as the steroid era began: 1998. With a dozen other pinstriped supermen, his numbers and the Yankees'' last 4 championships aren''t worth a good wipe. Case closed.
Viva la Aaron and Maris!! Your records are restored!!
Another American invention bites the dust!
Posted by ronrunner62
The key word here, ronrunner, is "doubt." With steroids sweeping over baseball like it has for the past ten years, ALL players, ALL stats, and ALL records have been cast into the shadow of doubt.
The same argument can be made to defend baseball''s no tolerance rule on betting on baseball... as soon as the fans begin to doubt whether or not the game is on the up-and-up, it doesn''t matter who did or didn''t do what, the integrity of the game has been comprised.
And here have the steroid era of baseball. Millions of fans, whether they want to admit it or not, will always harbor at least a shred of doubt or more, that their favorite player just might have been juiced at one time. And there you have it... the integrity of baseball just vanished on the wings of the Mitchell Report.
I don''t know what to think of Canseco''s credibility - like is he just a disgraced player trying to redeem himself by cleaning up baseball, or is it that since he got taken down he wants to take everybody he can with him - the whole game of baseball, as well as the star player with the big buck$? Like maybe he needed to stay close to the truth to show that he was being ''honest'' but now that he''s been proven right he might feel he can just bring up names because it''s impossible to prove a negative (that one has never taken steroids) and he ''wins'' just by casting that doubt?
And is this the first time Canseco''s ever brought up A-Rod''s name? Did he implicate him to Sen. Mitchell''s panel? I can''t wait to see Katie''s interview . . .
I guess there''s different degrees too, the biggest abusers being those (LOL) puffy 40-yr old ''power'' hitters/pitchers - Bonds, McGuire, Clemens, then there might be some occasional dabblers (?) Yeah, better testing would be great, and maybe some statistics person ought to look at the player profiles and see if any of the players have odd stats . . .
And yeah if tickets weren''t already so out of my price range, I''d be really ticked (lol) . . .
They hate whistle blowers. Ask Giambi. When he said everbody including MLB should come clean. SELIG went beserk. Come clean? Not he, the steroid commish whose family made millions because of the effect roids and short fences and small strike zones had in altering the game of baseball and blowing out all the Homerun and strikeout records!
Canseco is the most credible person of all. Moreover, he knows a thing or two about steroids. He was a pioneer in its use!
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