Posted on 12/02/2004 1:48:14 AM PST by Cableguy
New York Yankees star Jason Giambi told a federal grand jury that he had injected himself with human growth hormone during the 2003 baseball season and had started using steroids at least two years earlier, The Chronicle has learned.
Giambi has publicly denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but his Dec. 11, 2003, testimony in the BALCO steroids case contradicts those statements, according to a transcript of the grand jury proceedings reviewed by The Chronicle.
The onetime Oakland A's first baseman and 2000 American League Most Valuable Player testified that in 2003, when he hit 41 home runs for the Yankees, he had used several different steroids obtained from Greg Anderson, weight trainer for San Francisco Giants star Barry Bonds.
In his testimony, Giambi described how he had used syringes to inject human growth hormone into his stomach and testosterone into his buttocks. Giambi also said he had taken "undetectable" steroids known as "the clear" and "the cream" -- one a liquid administered by placing a few drops under the tongue, the other a testosterone-based balm rubbed onto the body.
The 33-year-old Yankee said Anderson had provided him with all of the drugs except for human growth hormone, which he said he had obtained at a Las Vegas gym. Anderson also provided him syringes, Giambi said.
Agent Arn Tellem, who accompanied Giambi and his younger brother, Jeremy, to the grand jury, did not return calls seeking comment. Other efforts to reach the Giambis were unsuccessful.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Looks like the deal for the Big Unit is dead, TBTG.
There are NO let me repeat that NO medical contraindications for Steroid use, that are not a product of Long Term Habitual Overdose/use.
It's more shocking that there may be someone, somewhere, who DIDN'T know he was using.
Yeah, me and my brother-in-law were talking about this over his baseball cards. Look at the rookie cards for Mac, Bonds G-Man and you will see a huge difference in the size of these guys. Its natural that some people get larger as they get older, but you kind of knew something was up when the big hitters start looking like Mr. Olympia contestants.
The sad part? The roids really haven't helped old Giambi in the stats department. He was much better in his Oakland days.
You're thinking like a conservative. Think like an attorney. The issue to the MLBPA is whether Giambi broke the rules to such a degree to void his contract. For MLB to be able to get away with this, it would be basicly an ex post facto deal. There are rules set up on steroids, there are specific steroids banned, there are specific procedures to go through for testing and for second and third chances and such. It's a totally watered-down policy MLB has. MLBPA is holding MLB to the letter of the CBA. They don't care whether it's a "good" thing for the CBA to be written the way it is. They aren't focused on defending right and wrong and moral virtue. They are defending a process and a document regardless of how stupid or bad it might be-- just like state AGs defend state laws they disagree with. They defend it right or wrong.
The only reason Bonds hasn't already gone to #1 on the HR list is that he got such a late start in hitting for power because he was a thin player. Once he started juicing, he started climbing up the list.
His Grand Jury Testimony only confirms what the smoking gun photos below show.
Personally, I don't see the big deal. A doctor can prescribe testosterone, or it's derivatives to women for sexual dysfunction, or someone with AIDS, and certain other diseases to prevent wasting. The only one it seems that CANT get it are regular men.
Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but the FDA allows RU486 to be sold over the counter, Okayed VIOXX fcol,
yet the powers that be will allow people to be operated on surgically, to get larger breasts, suck out fat, and inject Botulinum toxin to decrease wrinkles, but take a shot or two once or twice a year to combat the aging process in men......Heaven Forbid!!!!!!!!!!
"Hey Yankee fans; How ‘bout that ALCS?"
2003 New York Yankees = 1919 Chicago Black Sox.
Major League Baseball needs to clean itself up. A salary cap and drug testing would be a good start.
I don't recall Giambi as superman in 2003, 2004, or 2002. Since he joined the Yankees he's been a waste. It was a bad signing in the first place, and most Yankee fans have been tepid at best about his presense. After 2001, when they lost to the Dbacks, Steinbrenner had a hissy-fit about losing and demanded signing Giambi and sending favorite Tino Martinez packing. That did not sit well with many a fan.
Which ALCS? Yankee fans count WS rings, not ALCSs.
If what he did was illegal or otherwise in violation of the rules, then I don't think the Yankees owe him anything.
He's been average at the plate (although with better-than-average power) and a downright disaster in the field. Sending Tino packing was a big misktake.
The Boss is beginning to show the same desperation he showed in the early-mid 80's.
LMAO!
Amen. Home-grown talent + non-superstar free-agent signings who come up big in the clutch and can play defense (like O'Neill, Brosius, Tino, Girardi) is the way to go. And if George must spend big money on free agents, he should spend it exclusively on pitching.
Oh I remember it alright; I was just wondering what it had to do with Giambi (the subject of this thread).
To my mind, the critical point in the collapse of the 26TWSCYs in the 2004 ALCS was the injury of Olerud. First Base is very important to the Yankees. They expect First Base to be a team leader, an example to the team. Olerud has the right attitude. Tony Clark does not. And Giambi is a disaster.
I disagree. After the strike the Sosa and McGuire homerun chase is what kept the game at a peak and I am sure those 2 were not just using supplements. The owners know this is a circus and they know why the NFL is so successful which is the most successful league in the world. The players are a bunch of freaks and the fans love to see, size, speed and strength. It is estimated that 75% of NFL players are taking some type of performance enhancing drug on a regular basis (anabolics, stimulants, pain killers, corticosteroids). By no means is the NFL drug free.
One of the major reasons NFL athletes take drugs is not to be bigger, faster, and stronger, but to maintain their physical health and to quickly repair musculoskeletal injuries when they occur during the season. Drugs are not used anymore to gain the winning edge, but simply to stay in the game. This is a fact of modern life in the NFL which has yet to be discussed openly. With the merging of television and football/baseball, money has become the driving force behind the game. What draws NFL and MLB players to steroids? The answer is the almighty dollar. For many NFL and MLB players, football and baseball is the means to provide a better life for their families. The rewards of success buys mom a new house, gives dad the sports car he always wanted, puts little sister through college, and helps older brother start his own business. Football and baseball is enabling many NFL and MLB players to finance their family’s American dream. The whole idea of steroids as dishonest business practice doesn’t even enter the mindset of the average steroid-using NFL and MLB player. Here lies the great divide between society’s sport moralists and the players. On the line are: money, social status, security, and glory. For these reasons, telling players that steroid use is cheating falls upon deaf ears. Players just don’t see it that way. If the NFL were to stringently use high-resolution gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS), carbon isotope ratio testing (CIR) and emerging technologies to detect rHGH, this protocol would result in a positive drug test. In all honesty though, drug testing in the NFL is not what one would call stringent. To clarify this statement, look at it from an NFL or MLB owner’s perspective. If you pay an athlete millions of dollars, you’re not going to be especially vigilant about instituting and enforcing drug testing that would keep your investment from doing what you pay him to do. There’s also the issue of television revenue that weighs heavily upon the quantity and quality of steroid testing. Lose your team’s popular players to drug suspensions, and fans turn somewhere else. Advertisers don’t want to buy television time if people aren’t watching. Positive drug tests are also a public relations nightmare. This leaves the league and television networks in a tough spot. The media, in covering professional football and baseball and drugs, is always walking a dangerous line. If a network does a major steroid story damaging the league, the NFL could very easily find another network to sell its product. We are talking hundreds of millions of dollars here. Losing this type of money is not something a network will risk, even to tell the truth. By keeping the status quo, no one gets upset, and everyone still gets paid. The game goes on. As a sports journalist or media personality, you don’t want to make mad the NFL. How many in-depth steroid stories do you see on those networks that show the NFL? To keep this in perspective, all one has to do is think about what professional sport once was, and what it has become.
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