Growth hormone is latest bombshell to hit baseball
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Growth hormone is latest bombshell to hit baseball
By Larry Fine
1 hour, 28 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major League Baseball's independent panel investigating drug use is not commenting on the latest doping bombshell to hit the game - that players may be cheating the system by taking human growth hormone.
Journeyman relief pitcher Jason Grimsley admitted using human growth hormones, steroids, amphetamines and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs during his career and named other baseball users, according to a sworn affidavit from a federal investigator and documents filed in Arizona's federal court.
The 38-year-old Grimsley, whose Scottsdale, Arizona, home was searched by federal agents on Tuesday, was cut from the roster by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
"This is a black mark on a great game," said Ken Kendrick, managing partner of the Diamondbacks.
"We have no comment," said John Clarke, spokesman for former U.S. senator George Mitchell, who was named in March to lead an independent investigation into the past use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.
Baseball has just navigated its way through Barry Bonds, at the center of steroid-taking allegations, surpassing Babe Ruth and taking second place on the all-time home run list.
FEDERAL PROBE
According to a report in the Arizona Republic, Grimsley's case may have been tied to the federal probe into Bonds.
The newspaper quoted the attorney for Grimsley as saying federal agents tried to pressure the former Diamondbacks pitcher into wearing a listening device to lure other major league players into confidential conversations in an effort to find incriminating evidence against Bonds.
"It was a specific effort to target Bonds," it quoted Edward F. Novak, a criminal attorney in Arizona. "We were told that Jason's cooperation was necessary to their case."
Novak said Grimsley, a 15-year major leaguer who played for seven different teams, "was outed by the feds" because he refused to cooperate.
Names of other players who Grimsley told investigators were also using banned substances were blacked out in the federal documents that were made public. It quoted Grimsley as saying amphetamines were once used "like aspirin" in clubhouses.
Grimsley was confronted by federal agents when he took delivery in April of two kits of growth hormone, according to the documents.
Since the major leagues now impose random urine tests to detect steroids and amphetamines, Grimsley was using only human growth hormone, according to the documents.
Major league commissioner Bud Selig deferred to Mitchell over the case. "Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, I will not make any comment about this specific case," he said in a statement.
"As a general matter, however, I urge everyone associated with Major League Baseball - from the players to the union to the owners - to cooperate with the ongoing investigations by the Federal government and by former Sen. George Mitchell."
Major league official Rob Manfred said in a statement that HGH presented special problems in terms of testing.
"No governing body in any sport has ever been able to discipline an athlete for the use of HGH.
"Major League Baseball understands that its policy must continue to evolve to keep pace with scientific development," said Manfred, adding that baseball was funding research to develop a urine test for HGH.
By Larry Fine
1 hour, 28 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major League Baseball's independent panel investigating drug use is not commenting on the latest doping bombshell to hit the game - that players may be cheating the system by taking human growth hormone.
Journeyman relief pitcher Jason Grimsley admitted using human growth hormones, steroids, amphetamines and other illegal performance-enhancing drugs during his career and named other baseball users, according to a sworn affidavit from a federal investigator and documents filed in Arizona's federal court.
The 38-year-old Grimsley, whose Scottsdale, Arizona, home was searched by federal agents on Tuesday, was cut from the roster by the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
"This is a black mark on a great game," said Ken Kendrick, managing partner of the Diamondbacks.
"We have no comment," said John Clarke, spokesman for former U.S. senator George Mitchell, who was named in March to lead an independent investigation into the past use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.
Baseball has just navigated its way through Barry Bonds, at the center of steroid-taking allegations, surpassing Babe Ruth and taking second place on the all-time home run list.
FEDERAL PROBE
According to a report in the Arizona Republic, Grimsley's case may have been tied to the federal probe into Bonds.
The newspaper quoted the attorney for Grimsley as saying federal agents tried to pressure the former Diamondbacks pitcher into wearing a listening device to lure other major league players into confidential conversations in an effort to find incriminating evidence against Bonds.
"It was a specific effort to target Bonds," it quoted Edward F. Novak, a criminal attorney in Arizona. "We were told that Jason's cooperation was necessary to their case."
Novak said Grimsley, a 15-year major leaguer who played for seven different teams, "was outed by the feds" because he refused to cooperate.
Names of other players who Grimsley told investigators were also using banned substances were blacked out in the federal documents that were made public. It quoted Grimsley as saying amphetamines were once used "like aspirin" in clubhouses.
Grimsley was confronted by federal agents when he took delivery in April of two kits of growth hormone, according to the documents.
Since the major leagues now impose random urine tests to detect steroids and amphetamines, Grimsley was using only human growth hormone, according to the documents.
Major league commissioner Bud Selig deferred to Mitchell over the case. "Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, I will not make any comment about this specific case," he said in a statement.
"As a general matter, however, I urge everyone associated with Major League Baseball - from the players to the union to the owners - to cooperate with the ongoing investigations by the Federal government and by former Sen. George Mitchell."
Major league official Rob Manfred said in a statement that HGH presented special problems in terms of testing.
"No governing body in any sport has ever been able to discipline an athlete for the use of HGH.
"Major League Baseball understands that its policy must continue to evolve to keep pace with scientific development," said Manfred, adding that baseball was funding research to develop a urine test for HGH.
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Comments
The player's union has been reeling as of late, and Selig needs to make a decisive move immediately.
<< <i>They need to do blood testing, plain and simple, and test everyone.
The player's union has been reeling as of late, and Selig needs to make a decisive move immediately. >>
Totally agree.
You almost gotta wonder what "surprise" is next?
I want to know who the 6 players are whose names were blacked out from those court documents...there's gotta be a lot of uneasy individuals in MLB, both players and owners, right about now.
HGH is detected by blood test only I believe.
I think the blood test problem lies with sticking a needle in a person who relies on his body for his profession. I think there are legal implications in performing what some could argue is a minor medical procedure on an athlete. Liability is probably an issue. Pi$$ing in a cup is non invasive.
Sounds wacky since other sports (cycling I think) demand blood tests.
They also claim a privacy issue, I guess in possibly detecting other drugs being taken to treat medical problems, or even detecting medical conditions that have not been disclosed? Health information privacy has become huge in the last few years after a new Federal law went into effect. I have dealt with this in my profession.
Charlotte Observer - May 06
"Baseball continues to resist blood testing, with some officials citing privacy concerns.
"Theirs is an old and stale argument," Dr. Gary Wadler, an anti-doping specialist, told the Christian Science Monitor. "Blood testing had some issues that were unfounded. But it’s routine around the world, and it works."
MLB, however, is funding a search for a urine test that can identify HGH, contributing $150,000 in three years to UCLA’s Olympic testing lab."
USA Today - 6/9
"Major League Baseball doesn't test for HGH. The International Olympic Committee brags that it has had an HGH test since before the 2004 Olympics, but that is semantics.
Yes, there is a blood test for HGH. But because antibodies necessary for the process are in such short supply, virtually no HGH testing is conducted. In addition, the test only detects HGH right after injection so it's impractical for in-competition testing.
As a result, there never has been an HGH positive.
There have been just a couple hundred HGH tests, according to experts such as Christiane Ayotte, head of the Montreal Olympic testing lab, and Gary Wadler, a physician and author who has advised the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"We know growth hormone is a problem," Ayotte said. "No sport is testing currently for HGH because (the test) is not available. If the test kit was available, it would only be effective for out-of-competition testing."
Ayotte said MLB is taking a bad rap for its lack of HGH testing: "We can't accuse them for not testing for growth hormone when nobody is."
WADA has contracted with a company to produce more anti-bodies for the test. "We've been promised kits for 16 months but haven't seen them," Ayotte said.
MLB has committed $450,000 over three years to Don Catlin's UCLA lab for the development of a urine test.
"Good luck," Ayotte said. "Our hopes for urine are really very limited." Wadler said there's such minute amounts of HGH in urine that "there's next to nothing to work with."