Just recently, the man that led the FBI to anabolic steroids dealer Kirk Radomski has been revealed. He is actually one of the targets of  other FBI investigations involving real estate fraud. Andrew Michael Bogdan was the FBI lead who, according to Jeff Novitzky, has been acquainted with several athletes within the Major Leagues. For some time, the FBI depended on Bogdan to lead them to Radomski and this eventually led to the conviction of the steroid dealer. Radomski’s arrest was important especially to the Mitchell Report which served as a basis of charges against baseball athletes who had allegedly used performance enhancing drugs.

From The New York Times:

The identity of the man, Andrew Michael Bogdan, was first reported on The Smoking Gun Web site and independently confirmed by two people with direct knowledge of the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Reached by telephone Wednesday, Bogdan said many aspects of the Web site’s story were either incorrect or taken out of context. He would not say whether he helped federal agents in their investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs by baseball players but later said: “I know nothing about that, that’s the funny thing. I know nothing about the steroids stuff.”

He added, “I’ve had friends who were ballplayers, and that’s the extent of it.”

Bogdan’s lawyer, Richard Karceski, did not return calls or an e-mail message Wednesday. Barbara Sale, the assistant United States attorney who prosecuted Bogdan’s criminal case, declined to comment in an e-mail message.

Bogdan was charged with fraud in a real estate flipping scheme to which he pleaded guilty in 2001. He was then under probation for 5 years and was asked to pay a sum more than $277,000 for restitution.

Tags: Andrew Michael Bogdan, Kirk Radomski, Major League Baseball, Mitchell Report, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball

Jay Gibbons was a former outfielder for the Baltimore Orioles. As a baseball player, he had his days such as when he hit a three-run home run during a game against the Cleveland Indians in 2005. Of course, he had his down moments. After two unproductive seasons, Gibbons was one of the athletes named to have used anabolic steroids in the infamous Mitchell Report. Gibbons admitted to have used human growth hormone for his wrist injury. While some athletes still face trial and others try to clear their names, Gibbons was effectively ostracized by the association.

From The Miami Herald:

But Gibbons was caught in the worst of scenarios. Coming off two injury-riddled seasons, his production had fallen off. Once the steroid allegations arose and he was levied a 15-game suspension, it became that much easier for the Orioles to waive him near the end of spring training, despite owing him almost $12 million.

And it became so much harder for another team to justify signing him.

‘The first week I got released, you talk to your agents and it’s, `You’re going to get a big-league job, just hold on and wait,’ ” Gibbons said. ‘Then it went to, `We’ll get you a Triple A job,’ to ‘We’re calling Japan,’ to ‘We can’t find anything.’ ”

After that, he had trouble finding a decent job. He was offered a role in the Minor Leagues but it didn’t last long. Gibbons knew his mistake and was sincerely apologetic. He even wrote to all the managers of the Major Leagues teams. Even if his intentions were heartfelt, he was just denied any chance to get back to Major League Baseball. While the public still debates on whether Kirk Radomski or Senator Mitchell’s office can be trusted, Gibbons is the example of what the Mitchell Report has led to. Let’s not forget, the reliability of that report is still in question.

Tags: Baltimore Orioles, human growth hormone, Jay Gibbons, Major League Baseball, Mitchell Report, steroids

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball

In an interview done by Terence Moore, David Justice reiterates that he has never used anabolic steroids or any performance enhancing drugs in his career. Justice is a former player for several Major League Baseball teams but his best games were those with the Atlanta Braves. He was also one of the athletes names by Kirk Radomski in the Mitchell Report and the steroid dealer said that he had sold Justice human growth hormone when the athlete played for the Yankees. In Moore’s column, the writer looks at possible intentions behind Radomski’s actions.

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Radomski doesn’t like Justice. Either that, or the former clubhouse attendant has a vivid imagination. He told George Mitchell that he sold human growth hormone to Justice. That was significant, because Mitchell was in charge of baseball’s investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Then Radomski told ESPN that he gave Justice a box of HGH and steroids during a ride to the airport after Justice finished playing for the New York Yankees in the 2000 World Series.

Now consider this: Radomski has a recently published book on steroids and baseball. It’s a book with large passages disputed by Mitchell. Which means it’s wise to question anything leaving Radomski’s lips.

“When he said he took me to the airport after we won the World Series, hey, I got my cousins, I got friends who were up there with me, and they all said, ‘That dude didn’t take you to no airport,’ ” said Justice, who did recall Brian McNamee, the former trainer, now famous for saying Roger Clemens was juiced.

As for using HGH, Justice admits that Brian McNamee did offer him the substance and said that it is not steroids. The trainer did this because Justice was suffering from pains due to his hernia and groin. And he did admit that he would have taken it if he wasn’t afraid of injecting himself using a needle since that was the only form the strength coach offered him. So no, he didn’t use the HGH either.

Tags: Brian McNamee, David Justice, human growth hormone, Kirk Radomski, Major League Baseball, Mitchell Report, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball

In order to nail Roger Clemens’ use of performance enhancing drugs, the prosecution submitted the syringes which Brian McNamee, Clemens’ former trainer, claimed that he had used to administer anabolic steroids to the athlete with. The results of the verification test could be very useful to the prosecution and could actually prove that Clemens is lying. Fortunately for them, the blood found in the syringes actually matches Clemens’ DNA. Unfortunately, even if they could present this as evidence, the defense has sturdy facts to counter it with.

According to McNamee, he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone between 1998 and 2001, and kept the materials he used in a box in his basement. These were the materials, such as syringes and gauze pads that he had submitted for verification. According to defense lawyer Rusty Hardin, the DNA tests won’t really have a heavy impact on the case and won’t prove anything.

From SBR Forum:

“It will still be evidence fabricated by McNamee,” Hardin told the newspaper. “I would be dumbfounded if any responsible person ever found this to be reliable or credible evidence in any way.”

Federal authorities are conducting genetic tests of Clemens’ DNA after the former pitcher voluntary provided them with samples, but even those tests won’t prove McNamee’s claims.

According to the report, the Anti-Doping Research Institute in Los Angeles, who were brought onto the case by authorities, are still attempting to find out if the syringes ever contained steroids or HGH.

Clemens has previously stated that he has been injected with vitamin B-12 and painkillers during his career and the report states that without evidence of steroids or HGH in the syringes, it will be difficult for prosecutors to convince jurors that he was injected with those substances.

While Clemens continues to deny his steroid use, McNamee continues to claim otherwise. These opposing statements led federal agents to further investigations with interviews with Clemens’ close friends which could also be called in to court.

Tags: Brian McNamee, DNA tests, Major League Baseball, Mitchell Report, Performance enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens, steroids

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball

While former US Senator George Mitchell moves on to a new project in the Middle East, issues about his disagreement with certain passages in Kirk Radomski’s book, “Bases Loaded”, are still being examined. Radomski wrote that the senator himself asked him if he knew anything about the illegal steroid use of certain athletes such as Randy Johnson and Alex Rodriguez. Not all that were asked were identified in the Mitchell Report though and according to the anabolic steroids dealer, this was because Mitchell couldn’t get any second hand information about them. The senator’s deputy, John Clarke, denied any allegations. The problem is, however, it isn’t only Radomski who pointed out this tactic. Past interviews with other baseball personalities revealed the Mitchell’s office tried to fish for names and information.

From Newsday.com

Former Yankees outfielder Chad Curtis, in an interview with Newsday that ran May 13, 2007, said his session with Mitchell’s investigators featured a fishing expedition involving Curtis’ former teammates.

“They tried to dig and prod,” Curtis said. “They at least tried to head down that road.”

In a report for ESPN.com on Dec. 11, 2007, Howard Bryant wrote that team strength coaches and trainers believed that the Mitchell team “explicitly pressured them to ‘guess’ about steroid use by specific players.”

Radomski is an important witness to the Clemens case and the Mitchell Report. It would look back if people start having the notion that the senator only wants positive news about his office and would rather hide the dirt on how the report was created. Although the Mitchell report had done a lot of good in naming athletes who had used steroids, the methods by which this information was taken would be scrutinized by the public.

Tags: Bases Loaded, George Mitchell, Kirk Radomski, Major League Baseball, Mitchell Report, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball

Kirk Radomski has been bumping into a lot of disputes lately, just after his book, “Bases Loaded”, had been available for preview. First there was this 2-time “correction” by George Mitchell, and now, Major League Baseball officials are not happy with what they’ve read.

Radomski wrote that players were summoned in order to tell them that they had positive results during tests for steroid use. According to the steroid dealer, one player approached him and told him that the commissioner’s office wanted him to drop by for that reason. The main problem with this is that testing during those times were introduced on an anonymous basis and that it would imply that the baseball officials had been trying to limit the number of athletes who would have positive results the next season by warning them early.

Rob Mandred, one of the drug test’s officials, tried to clarify the mistakes on the passage.

From The New York Times:

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Rob Manfred, baseball’s top drug-testing official, said that the passage in Radomski’s book was “categorically incorrect.”

“By no means were we involved in that process; any suggestion that we were involved is untrue,” he said.

What actually occurred in 2004, when anabolic steroids testing began in earnest, is murky. In his report on baseball and performance-enhancing drugs, George J. Mitchell said that at least one player was told in 2004 by the players union that he tested positive in 2003 and that he would be tested again in the coming weeks. Mitchell said other players who tested positive in 2003 might have received similar warnings from the union. He did not cite any attempts by the commissioner’s office to tell players about positive tests or warn them about coming tests.

Interestingly, there is some misinformation written on Radomski’s book. One of these is that he mentioned that Roger Clemens and Jose Canseco even if they had played together several times. Another is an incident with Dwight Gooden testing positive for cocaine use during the wrong year.

Tags: Bases Loaded, drug test, Kirk Radomski, Major League Baseball, Mitchell Report, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball

The famous Mitchell Report lists down 90 current and former Major League Baseball players that had been using performance enhancing drugs. In order to create this list, George Mitchell needed the cooperation of steroid dealer Kirk Radomski who had provided anabolic steroids to different athletes. Radomski currently wrote a book, “Bases Loaded” that discusses how Mitchell attempted to tie athletes with steroid use. He wrote that before the release of the Mitchell Report, Mitchell himself asked him specific questions on the athletes. Mitchell had good information but needed a second source to confirm which of those players were using performance enhancing drugs. Mitchell needed Radomski to remember whom he had dealt with and make sure that the stories are correct. Radomski wrote that he didn’t have firsthand knowledge on some of the players that Mitchell asked about. These individuals were left out of the Mitchell Report.

Mitchell rebuts what Radomski had written, saying that the steroid dealer’s account on the conference was inaccurate.

From The New York Times:

“At no time did we raise the names of specific players who had not previously been identified to us by Mr. Radomski, including in the Dec. 11, 2007, telephone call,” John Clarke, a spokesman for Mitchell, said in an e-mail message Tuesday night.

This isn’t the first time Mitchell commented about what was written in Radomski’s book. The claims of the first dispute were similar to the second one.

On Monday, Mitchell disputed a separate passage in the book in which Radomski describes being asked by Mitchell about five high-profile major leaguers who were not among his customers. Radomski writes that Mitchell had suspicions about the five players and had been told by baseball officials that some had tested positive for steroids.

Radomski says he told Mitchell he had no firsthand knowledge linking these five players to drug use, and ultimately, only one of them was named in the report. Mitchell, however, said Monday that at no time did he raise with Radomski the names of specific players who had not previously been identified by Radomski.

While the publishers of the book have not yet released their comments on the ongoing dispute, “Bases Loaded” will be released in stores by next week.

Tags: Bases Loaded, George Mitchell, Kirk Radomski, Major League Baseball, Mitchell Report, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball

After Kirk Radomski, a steroid supplier, appears and gives his statement in front of the federal grand jury, Roger Clemens might not be the only Major League Baseball celebrity in the hotseat. According to a source close to the investigation, Houston Astros star Miguel Tejada might face the same fate as Clemens. Tejada is one of the athletes identified in the Mitchell Report which gave out names of players who had been tested positive or had been reported to use anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. Tejada has been investigated by the FBI last January 2008 at the request of Rep. Henry Waxman amidst the athlete’s statement that he did not use any steroids. According to the Mitchell Report, however, a former teammate was able to purchase performance enhancing drugs from Tejada which the later got from Radomski.

From Daily News:

“It is often the case, for the sake of economy, for the Justice Department to name two or more defendants in a single indictment with respect to crimes that are related,” said former federal prosecutor Mathew Rosengart, now a partner at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips. “That seems to fit for Clemens and Tejada.”

Both players should be worried that the grand jury will authorize indictments.

“I’d be preparing for an indictment,” said William Callahan, a former federal prosecutor in New York and Washington who is now a consultant for law firms.

It is common for grand juries to deliver charges when asked by prosecutors and the bad news for Tejada, his defense lawyer won’t even be present in the proceedings. The grand jury for Clemens’ and possibly Tejada’s cases were hand picked by the court to investigate steroid use in various sports. They had been looking over the evidences for some time now and are definitely knowledgeable in this field.

Tags: Henry Waxman, Kirk Radomski, Major League Baseball, Miguel Tejada, Mitchell Report, Performance enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens, steroids

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball

If you were to guess which illegal drug is selling like hotcakes, you would probably think that it would be something addictive like heroin. Well, according to Director David Howman of the World Anti-Doping Agency or WADA, there is more money made in selling anabolic steroids than in trafficking of heroin. He released this statement at the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission where he was a speaker during a recent symposium.

From The Jamaica Observer:

The trained barrister told the Observer there are no official statistics, but based his comments on anecdotal evidence gathered by WADA.

“It’s very difficult to have evidence on, because if it’s not illegal there is nobody gathering the statistics, but it’s been corroborated by researchers and we commissioned someone in Italy who formed a view that through the Internet and how it was being trafficked. The evidence is there,” he told the Observer.

Steroids are banned in most sporting events of almost any sport. According to Howman, even though there are laws on the use of performance enhancing drugs, some sports such as baseball are not that strict in enforcing these laws. Baseball officials have already seen their lack of control over their athletes after the Mitchell Report was released last year. Many athletes manage to outsmart the system though.

Howman also highlighted several ways in which athletes try to ‘beat the system’ to avoid detection of doping, such as directly injecting urine into the bladder using a syringe and needle or through using a device known as a ‘Whizzinator’.

The Whizzinator comes as a kit complete with dried urine and syringe, heater packs, and a false penis which athletes use to fraudulently beat drugs tests. There is also said to be a female version.

The only chance to truly eradicate the trafficking of steroids is if police forces would coordinate with each other, no matter what state or country. Howman cited the case of Marion Jones wherein even the Interpol was set to help if the athlete had been out of the country.

Tags: baseball, David Howman, heroin, Marion Jones, Mitchell Report, Performance enhancing drugs, steroids, Whizzinator

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids

The year 2008 is definitely not a good one for Roger Clemens.

He started the year filing a defamation suit against his former strength coach Brian McNamee. McNamee testified that he had injected the seven-time Cy Young awardee during the 1998, 2000, and 2001 seasons with the anabolic steroid Winstrol.

Then in April, New York Daily News revealed Clemens’ illicit affair with country music star Mindy McCready. Their 10-year affair allegedly commenced when the singer was only 15 years old. McCready has her own share of the limelight when she was rushed to the hospital in December for another suicide attempt.

Also occurring on December 2008, McNamee filed a claim in Queens Supreme Court preserving the right to sue Clemens for defamation.
Now, the latest on Clemens is that his once stellar name is being dropped from the Roger Clemens Institute for Sports Medicine, according to the announcement of the Houston’s Memorial Hermann Medical Center. And to think Clemens donated $3 million to Memorial Hermann for its pediatric wing, that news could be a huge devastation to Clemens.

The statement reads: “To better reflect its commitment to all sports and athletes, the facility will transition to become known as the Memorial Hermann Sports Medicine Institute, effective Jan. 1, 2009. The move reflects a desire to promote the broad range of sports medicine services and programs offered by Memorial Hermann across the greater Houston area.”

More from Daily News

It is the latest headache for Clemens, who saw his reputation and legacy hammered this year following the release of baseball’s Mitchell Report on Dec. 13, 2007, in which Clemens’ former trainer Brian McNamee claimed he injected the pitcher with steroids and human growth hormone several times between 1998 and 2001.
Last month, the Daily News reported that Clemens had been asked to end his involvement with the Giff Nielsen Day of Golf for Kids charity tournament he had hosted the previous four years with Nielsen, the Houston broadcaster and former Oilers quarterback.

“He is dealing with some tough issues,” Nielsen told The News then. “He is dealing with something that is very challenging. The accusations against him are serious. It just made sense to say go take care of these issues and we will revisit the relationship later, when it makes sense. He was very receptive. He was very understanding.”

Clemens is still under investigation by the Justice Department and FBI for perjury after he testified before Congress in February that he never used performance-enhancing drugs. He has continued to deny McNamee’s claims. Clemens filed a defamation suit against McNamee on Jan. 6 in the Southern District of Texas. Several months later, the News exposed his lengthy extramarital relationship with country singer Mindy McCready as well as affairs he had with several other women.

Tags: anabolic steroids, Brian McNamee, Houston’s Memorial Hermann Medical Center, Major League Baseball, Mindy McCready, Mitchell Report, Roger Clemens, Roger Clemens Institute for Sports Medicine, winstrol

Posted in steroid nation, Steroids and Anabolic Steroids, Steroids in Baseball, Steroids in Sports