… actually, is anyone even surprised by this or any steroid allegations anymore? Well, scratch another guy out of the Hall of Fame. I guess that’s why he completely stunk while in Baltimore.
NEW YORK (SI.com) — Sammy Sosa, whose memorable home run race with Mark McGwire in 1998 is credited with helping revive baseball after the 1994 players’ strike, tested positive for steroids in 2003, according to the New York Times. The Times cited “lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year.”
Baseball conducted the 2003 survey testing to determine if full-scale testing was necessary. It was during this same survey testing that Alex Rodriguez emitted a positive result, which was reported by SI.com in February. In all, 104 players tested positive during the survey test.
Sosa is just the latest Hall of Fame-caliber player to be connected to steroids this season, following Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, who is currently serving a 50-game suspension for failing a drug test.
In March 2005, Sosa was among a handful of players, including McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro, who testified before Congress about steroid use in baseball. Sosa testified under oath that he had never taken performance-enhancing drugs, which could create legal troubles for the former All-Star.
Sosa has continued to deny ever using steroids or performance enhancing drugs during his 18-year career, which ended in 2007. In a recent interview with ESPN Deportes, Sosa claimed he was innocent of suspicions that he used steroids and said he would “calmly wait” for his induction into the Hall of Fame. He will be eligible for the Hall of Fame beginning in 2013.
