Report: Giambi Testified He Used Steroids

[YanksHater213]

Report: Giambi testified he used steroids, human growth hormone

 

 

December 2, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi injected himself with human growth hormone in 2003 and also used steroids for at least three seasons, according to his grand jury testimony reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

The testimony given in December 2003 to the federal grand jury investigating BALCO contradicts Giambi's public proclamations that he never used performance-enhancing drugs.

 

Giambi described how he injected human growth hormone in his stomach, testosterone into his buttocks, rubbed an undetectable steroid knows as ``the cream'' on his body and placed drops of another, called ``the clear,'' under his tongue, the Chronicle reported on its Web site Wednesday night

 

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Giambi testified that he obtained several different steroids from Barry Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, who is one of four men indicted by the grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. He said he got the human growth hormone from a gym in Las Vegas.

 

Anderson's attorney, Tony Serra, declined comment to the Chronicle, citing a court order.

 

Anderson, BALCO founder Victor Conte, vice president James Valente and track coach Remi Korchemny all have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include steroid distribution.

 

On Wednesday, a federal judge said she would not immediately dismiss the charges in response to accusations that prosecutors illegally searched BALCO headquarters and Anderson's house and car. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said she may conduct hearings into the matter in January.

 

Giambi was among dozens of elite athletes -- including Bonds, Gary Sheffield and track stars Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones -- who answered the grand jury's questions last year. Bonds, Jones and Montgomery deny using illegal drugs, but Sheffield told Sports Illustrated and ESPN earlier this year that he used ``the cream'' and ``the clear'' from BALCO, which he said unknowingly to him contained illegal steroids.

 

The Chronicle reported in October that on a 9-minute recording it had obtained, a speaker the paper identified as Anderson is heard saying Bonds used an ``undetectable'' performance-enhancing drug during the 2003 season.

 

Giambi met Anderson when the trainer joined Bonds on an All-Star tour in Japan in November 2002. Giambi said he wanted to know what Bonds' secret for success was.

 

``So I started to ask him: 'Hey, what are the things you're doing with Barry? He's an incredible player. I want to still be able to work out at that age and keep playing,''' Giambi testified, according to the Chronicle. ``And that's how the conversation first started.''

 

After returning to the United States, Anderson told Giambi he could provide him with performance-enhancing drugs and suggested he stop taking the steroid Deca Durabolin that he obtained from the Las Vegas gym because it stays in the system too long, the paper reported. Giambi said he started using Deca Durabolin in 2001.

 

Giambi said Anderson never told him that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs.

 

``You know, I assumed because he's Barry's trainer -- you know, Barry -- but he never said one time, 'This is what Barry's taking, this is what Barry's doing,''' Giambi testified. ``He never gave up another name that he was dealing with or doing anything with.''

 

Prosecutors confronted Giambi with a calendar seized from Anderson's home that detailed Giambi's schedule of drug use.

 

Giambi said he didn't notice a ``huge difference'' in his performance after starting to use illegal drugs.

 

Giambi came to spring training this year looking noticeably trimmer as baseball began a steroid-testing program that included punishments for the first time. Asked in February whether he had ever taken performance-enhancing drugs, Giambi said: ``Are you talking about steroids? No.''

 

Giambi won the AL MVP in 2000 for Oakland and signed a $120 million, seven-year free-agent contract with the Yankees after the 2001 season. He hit 155 homers from 1999-2002 and batted over .300 each season, but injuries slowed him down the last two years.

 

Bothered by a balky knee, Giambi hit just .250 in 2003. Giambi batted .208 and played in only 80 games last season, missing time because of a tumor, which the New York Daily News reported was in his pituitary gland. Medical experts told the Chronicle that Clomid, a drug Giambi said he thought Anderson had given him, can exacerbate a tumor of the pituitary gland.

 

Giambi's younger brother, Jeremy, who last played in the majors with Boston in 2003, also testified that he used performance-enhancing drugs given to him by Anderson, according to the Chronicle.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylc=X3oD...ov=ap&type=lgns

[yeszir]

What a surprise, really. Not one steroid, but four!

[ahhchon]

don't blow it out of proportion. the ones you inject are steriods, the others are more like enchancers...

 

john

[empireII]

I hope this isn't news to you....

[schillingouttheks]

i hope yankee fans knew it all along too..and werent in a stage of denial. thats why we chant bal-co whenever he comes up, or used to. he said it was a lot of milk, and now hes exposed for his lying.

[wayback73]

giambi usaed steroids in all but y arent they going after all the othe players who did. like bonds. giambi said he got the steroids from bonds agent and sheffield did to.

[j0hnz3pp31in]

should the two HR's Giambi hit in the ALCS of last year count?

[RedSoxRooter]

Well, they already did. There's nothing you can do about them now.

 

It's funny. A lot of people say (myself included) that the Red Sox of 2003 should have won the WS if it weren't for Grady. I still believe that. The offense was so good and starting to pick up. We would have hammered the Marlins if we'd gotten past the Yanks. No question. The bullpen was spotty but the clutchness of the offense under pressure was amazing. I really don't expect to see so many come-from-behind/late-inning wins in a single season again.

 

But we didn't beat the Yankees, in part, thanks to Giambi, and we went out and got Foulke and Schill. Had we won the WS in 03, do you think we still would have gotten Schilling? I doubt it. Sure, Foulke would be here, but I don't think we would have gotten Curt if we actually won the WS in 03.

 

He probably would have wound up in NY. It's just kinda funny how things work out.

 

Back to the topic. Those HRs could be the last great moment in his (possibly) shortened career. As close as he ever got to winning a WS... And he can look back at those fond memories someday and know that he cheated, was given the pennant by the opposing manager, and in the end lost the WS when he had his chance. That's the history, and there's no reason to rewrite it.

[yeszir]

Originally posted by RedSoxRooter@Dec 2 2004, 10:04 PM

Back to the topic. Those HRs could be the last great moment in his (possibly) shortened career. As close as he ever got to winning a WS... And he can look back at those fond memories someday and know that he cheated, was given the pennant by the opposing manager, and in the end lost the WS when he had his chance. That's the history, and there's no reason to rewrite it.

I hope that somehow, Giambi is able to read this. This is so true and so pathetic at the same time.

[empireII]

Originally posted by j0hnz3pp31in@Dec 2 2004, 09:31 PM

should the two HR's Giambi hit in the ALCS of last year count?

LOL. Thats a good one.

[elsrbueno]

The homers count. That's in the past.

 

Giambi's got to worry now about his future, because the Yankees WILL try to void his contract.

 

This is an awful development for Red Sox fans and all non-Yankee fans. This gives the Yankees grounds to void Giambi's contract, save millions of dollars, and invest that money on someone else.

 

Remember what happened the last time the Yankees voided a contract and needed a replacement player?

 

Scary.

[empireII]

Thats why I don't hate him. He commited career suicide so the yankees could get beltran, pedro, whoever they want just about.

[yeszir]

Originally posted by empireII@Dec 3 2004, 04:21 PM

Thats why I don't hate him. He commited career suicide so the yankees could get beltran, pedro, whoever they want just about.

I'm sure thats exactly why he fessed up.

[yankeessuck013]

For those of you who do not know and To tell the truth

 

Jason Giambi always has publicly denied taking steroids. But when he came before a grand jury, it was a different story. A comparison:

 

What he told the press

 

September 2001, his last season before signing as a free agent with the Yankees

 

"If you're an incredible athlete, steroids aren't going to help you hit a baseball."

 

July 2002, at the All-Star Game

 

"I could think about taking them, but I never have. Guys take a lot of pride in what they do, and it's kind of sickening for them to work their butts off all year around and now it's: 'He hits home runs. He's on steroids.'"

 

October 2003, after being subpoenaed by federal grand jury investigating steroid use

 

"I didn't do anything wrong."

 

February, after being asked if he has used performance-enhancing drugs

 

"Are you talking about steroids? No."

 

February, after showing up skinny at spring training and claiming he had lost "four pounds, that's it"

 

"I just cleaned up my diet. I stopped eating fast food, bottom line. I stopped eating In-N-Out burgers."

 

August, after being diagnosed with a benign tumor

 

"This is absolutely not related to steroids at all, and that's all I can say about that."

[empireII]

Originally posted by yeszir+Dec 3 2004, 05:11 PM-->

QUOTE (yeszir @ Dec 3 2004, 05:11 PM)

[element1151]

Well espn.com (I didn't really need a link there did I) has devoted their whole front page to steroids. (Has a big picture of Bonds) This is a big story, i mean how can you respect these guys after this stuff comes out?

[RedSoxRooter]

Oh man. I got this far in the "Dope on Steroids" article and had to stop....

 

"What are the side effects of steroids?"

 

The short-term side effects are creepy, but reletively minor. The most striking one occurs when the pituitary gland senses the outrageous oversupply of testosterone in the body and signals the testes to stop making any more. The testicles then gradually shrivel up -- to the size of raisins, if you take steroids long enough. Other well-known side effects include acne, hair loss and, in some users, the growth of female breast tissue under the nipples"

 

 

Ok, that last part may be kinda cool, but the shriveled nuts make me want to puke.

[element1151]

It makes you think how much success means to them.

[element1151]

BDD LINK

 

 

SOX ROBBED OF 2003 WORLD SERIES TITLE AS NEW YORK YANKEES CHEATED TO WIN ALCS

http://bostondirtdogs.boston.com/Headline_Archives/WS_4_BDD.jpg

[schillingouttheks]

damn right

[empireII]

I thought you guys said the past means nothing now...?

[yeszir]

The size of raisins! Ouch!

[schillingouttheks]

Originally posted by empireII@Dec 4 2004, 02:00 PM

I thought you guys said the past means nothing now...?

well the past means nothing when all is played fairly...

 

the yankees had giambi, a cheater, hit HRs in that game, which helped them get 2 of their 6 runs in game 7.

 

they also used the same cheater, and possibly others, in the WS, and its funny that they didnt win that.

 

giambi can know he cheated, came close to winning a WS, and never did. thats what happens to cheaters. someone said something like that already in the thread, so thanks for that.

[empireII]

He is a cheater, and should probably just retire so the yanks can void his contract.

[schillingouttheks]

they wont be able to...somethings just telling me that...and the guys on PTI too

[Gertie]

Associated Press

 

NEW YORK -- For all the fuss over reported admissions of steroid use by Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, major league baseball probably won't discipline them.

 

Instead of addressing the past, baseball commissioner Bud Selig is more concerned with pressuring players to agree to more frequent testing before the current labor contract expires in December 2006.

 

Already convicted in the court of public opinion, the players who testified before a federal grand jury are protected from discipline because steroids weren't banned by major league baseball until Sept. 30, 2002, previously undetectable THG wasn't prohibited until last March, and Human Growth Hormone still isn't blacklisted.

 

And while baseball's labor contract calls for penalties for positive tests and criminal convictions, there's no discipline specified for fessing up to past use.

 

"These articles say baseball is reeling from these allegations," New York Mets pitcher Tom Glavine, a players' association leader, said Sunday. "To me, there is nothing new. People have been talking about the steroid issue for several years now. What's coming out of the grand jury testimony, I don't think there's anything surprising. Yes, it's a big story. It absolutely needs to be addressed. But it shouldn't be surprising or earth-shattering to anybody."

 

Dozens of major leaguers gather this week for the union's annual executive board meeting, which starts Monday in Phoenix.

 

"Obviously, the steroids issue is something that was going to come up in our board meeting," union head Donald Fehr said. "That would have been the case quite apart from this."

 

Gene Orza, the union's chief operating officer, and Rob Manfred, executive vice president of labor relations in the commissioner's office, have met several times since May to discuss Selig's call for more frequent testing and harsher penalties. Publicly, the union has shown a willingness only to discuss changes, not to make them.

 

"We've had ongoing discussions with the union," Manfred said. "We feel a great sense of urgency to complete the discussions, and we hope the union has the same sense."

 

Because steroid use wasn't banned until two years ago, it's inconceivable baseball would denote in its record book that Bonds might have used performance-enhancing drugs when he set the season home run record of 73 in 2001. And whether any revelations damage his chances to make the Hall of Fame will be determined only when the eligible baseball writers who vote make up their minds in several years.

 

Testing with penalties for steroid use began only this year, with each player tested once between the start of spring training and the end of the regular season. The penalty for a first positive test is counseling, and a second positive test could result only in a 15-day suspension. It would take five positive tests before Selig could ban a player for a year.

 

Even if a player is convicted for the use of a prohibited substance, baseball's labor contract allows a suspension of only 15 to 30 days for first-time offenders.

 

Critics say year-round testing is needed, along with stiffer penalties. U.S. Sen. John McCain threatened to introduce legislation in January to override baseball's labor contract. Even if enacted, there's a good chance his idea would be thrown out in court as contrary to federal labor law.

 

"It sounds great, or it sounds tough," Glavine said. "I'm not even sure if that can be done. I'm sure it was designed to be, 'Oh my God, we had to do something."

 

Unlike Olympic athletes, players with major league contracts are protected by a collective bargaining agreement and the right to challenge discipline for off-the-field conduct before an arbitrator, meaning the longest suspension Selig could impose would be the same as for a criminal conviction.

 

And that might not even hold up. Baseball lawyers said news reports of grand jury testimony aren't sufficient; baseball itself would have to have the actual sealed statements.

 

Giambi's problems with the New York Yankees are the result of his increased injuries and diminished output. The team is examining whether it can use the language in his contract to escape the remaining $82 million he is owed for what appears to be reasons of financial flexibility -- not necessarily because the team is upset about steroid use.

 

No major leaguer ever has been suspended for steroids.

 

"The only thing that's come out of the grand jury is Jason Giambi admitted to it, but nobody's surprised by it," Glavine said. "In Barry's case, the cloud remains as to whether he knew he was doing it or didn't. It kind of puts it back on the front page and it becomes a hot-button issue that everyone is talking about.

 

"People forget that in terms of this agreement, it's only been in place a short period of time and the first period was just a testing phase. We've really been though only one year of mandatory testing. I think the program we had last year had some effect on guys. Did it go far enough and what steps can be taken to totally eliminate the suspicion, both from player to player and fan to player? We'll continue to tweak and look at it."

 

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire.