Not like this is a surprise, but it is news...
Newspaper: Sosa tested positive for PED in '03
June 16, 2009
CBSSports.com staff and wire reports
Sammy Sosa is among the players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, the New York Times reported Tuesday, citing lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year.
The lawyers did not know the substance for which Sosa tested positive, the Times said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified as discussing material that is sealed by a court order.
A lawyer for Sosa, Jay Reisinger, declined comment to the Times, as did an official with Major League Baseball.
June 16, 2009
CBSSports.com staff and wire reports
Sammy Sosa is among the players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, the New York Times reported Tuesday, citing lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year.
The lawyers did not know the substance for which Sosa tested positive, the Times said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified as discussing material that is sealed by a court order.
A lawyer for Sosa, Jay Reisinger, declined comment to the Times, as did an official with Major League Baseball.
• Times: Sosa said to test positive in 2003
Sosa, 40, had never before been linked to a positive test. He testified under oath before Congress in 2005 that he had "never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs."
Sosa, who last played for the Texas Rangers in 2007, is one of only six players in Major League Baseball history with at least 600 career home runs. He finished with 609, the bulk of which came during his 13-season run with the Chicago Cubs.
The 2003 testing was the first of its kind conducted by Major League Baseball. Under guidelines agreed upon with the players union, the test results were to remain anonymous but would lead to testing with penalties the next year if more than 5 percent of the results were positive.
That is what occurred. But for reasons never made completely clear, the test results were not destroyed by the players union and the 104 positives were subsequently seized by federal agents on the West Coast investigating matters related to the distribution of drugs to athletes.
Sosa, 40, had never before been linked to a positive test. He testified under oath before Congress in 2005 that he had "never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs."
Sosa, who last played for the Texas Rangers in 2007, is one of only six players in Major League Baseball history with at least 600 career home runs. He finished with 609, the bulk of which came during his 13-season run with the Chicago Cubs.
The 2003 testing was the first of its kind conducted by Major League Baseball. Under guidelines agreed upon with the players union, the test results were to remain anonymous but would lead to testing with penalties the next year if more than 5 percent of the results were positive.
That is what occurred. But for reasons never made completely clear, the test results were not destroyed by the players union and the 104 positives were subsequently seized by federal agents on the West Coast investigating matters related to the distribution of drugs to athletes.
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