http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/03/sports/b...ogin&oref=login

 

Popular Steroid Is at the Center of Palmeiro's Case

 

By LEE JENKINS

Published: August 3, 2005

The positive drug test that has left Rafael Palmeiro's legacy in doubt involved the potent anabolic steroid stanozolol, a person in baseball with direct knowledge of the sport's drug-testing program said yesterday.

 

Stanozolol, known by its brand name, Winstrol, was most notably linked to the Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson of Canada, who was stripped of a gold medal in 1988 after testing positive for that steroid.

 

Now Palmeiro, one of only four major league players with more than 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, is being associated with the same substance.

 

The person who said that Palmeiro tested positive for stanozolol did not want to be identified because the testing policy prohibits anyone in baseball from disclosing information about test results without authorization.

 

This revelation came on the day that Major League Baseball suspended its eighth player - and second in a span of 24 hours - for violating the drug-testing policy. Ryan Franklin, a starting pitcher for the Seattle Mariners, became the fourth major league pitcher suspended for steroid use. Like Palmeiro, Franklin appealed the suspension, but an arbitrator decided yesterday not to overturn it.

 

Palmeiro said Monday that he had never intentionally taken steroids, but stanozolol does not come in dietary supplements and is among the most popular steroids on the market. It can be ingested or injected and usually remains in a person's system for at least a month.

 

"It's a mildly strong to strong steroid," said Dr. Gary Wadler, a professor at New York University who is an expert in sports doping. "Potent is the word I would use."

 

Palmeiro, who testified in front of the House Committee on Government Reform in March that he never took steroids, spoke on the telephone yesterday with the committee chairman, Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, according to Davis's spokesman, Rob White. Palmeiro said Monday that he tried to call Davis and planned on calling Henry A. Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee.

 

"Rafael was able to connect with Chairman Davis late this afternoon and assured him he will cooperate fully and provide his committee with any information it requests," Palmeiro's agent, Arn Tellem, said in a statement.

 

Yesterday, Davis and Waxman were considering sending two letters, one to Major League Baseball asking for all of the specifics on the Palmeiro testing, another to Palmeiro asking him to cooperate in releasing that information. A final decision on the letters had not been made as of yesterday evening, a committee staff member said.

 

Palmeiro is probably not at risk of perjury charges for his finger-pointing, categorical denial of using steroids in his sworn testimony because the positive test was taken some weeks later, the committee staff member said, speaking on condition of anonymity because official statements are supposed to come from members of Congress.

 

In 2003 and 2004, Major League Baseball reported 128 positive steroid tests, including 74 for the steroid nandrolone (known commercially as Deca-Durabolin) and 37 for stanozolol. But last year, only one positive test was for nandrolone and 11 positive tests were for stanozolol, an indication of a changing trend.

 

Dr. Harrison G. Pope, a Harvard professor, psychiatrist and steroids expert, said nandrolone is detectable in the body for a much longer period than stanozolol. Nandrolone also was common in dietary supplements before it was added to the list of controlled substances in 2005.

 

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, the sprinter Tim Montgomery testified to a federal grand jury in 2003 that Victor Conte, head of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, told him he had given Winstrol to the San Francisco Giants' star slugger Barry Bonds. The Chronicle reported that in testimony to the grand jury, Bonds admitted to using a clear substance and a cream supplied by Balco and believed to be designer steroids but told federal prosecutors he did not know the substances were steroids. Bonds's lawyer, Michael Rains, has said that Bonds did not take illegal steroids.

 

Sometime after Palmeiro returns from his 10-day suspension, probably on Aug. 12 against the Toronto Blue Jays, he will be tested again. Under the current drug-testing policy, every major league player is given one unannounced test a year and can also be subjected to random tests. Violators, however, are placed in a separate category. The health policy advisory committee sets up a schedule that ensures they will be tested at another unannounced date. So far this season, 1,000 drug tests have been administered in the major leagues - there are approximately 1,200 players - and 900 have been processed.

 

The suspensions of Palmeiro and Franklin came after one of the most anticipated weekends of the baseball season, featuring the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and the passing of the nonwaiver trading deadline. The timing is considered a coincidence because both Palmeiro and Franklin issued appeals and needed an arbitrator to hear their cases. While Palmeiro is the highest-profile player ever to be suspended for steroid use, Franklin is a little-known starting pitcher with a 6-11 record and a 4.63 earned run average this season. He told reporters yesterday that he tested positive in early May and negative three weeks later.

 

"There's got to be a flaw in the system," Franklin was quoted as saying by The Associated Press at Detroit's Comerica Park, before the Mariners played the Tigers. "I have no clue."

 

In a study conducted by The New York Times six weeks into this season, 63 minor league players had been suspended and 29 were pitchers. Now, half the players who have been suspended at the major league level are also pitchers.

 

Despite the stereotype of the muscle-bound slugger constantly trying to bulk up, many in baseball say pitchers may be using steroids to increase velocity, maintain strength over a long season, and recover more quickly between appearances.

 

"As a whole, we've probably been surprised by the number of pitchers that have been involved with it," Mets pitcher Tom Glavine said earlier this season. "I think there was a perception it wouldn't do anything for pitchers. I think we probably all realize we might be wrong."

 

Murray Chass and Duff Wilson contributed reporting for this article.

If this is true, there goes his i didnt know... and again, IF it is true, he wont make the hall

He has been caught cheating, he shouldnt be in the hall anyways.

 

But indeed, it just makes him look even more full of it.

 

The guy looks more slimey by the day. He is starting to actually make canseco look like the good guy lol

Another dirty stinking cheater

So much for picking up something from "GNC". What a friggin liar

If Palmeiro took Winstrol, it was to maintain his mass as he aged, because that steroid in particular doesn't help you gain mass, but it is great at maintaining it. Winstol is popular among athletes.

 

Ben Johnson set the 100M world record at the 1987 WC and won at the 1988 olympics, but he tested positive for roids, then his record was revoked again in 89 because he admitted more steroid use, and then came back drug-free in 1991 but did poorly, and finally in 1993 was banned from the IAAF for testing positive for the third time.

 

 

Winstrol is the yellow ones.

 

Sources: BodyBuilding.com, InfoPlease

So much for picking up something from "GNC". What a friggin liar

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:thumbup

If Palmeiro took Winstrol, it was to maintain his mass as he aged, because that steroid in particular doesn't help you gain mass, but it is great at maintaining it. Winstol is popular among athletes.

 

Ben Johnson set the 100M world record at the 1987 WC and won at the 1988 olympics, but he tested positive for roids, then his record was revoked again in 89 because he admitted more steroid use, and then came back drug-free in 1991 but did poorly, and finally in 1993 was banned from the IAAF for testing positive for the third time.

 

 

Winstrol is the yellow ones.

 

Sources: BodyBuilding.com, InfoPlease

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Winstrol does help you gain muscle mass. I had a friend who used this stuff and he got as a big as a tank.

 

This is a shame for Palmeiro, no way he should be on the hall.

some intersting info on Winstrol (Stanozolol)

 

It can be injected or taken as a pill. sounds like traces of this stuff can remain in your body for some time. Canseco is on the money again, when he said that he didn't think Palmeiro was taking the stuff now but probably there were metabolites traces on his body.

 

c/o bodybuilding.com

" As many, including Ben Johnson, did not take into account it can be detected for quite some time after last use so its not advisable for drug tested athletes. Many have assumed otherwise due to the short half-life, but apparently some inactive metabolites are easily esterified, so they can be found up to 5 months after the last injection."

i hate that you dont know who to believe

Question: Is Winstrol legal in the United States, if so does it require a prescription because i read that its fda approved?

Question: Is Winstrol legal in the United States, if so does it require a prescription because i read that its fda approved?

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it is legal with a prescription.

The real question is can they trace how much was there and time period it might of been in his system. If it was in there 5 months prior to when it was tested for.

He had committed purgery. Science is wonderful

The real question is can they trace how much was there and time period it might of been in his system. If it was in there 5 months prior to when it was tested for.

He had committed purgery. Science is wonderful

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apparently he tested positive in May, so he may have used during the offseason and thought that he would test clean.

 

So he knew about all of these while hitting his 3,000 hits, etc. WOW. I wonder what went through his mind. I don't feel sorry for him

I still think its amazing he tested positive for a major steroid, i was thinking that when he was denying it he was taking like viatamins or something. But wow, what a blow to the game.

I still think its amazing he tested positive for a major steroid, i was thinking that when he was denying it he was taking like viatamins or something. But wow, what a blow to the game.

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he is screwed. he can't come clean and aplogize the way Giambi did, because that would be clear evidence that he lied under oath.

 

so he has to play this dumb game of "I don't know how this got into my body" that everyone knows is a bluff.

 

I say he doesn't get into the hall.

Here are the quotes from Canseco on the positive Palmerio's test

 

Canseco told CNBC on Monday that while he accused Palmeiro of prior use, "I do not believe right now or recently Rafael Palmeiro has taken steroids."

 

"There could be a metabolite from the past," Canseco said. "No one really knows how long steroids last in your actual system."

 

 

Winstrol can stay in your body for some time. It seems like Canseco know this stuff and he is telling the truth. I believe him over Bonds, Sosa, Schilling, Palmeiro, McGwire, etc.

Looks like us Cubans are really building a name for ourselves in this whole steroid fiasco :confused

I love how there are still undectectable steroids in the market and some Major Leaguers do not use it.

 

I know many College baseball players that take it and have not failed a single test and it is an illegal supplement.

 

I dont get it.

Looks like us Cubans are really building a name for ourselves in this whole steroid fiasco :confused

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If you think about it, Canseco's book is doing more good than harm. That started the Congress and got fire under MLB ass.

i hate that you dont know who to believe

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What? I believe facts.

 

Sorry Raffy but no hall for you.

from what i have heard winstrol stays in the system only about 14 days or so.....