June 9, 200620 yr While baseball's latest focus in its fight against ridding the sport of performance-enhancing drugs is on human growth hormone, it's another banned drug that a former Yankee fan favorite has confessed to using. Jim Leyritz talked about using amphetamines and HGH on ESPN Radio's Dan Patrick Show. Leyritz admits to taking HGH, but says he never took steroids because of a family history of prostate cancer. "I can remember my first amphetamine," Jim Leyritz said during an interview Thursday on XM Satellite Radio. "I was out all night drinking with Andy Hawkins and some of the guys on the team. I was a young player." Leyritz, who broke into the big leagues in 1990 with the Yankees, played 11 seasons in the majors with six different teams. "I came in. I was hung over, sleeping by my locker. And all of a sudden, [Don] Mattingly came to me and said, 'Hey, you're in the lineup.' And I went, 'What?' He goes, 'Yeah, I just hurt my back.' "Now I'm walking around, I'm going, 'I don't know how I'm going to do this. There's no way that I can go play this game today.' I ran into my teammate who I knew had some of the 'little helpers,' as they called them. "He said, 'Take one of these. It should help. It'll take the edge off.' "So sure enough, I took one. He goes, 'OK, you can take two, but no more than two.' So I popped one more, and I went out and went 3-for-4 with two homers." According to retrosheet.org, Leyritz is referencing a Saturday, June 30 game in 1990 against the White Sox, where he went 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBI. His recollection of the day isn't perfect spot-on, however, as Mattingly played first base and Leyritz manned third. This admission comes in the wake of an investigation of pitcher Jason Grimsley, where Grimsley told federal agents that he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. According to court documents, Grimsley failed a league drug test in 2003. Authorities said when he was cooperating, he admitted to using human growth hormone, amphetamines and steroids. He added that amphetamine use was prevalent in pro baseball, and that it was placed in coffee in clubhouses -- marked "leaded" or "unleaded" to indicate which pots contained the drugs, according to court documents. During the offseason, owners and players agreed to increase the penalties for performance-enhancing drugs to 50 games for a first offense, 100 games for a second and a lifetime ban for a third.
June 10, 200620 yr Just go read Ball Four. This has been going on for over 40 years... Yep, and it's just starting to be big news. I see more players coming out-possibly big names no longer playing. I always liked Leyritz too.
June 10, 200620 yr I actually had the privelage of hearing the XM admission and the article is making it out as if he made the admission on Patrick's show on XM. In all actuality he was on XM's Opie and Anthony In the Morning show on XM 202 (High Voltage) Show. If you arent familiar with their style of radio, they are Howard Stern's biggest fear. While I think he was serious that it happened, I never heard him talk about HGH. But the story about Mattingly hurting his back is exactly how Leyritz said it. Leyritz is and always will be one of my favorite players on a team that I absolutly friggin hate.
June 10, 200620 yr I actually had the privelage of hearing the XM admission and the article is making it out as if he made the admission on Patrick's show on XM. In all actuality he was on XM's Opie and Anthony In the Morning show on XM 202 (High Voltage) Show. If you arent familiar with their style of radio, they are Howard Stern's biggest fear. While I think he was serious that it happened, I never heard him talk about HGH. But the story about Mattingly hurting his back is exactly how Leyritz said it. Leyritz is and always will be one of my favorite players on a team that I absolutly friggin hate. If Leyritz hangs with those two Stern wannabes, I have lost respect for him
June 10, 200620 yr I actually had the privelage of hearing the XM admission and the article is making it out as if he made the admission on Patrick's show on XM. In all actuality he was on XM's Opie and Anthony In the Morning show on XM 202 (High Voltage) Show. If you arent familiar with their style of radio, they are Howard Stern's biggest fear. While I think he was serious that it happened, I never heard him talk about HGH. But the story about Mattingly hurting his back is exactly how Leyritz said it. Leyritz is and always will be one of my favorite players on a team that I absolutly friggin hate. If Leyritz hangs with those two Stern wannabes, I have lost respect for him To each his own, if you like him go listen to him. Oh wait..........That is if he ever has a real live broadcast I mean the the guy only works three times a week and even admits he does sub-par radio.
June 12, 200620 yr Re: Mattingly, 1B or 3B It's gives much further depth and easier to remember to invoke the image of the rookie Leyritz replacing Donnie Ballgame or any respected veteran. Rather than simply Leyritz showing up hung over on one of the many days he would have been asked to play 3B. He started 67 games there in 1990, including all 16 between June 14th to the speculated June 30th date. That wouldn't present himself in the best light, would it?
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.