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Report: Manny, Ortiz tested positive  Updated: July 30, 2009, 1:10 PM

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were among the 104 major league players listed as having tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, lawyers with knowledge of the results told The New York Times.

The two were key members of the Boston Red Sox World Series championship teams in 2004 and 2007.

Ortiz declined comment to The Times.

Ramirez, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, recently came off a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's drug policy by obtaining a prescription for a banned female fertility drug.

In June, The Times reported Sammy Sosa was on the 2003 list, and Alex Rodriguez admitted to have used performance-enhancing drugs after he was linked to the list in February.

Players were tested in 2003 as part of Major League Baseball's survey to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing in 2004. There were no penalties for a positive test in 2003.

As part of the drug agreement between the union and MLB, the results of the testing of 1,198 players also were meant to be anonymous. Penalties began in 2004, and suspensions for a first positive test started in 2005.

Government agents initially obtained search warrants in 2004 for the drug-testing records of 10 players as part of its BALCO investigation that led to Barry Bonds' perjury indictment, but they found the more expansive list on a spreadsheet, obtained additional warrants and seized the larger group of records.

The union went to court, arguing the search was illegal, and three U.S. District judges agreed.

The government appealed, and a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the government, but the entire 9th Circuit threw out the reversal and decided to hear the case itself. The hearing was in December, and the decision is pending. The losing side could then appeal to the Supreme Court.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4366335 (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4366335)

Does this mean the Red Sox will have an asterick next to their 2004 and 2007 World Series Championships??  :D

Ortiz would never do such a thing. You can test him everyday........he said so.....

Nice career buddy. Enjoy your final season, you fat bastard.

And in related news, water is still wet.

*yawn*

yep, and the sky is still blue

who cares anymore

I love it. What a joke.

I've stopped caring about this a long time ago

You guys stopped caring because neither of these is a shock. As soon as another "squeaky clean" name appears I bet each of you will be all over it.

You are right. 

If someone not suspected in the first place tested postitive, it would be a shock.

I know this will probably never happen, but I'd love to hear how Maine would react if Josh Beckett suddenly appeared on the list. 

^What does it matter?  My friendship with Josh is seperate from what he and I do for a living.

Don't put words in my mouth.  As a guy that has been around the game my whole life, I care.  I care a lot.  And, if this is true, it's very disappointing.

Where the *yawn* factor comes in is that this is to 1,000,000th time I've heard Ortiz's name linked to that list.  Show me proof and I'll believe it.

The fact of the matter is this:  every team...and I mean EVERY ONE, Yankee fans, has a bunch of players that were on PEDs.  Including your beloved Championship teams of the late 90's / 00's.  It's ignorant for anyone to think otherwise.  So as long as we're * the '04 and '07 season, let's do it for every season since roughly 1993, maybe earlier.

Know someone else on the Red Sox team that I am willing to bet wasn't clean in '04?  Damon.  I've heard rumbles of other names.  And you know what?  Every team they beat that year - from the Yankees to the Angels to the Cardinals - had equal amounts of players on the stuff.

Call out individuals all you like, be careful with the dumbass "let's * a season" talk.  Because that rabbit hole, my friends, goes very deep.

I will also say this one more time - there are literally less than five players in the game today that I would be shocked (and upset) if I found out they juiced.  Everyone else is not above suspicion.

Maybe I should have said something like STL & Tommy have quit caring and Maine is bored, but I just condensed it a bit.

I care, but like Maine said there are very few guys in baseball (all pro sports for that matter) that I would be surprised if I found out they were taking performance enhancing drugs.

Since baseball is a game of numbers and has some of the most hallowed records in American sports, this begs a big question.
How do you rank these players that had access to PED's against the previous records holders and greats from generations where the use and accessablility of these types of PED's was almost non exsistent?

Two players would blow me away if on the list. Griffey and Jeter.

Next.

Ichiro

Update:

Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz says he was told by the baseball players' union that he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.

Ortiz says he's surprised by the news and intends to find out what drug was found in the tests that were supposed to remain anonymous.

The New York Times reported Thursday on its Web site that Ortiz and former teammate Manny Ramirez were among the more than 100 major league players who tested positive in 2003. The newspaper cited lawyers involved in pending litigation over the testing results who spoke anonymously because the information is under seal by a court order.

The Times did not say which drugs were involved.

Asked about the report, Ramirez told reporters to call the players' union.

I'm not even bored.  I'm upset with the whole era, but I wouldn't even know where to start.  David Ortiz has some of the biggest hits in Red Sox history.  In their history!  He tested positive in '03.  I know for a fact he passed upwards of four tests in 2004.  Did he pass the tests?  Or did he find a better masking agent to help pass the test, simply learning from his mistake in '03? 

I'll pose this question (and then answer it):  Where do games general turn?  Late innings.  Who are some of the largest PED offenders in the group?  Middle relief.  Who is generally on the mound in the 6th, 7th and 8th?  Middle relief.  Then factor in the "timely" hits...aurgh.

What a mess.

If (almost) everyone is doing it, are the effects cancelled out?

^You would think so.  But I would like to believe that more out there did NOT do it then did it.  So that kind of tilts the power a little.

Or, look at it like this...take 2004:

You're a Cards fan.  How would you feel if you found out the following players were positive:

Boston:  Manny, Ortiz, Pedro, Lowe, Damon, Tek.
Cards:  Albert and three role players.

Wouldn't WHO did it mean more than the actual number?  Manny and Ortiz battered St. Louis into a bloody mess in that series and Pedro and Lowe both went deep into their starts.  IF the names I tossed out were true, and St. Louis has offenders but no where near the type of impact players Boston's offenders were, does that wash each other?

See what I mean about "what a mess?"

I don't know how do answer that because they still have to hit the ball and no amount of performance enhancing drugs (imo anyway) is going to help you make contact better.  It's not going to help your fielding ablility either.

The Cardinals did not even show up for that WS.  That was a bunch of other guys.  We don't like to talk about it. ;)  We thought it would be one for the ages.

Maine, I'm sure you are the guy to help me with my little informal judgement. I have been too lazu to look up the numbers myself.

What number is baseball's roster set at? I know there are variations in the actual number through the season, but I'm sure we can also figure out how many players appeared in the bigs for 2003 if we really wanted to go that far. I'd like to figure out a rough estimate of how many players at any time are in the bigs.

The easiest way to do this is that each team has a 40 man MLB roster. 

Each team, however, has a 25 man ACTIVE roster.  You can't have more than 25 players on the active roster at a time (which is why you hear "JD Drew is back from injury and activated from the DL, Jeff Bailey is sent back to AAA to make room for Drew on the active roster", etc). 

September 1 the roster expands to 40 and you can carry up to that number actively.

Hope this helps?

It should have been.  I think everyone was expecting 6-7 games and a knock down fight in each one.  Boston peaked at the right time.

And your answer, by the way, IS the answer.  There isn't one.  Which makes this rather painful for people like you and I...ones that love the game.

I hope Teixeira's not on the list.

Mark has always been very vocal about his position on steroids.  But...then again...so was Raffy.  And Ortiz.  And others.

We just walked around telling each other at least it wasn't the Yankees.

Yeah, what do you do?  Not everyone is going to be caught and how do you punish those that are? 

On a side note: I think it was hypocritical for a bunch of people who cheered McGwire's every move to be booing Manny like he was bood here.  We rarely boo at anyone who is not a Cub and no team is in any position to point fingers.  Just my $0.02.  Cardinals fans are supposed to have more class than that.

I see where you are at on that - but know this...unless it's from their home town fans, players enjoy being booed and heckled. 

I remember one of my first interviews ever was with Roger Clemens, right when he came back to Fenway as a member of the Blue Jays.  He told me that cheers are nice...but a boo means that you are doing something right.  Winning.  It's actually a measure of respect. I wouldn't be too down on the Cards fans for it.

Do you think those people would still be cherring for McGwire after they found out what he did?

Maine - I don't think he was being booed out of respect, like when Albert is booed.  Like I said, we don't normally boo anyone who is not a Cub.  We respect good players on other teams. Usually.

Tommy - Yes, if he were wearing a Cardinals uniform.

No way is Fausto on the juice.

JoeTex might be though...it would help explain all the angry rants.

ROFL!!!!   You make an EXCELLENT point there, Stroke. 

Even with the roiders,my  Cubs can't win one..ohh well.... Espn + Steroids = Entertainment tonight + Micheal Jackson= Both overblown,wont shut up about it....

Yes and no. The extra strength will help you power out more hits, HR's and RBI's than they normally would, and help you get to balls quicker and jump higher to rob HR's than you would normally. It is allowing lesser players rise up to the level of superstars, and does give some teams that have more key people doing it an unfair advantage.
How do we judge these players for eligibility for the HOF? They had access to PED's that no previous generations of HOFers ever had, and since stats make up a huge portion of your resume to get into the hall, where is the line drawn.

You don't need roids to go on rants, just a lot of good liquor and a lack of tolerance for stupidity or mediocrity.