Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield were hounded again after a report named them among six major leaguers who received steroids from the nutritional supplements lab implicated in a drug-distribution ring.
Bonds walked silently through the San Francisco Giants' clubhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona, replying only, "Get out of my locker," when asked about the report in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Citing information it said was given to federal investigators, the newspaper reported Tuesday that Bonds was given the substances by his personal trainer -- who got them from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.
According to the newspaper, investigators also were told that steroids were given to Giambi, Sheffield, Marvin Benard of the White Sox, and Benito Santiago of the Royals, former Oakland Athletics infielder Randy Velarde and linebacker Bill Romanowski, who was released Tuesday by the Oakland Raiders after failing a physical.
Bonds' attorney, Michael Rains, issued a statement Tuesday saying: "We continue to adamantly deny that Barry was provided, furnished or supplied any illegal substances at any time by Greg Anderson. This latest pronouncement is a complete disregard to the truth."
At the Yankees' spring training camp in Tampa, Florida, Giambi and Sheffield wouldn't directly address the report.
"Speculation doesn't bother me. It's as simple as that," Sheffield said. "I deal with it. You know I don't like dealing with issues. You know I don't like dealing with controversy. Nobody likes to do that."
In Mesa, Arizona, Sammy Sosa said he wants his personal assistant to stay around the team, despite baseball's crackdown limiting clubhouse access.
Commissioner Bud Selig last month sent a memorandum to the 30 teams banning personal trainers, friends and agents from "all playing fields, dugouts, clubhouses and related facilities."
Sosa wants to make it clear that Julian Martinez -- hired by the Cubs star in 2001 to help him do chores and who often plays catch with Sosa -- is not a personal trainer. Cubs officials are confident they can work out an agreement to everyone's satisfaction, perhaps allowing Martinez to pitch batting practice, get out of uniform and then man a radar gun in the stands during games.
In Cincinnati, Marge Schott, the tough-talking, chain-smoking owner of the Reds who won a World Series and was repeatedly suspended for offensive remarks, died. She was 75.
Schott was hospitalized about three weeks ago for breathing difficulties and repeatedly needed treatment for lung problems in recent years. Christ Hospital spokeswoman Dona Buckler did not release a cause of death.
In Tampa, the New York Yankees received good news about ailing starting pitchers Jose Contreras and Jon Lieber.
Contreras, who was scratched from Tuesday's intrasquad game one day earlier because of lower back stiffness, took part in onfield drills and said he will be ready to make his first scheduled spring training start Sunday against Boston.
Lieber continued playing catch and said he expects to throw off a mound Wednesday.
In an intrasquad game, Alex Rodriguez was hitless in two at-bats and did not have a fielding chance at third base. It was the first time the 2003 AL MVP, acquired in a trade from Texas on Feb. 16, played his new position in a game setting.
The Yankees also finalized their one-year, US$2.25 million contract with first baseman Travis Lee.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier