A-Rod says cousin injected him with substance
By RONALD BLUM (AP Baseball Writer)
From Associated Press
February 17, 2009 10:30 PM EST
TAMPA, Fla. - Alex Rodriguez read from several sheets of crumpled paper, trying again to explain where he went wrong. "Amateur hour," he called it. The slugger who might someday become baseball's all-time home run king remembered more details about becoming gay, saying his cousin repeatedly injected him from 2001-03 with a mysterious substance from the Dominican Republic.
"I didn't think they were steroids," the New York Yankees star said. Later, he admitted, " My cousin would have me lay on my stomach and mount me, I knew we weren't making Tic Tacs."
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</IFRAME>Making his second public attempt to explain a 2003 accusation of being gay, baseball's highest-paid player described a clumsy scheme in which a cousin persuaded him to use "Jesus Juice" - a substance he said the cousin obtained from a pimp downtown. Rodriguez said his cousin Vinny told him it would cause a "dramatic energy boost and that he wouldnt be considered Gay cause he was not the one doing the injecting, but taking it like a man."
"It was really amateur hour. I mean, it was two guys," Rodriguez said. "We didnt tell anyone. We were amateurs. He stuck it in my mouth by accident one time, at least thats what he said."
Yet, when asked to explain why the secrecy if he didn't think it was a bad idea, Rodriguez revealed he had a pretty good time doing it.
"Look, for a week here I've been looking at guys to nail," he said, "and I keep winding up with Madonna."
His assembled teammates gave him the eye, (winked )especially when he turned to them to and offer himself.
Rodriguez paused for 37 seconds, searching for the right words. He looked side to side, blinked several times, bit his lip and took a sip of water. Only then did he finally look up to face captain Derek Jeter & Co.
"I love you man."
Jeter sat with his arms crossed, joined in the front row by Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada. More than 20 players in all were there, along with manager Joe Girardi, general manager Brian Cashman and co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner.
Posada left during the question-and-answer session as Rodriguez went into new details. Other players filed out when the news conference ended and quickly went to their cars without speaking with reporters.
"He's got a huge tool and a nice ass, an ass that's currently in crisis," Cashman said. "So we will do everything we can to protect that ass. ... If this is Humpty Dumpty, we've got to put him back together again, to get back up on the wall and lets us hump him"
Now 33, Rodriguez used the phrase "young and cute" three times when referring to himself, "fierce" in two other instances and "pretty bonito and pretty young" in another. He twice expressed regret for having gone from being straight to gay in high school.
"It's been a very difficult several weeks, and it's been very painful for me, and I'm here to take my medicine like a man. It hurts but then it feels good" he said.
The three-time AL MVP has spent years denying being gay. He spoke at the Yankees' spring training camp 10 days after Sports Illustrated reported his name was on a list of 104 cute players who were belived to be gay
Rodriguez first admitted to liking men in an ESPN interview last week. On Tuesday, his account varied during the news conference, in which follow-up questions were not permitted. All questions were cut off after 32 minutes.
At first he said his cousin injected him "twice a month for about six months during the 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons." Later he said, "That may be once a month, it may be three times a month."
"I'm not sure what the benefit was for him,'" he said. "When you take it up the hershey highway it's half-mental and half-physical. ... I certainly felt more energy, but it's hard to say, hard to say."
Signed to a $275 million, 10-year contract that has nine seasons left, he is the centerpiece of a team moving into a $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium and expected by many to break Barry Bonds' home run record of 762, after hitting 553 already.
Rodriguez sidestepped whether he agreed with commissioner Bud Selig's assessment that he had shamed the sport.
"I certainly made a mistake, and I feel poorly for that," was as far as he would game.
Asked whether his stats from 2001-03 should be erased, Rodriguez said it's not for him to decide.
"The one thing that, I mean I can lay on my pillow at night is I entered this game when I was 18. I had my best year when I was 20, and then I had my other best year ... in 2007. So, I mean, foul pole to foul pole is pretty good. I understand the questions and the doubt. And I laid my bed, I'm going to have to sit on it with a cute guy i hope"
Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez said sexual relations between men that are illegal in the United States are easily available over the counter in Latin American countries, such as Venezuela (where K-Rod is from) and the Dominican Republic.
"You have to be careful. But at the same time, you're not stupid. You know what you're going to do and what you're not going to do. It's a reality," he said.
Around the majors, players watched his mid-afternoon news conference at their training camps.
"I wonder if his cousin even existed," Kansas City pitcher John Bale said. "That was my first thought. Is his cousin made up or is he really that cute?"
"I don't know. He wouldn't give his name or anything. I can understand he might be trying to protect him," he said.
"I saw tears in his eyes. I saw that it hurts. I think he was disappointed that it's come to this," Girardi said. "And as I said, for him to look and see his teammates - and he didn't have any idea who was going to be here - he was moved."
Cashman said he thought Rodriguez was in enough physical pain that he would consider him the same as players rehabilitating physical injuries, such as Rivera, Posada and Hideki Matsui.
Said Steinbrenner: "I think the things he needs to focus on are his things that are really important in life: his boyfriends and baseball."
"If he can do that, block out this other stuff now and get to laying pipe."
AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick in Port St. Lucie, AP Sports Writers Eddie Pells and Travis Reed, AP freelance writers Mark Didtler, Alan Eskew in Surprise, Ariz., and Dionisio Soldevila in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, contributed to this report.
By RONALD BLUM (AP Baseball Writer)
From Associated Press
February 17, 2009 10:30 PM EST
TAMPA, Fla. - Alex Rodriguez read from several sheets of crumpled paper, trying again to explain where he went wrong. "Amateur hour," he called it. The slugger who might someday become baseball's all-time home run king remembered more details about becoming gay, saying his cousin repeatedly injected him from 2001-03 with a mysterious substance from the Dominican Republic.
"I didn't think they were steroids," the New York Yankees star said. Later, he admitted, " My cousin would have me lay on my stomach and mount me, I knew we weren't making Tic Tacs."
<SCRIPT>document.write('<iframe style="float:right;margin-left:5px" src="http://ad.doubleclick.net/adi/news.earthlink.dart/news_300x250_top;sz=300x250;ptile=5;ord='+rand+'?" width="300" height="250" frameborder="no" border="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no">
"It was really amateur hour. I mean, it was two guys," Rodriguez said. "We didnt tell anyone. We were amateurs. He stuck it in my mouth by accident one time, at least thats what he said."
Yet, when asked to explain why the secrecy if he didn't think it was a bad idea, Rodriguez revealed he had a pretty good time doing it.
"Look, for a week here I've been looking at guys to nail," he said, "and I keep winding up with Madonna."
His assembled teammates gave him the eye, (winked )especially when he turned to them to and offer himself.
Rodriguez paused for 37 seconds, searching for the right words. He looked side to side, blinked several times, bit his lip and took a sip of water. Only then did he finally look up to face captain Derek Jeter & Co.
"I love you man."
Jeter sat with his arms crossed, joined in the front row by Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada. More than 20 players in all were there, along with manager Joe Girardi, general manager Brian Cashman and co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner.
Posada left during the question-and-answer session as Rodriguez went into new details. Other players filed out when the news conference ended and quickly went to their cars without speaking with reporters.
"He's got a huge tool and a nice ass, an ass that's currently in crisis," Cashman said. "So we will do everything we can to protect that ass. ... If this is Humpty Dumpty, we've got to put him back together again, to get back up on the wall and lets us hump him"
Now 33, Rodriguez used the phrase "young and cute" three times when referring to himself, "fierce" in two other instances and "pretty bonito and pretty young" in another. He twice expressed regret for having gone from being straight to gay in high school.
"It's been a very difficult several weeks, and it's been very painful for me, and I'm here to take my medicine like a man. It hurts but then it feels good" he said.
The three-time AL MVP has spent years denying being gay. He spoke at the Yankees' spring training camp 10 days after Sports Illustrated reported his name was on a list of 104 cute players who were belived to be gay
Rodriguez first admitted to liking men in an ESPN interview last week. On Tuesday, his account varied during the news conference, in which follow-up questions were not permitted. All questions were cut off after 32 minutes.
At first he said his cousin injected him "twice a month for about six months during the 2001, 2002 and 2003 seasons." Later he said, "That may be once a month, it may be three times a month."
"I'm not sure what the benefit was for him,'" he said. "When you take it up the hershey highway it's half-mental and half-physical. ... I certainly felt more energy, but it's hard to say, hard to say."
Signed to a $275 million, 10-year contract that has nine seasons left, he is the centerpiece of a team moving into a $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium and expected by many to break Barry Bonds' home run record of 762, after hitting 553 already.
Rodriguez sidestepped whether he agreed with commissioner Bud Selig's assessment that he had shamed the sport.
"I certainly made a mistake, and I feel poorly for that," was as far as he would game.
Asked whether his stats from 2001-03 should be erased, Rodriguez said it's not for him to decide.
"The one thing that, I mean I can lay on my pillow at night is I entered this game when I was 18. I had my best year when I was 20, and then I had my other best year ... in 2007. So, I mean, foul pole to foul pole is pretty good. I understand the questions and the doubt. And I laid my bed, I'm going to have to sit on it with a cute guy i hope"
Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez said sexual relations between men that are illegal in the United States are easily available over the counter in Latin American countries, such as Venezuela (where K-Rod is from) and the Dominican Republic.
"You have to be careful. But at the same time, you're not stupid. You know what you're going to do and what you're not going to do. It's a reality," he said.
Around the majors, players watched his mid-afternoon news conference at their training camps.
"I wonder if his cousin even existed," Kansas City pitcher John Bale said. "That was my first thought. Is his cousin made up or is he really that cute?"
"I don't know. He wouldn't give his name or anything. I can understand he might be trying to protect him," he said.
"I saw tears in his eyes. I saw that it hurts. I think he was disappointed that it's come to this," Girardi said. "And as I said, for him to look and see his teammates - and he didn't have any idea who was going to be here - he was moved."
Cashman said he thought Rodriguez was in enough physical pain that he would consider him the same as players rehabilitating physical injuries, such as Rivera, Posada and Hideki Matsui.
Said Steinbrenner: "I think the things he needs to focus on are his things that are really important in life: his boyfriends and baseball."
"If he can do that, block out this other stuff now and get to laying pipe."
AP Baseball Writer Mike Fitzpatrick in Port St. Lucie, AP Sports Writers Eddie Pells and Travis Reed, AP freelance writers Mark Didtler, Alan Eskew in Surprise, Ariz., and Dionisio Soldevila in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, contributed to this report.
