Ankiel reportedly bought year’s supply of HGH
Feel-good story for Cardinal may be coming to a crashing halt
BREAKING NEWS
SportsTicker
Updated: 1:41 a.m. CT Sept 7, 2007
NEW YORK - So much for Rick Ankiel evoking comparisons to “The Natural.”
The Daily News reported early Friday that the St. Louis Cardinals’ pitcher-turned-outfielder received a 12-month supply of human growth hormone in 2004 from a Florida pharmacy that was part of a national illegal prescription drug-distribution operation.
The story comes just hours after Ankiel belted a pair of home runs and drove in seven runs in the Cardinals’ 16-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The 28-year-old Ankiel, who also hit a two-run homer Wednesday, is batting .358 (29-for-81) with nine home runs and 29 RBI in 23 games since returning to the majors on August 9.
It has been a remarkable turnaround for a player who gained notoriety for throwing nine wild pitches in four innings during the 2000 playoffs — an outing that essentially led to the demise of his pitching career.
The startling rebirth of Ankiel’s career has drawn comparisons to Babe Ruth and Roy Hobbs, but the feel-good story of the year may be coming to a crashing halt.
According to records obtained by The Daily News, which cited sources close to the controversy surrounding anti-aging clinics that dispense illegal prescription drugs, Ankiel received eight shipments of HGH from Signature Pharmacy in Orlando from January to December 2004.
Signature is the pharmacy at the center of a two-year investigation of illegal Internet prescription drug sales by Albany District Attorney David Soares.
That same probe ensnared New England Patriots strong safety Rodney Harrison, who last week admitted to using human growth hormones and was suspended four games by the NFL.
The Boston Globe reported that Harrison bought the HGH from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center.
According to The Daily News, Ankiel’s prescriptions were signed by a Florida physician who provided them through a Palm Beach Gardens clinic called “The Health and Rejuvenation Center,” or “THARC.”
Ankiel lives in nearby Jupiter, Florida.
THARC also provided a shipment of steroids and growth hormone to former major league pitcher Steve Woodard, who was a teammate of Ankiel at Class AAA Memphis in 2004. Woodard played for four major league teams in seven years.
Scott Boras, the agent for Ankiel, would not comment to The Daily News on Thursday. Woodard did not return messages left on his cell phone.
“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Cardinals General Manager Walt Jocketty told The Daily News Thursday. “If it’s true, obviously it would be very tragic, along with everything else we’ve had happen to us this year.”
© 2007 PA SportsTicker
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20634561/
doesn't look like they can take any punitive action on him. however, the court of public opinion won't be as lenient...
That's it, he's juiced. As is A-Rod and countless other players in baseball as HGH still has no test. I can't blame him because you're going to do what you have to do to make it and clear your name, but don't buy the stuff using your name for the paper trail.
Supposedly he stopped receiving them before baseball banned it in 2005.
Stopped receiving it from that one supplier, but he could be getting it from anywhere else that hasn't been uncovered yet. He could very easily still be on it right now.
I ing hate this.
Ultimate Rick Ankiel fan Will Letich had a pretty good thought about this on Deadspin.
http://deadspin.com/sports/rick-anki...had-297390.php
The truth's probably somewhere in the middle, but this is the last guy baseball needed to have with a HGH accusation hanging over his head.
http://vivaelbirdos.com/story/2007/9/7/91158/14531
say it ain't so
By lboros
Posted on Fri Sep 07, 2007 at 09:11:58 AM EDT
i was just telling alex belth of sports illustrated how the buzz surrounding ankiel dramatically altered the dynamic of the cardinals' season. talk about buzz kill . . . . let's assume for the moment that ankiel really did take HGH. i have my own reasons for assuming that it's true --- i know two of the writers bylined on the article containing the allegations, quinn and o'keeffe, and they're both excellent journalists and individuals of integrity. if they've signed their names to this, i take it very seriously. a third byline on that story belongs to bill madden, who --- while not my favorite crafter of prose --- has been in this business for 30 years and has a spotless reputation.
but set that aside and just look at the degree of specificity in the article. the daily news names the drugs, the company that shipped them, and the physician who signed the scrips. with that much detail, and that many names named, we're not merely talking about some wild and flimsy allegation. no successful news organization --- and the daily news, for all its sensationalizing, is definitely successful --- can afford to publish that amount of detail without being 100 percent sure of its facts. rupert murdoch didn't build his empire by exposing himself to libel suits for the sake of one splashy headline; that's not a profitable strategy. and murdoch publications are nothing if not profitable.Update [2007-9-7 9:46:44 by lboros]: my bad; this is not a murdoch publication (i never could keep all those nyc newspapers straight). the point stands anyway; the daily news has the 6th-largest circulation of any paper in the u.s.; it has won 10 pulitzer prizes and has been in continuous publication since 1919.[end update]
i'm pretty sure this is true.
the next question is --- so what? he had a prescription for the drugs, and they're legal with a prescription; and he received them in 2004, before mlb ins uted its formal prohibition on steroids. therefore, ankiel didn't break any rules or do anything wrong --- right? i might be willing to accept that interpretation if i heard it straight from ankiel's mouth. if he truly did nothing untoward and has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of, then he can kill this story in a single day. if i were his pr advisor, i'd get him out in front of the microphones immediately --- call a press conference and sit rick down to tell his side of the story. i'd have him lay out the facts --- explain why he needed the drugs, what the medical benefit was, and how he didn't break any laws or any mlb rules. i'd have him state publicly that when mlb ins uted its formal steroid ban in 2005, he stopped using the drugs. that'd make this story go fizz in a new york minute.
he's got no legal obligation to do this, of course, but he has a selfish reason to do it --- he wants to avoid a swirl of controversy and su ion. the "innocent-til-proven-guilty" standard doesn't apply here; we're not in a courtroom. we're in the court of public opinion, and in this venue the burden of proof tends to fall upon the accused rather than the accuser. fair? maybe not, but life often isn't. if ankiel just issues a "no comment" or a two-sentence statement written by a boras flunky, it will leave the impression that he's got something to hide, and many will judge him harshly. ankiel can create the opposite impression by facing the story openly and unabashedly.
failing that, su ion is going to follow him around. blame the messenger if you want to; decry the sins of the evil media. but if ankiel really did this, and he isn't willing to talk about it, then ask yourself: why won't he talk about it? if it's truly no big deal and no code of conduct was breached --- why won't he talk about it? he can stick it to the media and make his accusers look like a bunch of hype-mongering fools simply by standing up to the accusations. yeah, it's true. [shrug] my doctor said hgh would help my rehab along; he said it had been helpful in some other cases that were similar to mine. and it wasn't on the list of banned substances; we checked that out in advance. it was all legal, all above-board.
end of story.
walt jocketty told the daily news: "If it's true, obviously it would be very tragic, along with everything else we've had happen to us this year." i agree wth walt. the steroid-abuse saga has a million hypocrites and scoundrels, from the commissioner down through the general managers, the coaches and on-field managers, the beat writers and broadcasters, the trainers, the agents . . . . . all those guys have their fingerprints on the syringes. and now they're all running away from what they did; nobody wants to talk about it. why won't they talk? if they didn't do anything wrong, why would they choose to give the impression that they did?
i hope ankiel will bat these allegations out of the park as effortlessly as he has been swatting big-league pitches over the wall.
not quite true. it's not as bad as if he had smuggled it in through customs, but even if he had a prescription, if he doesn't have a medical reason for needing it, that doesn't make it legal. now, the doc would/should be in more trouble than he is, but that doesn't clear Ankiel.
For example, if you do not have glaucoma, but offer a doc a wad of cash for a prescription for marijuana. If you are later caught with possession, that prescription isn't going to bail you out of trouble.
ultimately, since they won't be able to prove that he has used it since the game banned it, I doubt baseball will come after him. And since he doesn't appear to be involved in a smuggling ring, I doubt the feds will come after him.
But...I really do NOT want to hear that his (alleged) use of HGH was legal or above board.
Ankiel should just come out and admit that his impotence was just raging out of control.
If hes used HGH, hes gotten some ty batches, cause hes barely and hardly bigger than he was as a pitcher.
BTW, just saw troy Glaus took roids.
Now thats believeable, multiple injuries, stuff like that.
Ankiel stopped using them supposedly beginning of 05.
The NY Post, a tabloid reporting this too. So who knows.
Neyer and others are saying what Im thinking.
He took them supposedly for 1 year, and stopped before MLB tested for them.
Or as Neyer said "If he took them, you sure can't tell, hes not that big or even a little big"
Ankiel was such an awesome story. I'd always take a look at the Cardinals' boxscore to check out how he did. Now he looks to be just another juicer. Sucks.
And yes, his body has changed since his pitching days. Plus he suffered non-contact injuries the last couple years ... another sign of steroid use. I'm sure we'll hear some reverse spin to try to get Ankiel off the hook but it's already tainted. It doesn't really matter that baseball banned it in 2005 or whatever since, AFAIK, the HGH Ankiel received was received illegally.
I blame whottt. Whenever that guy jumps on a bandwagon, the player goes down in flames.
If you're not going to question and crucify EVERY player in the majors and minors - then don't go after any of them. It's ridiculous having a name pop up every couple of weeks, and then move on to the next one.
Except it's the Daily News with some respected guys on the byline.
also says it was from 04 to 05 and stopped using them at 05.
And he is not MUCH bigger than he was when he was a pitcher.
TIMVP being overly dramatic.
he was out all of last year with a knee injury.Plus he suffered non-contact injuries the last couple years ... another sign of steroid use.
If a knee injury isn't a contact injury, then we better start testing every single athlete for steroids in the NBA too.
actually, it says that he stopped receiving them. but if he was going in cycles, he could make a year's supply last from then to now.
ing cheater
spinspinspinspin.
shoveitshoveitshoveit
I know everyone loves to dog pile on but everyone is going off BS.
Word is Ankiel is gonna categorically deny this
and its already been said through his agent that hes not connected with the pharmacy, hes never bought anything, nothing at all to do with it.
Scott Boros is many things but stupid is not one of them. I don't see any way he'd categorically deny that Rick Ankiel obtained or used HGH unless he could prove it. He'd damage his reputation and his clients' reputations and the man loves $$$ way too much to do that.
Actual quote from Boras:
“Rick’s position is that he’s never had contact with this pharmacy, he’s never received anything from this pharmacy, he’s never been to this pharmacy, he doesn’t know anyone at the pharmacy and frankly these allegations that he received something from them or ordered something from them aren’t true.”
I'm sorry T Park... This situation is no different than Barry. Not at all. Player linked, no real proof, but the link itself is damning enough. Player supposedly took it during the "encouraged" period when it wasn't illegal, then stopped when it became illegal. Such doesn't change the fact that, if reports are true, that he used a performance enhancing drug. As we've seen with Barry, once linked, it'll be to try and prove any differently. It doesn't matter what he looks like. Remember John McEnroe? He said he used. He's the smallest guy in sports.
This is a terrible development to an unbelievable story. A story that brought a lot of enjoyment to many people, even fans on the fringe.
I joked last week about a comparison to "The Natural", telling you to make sure the Cardinals kept him away from haggard old women in black frocks and unlucky blonde bombs s that hang around with old men with "magic" eyes.
Well, just like in the story, something from the past comes back to haunt the player. It really is a shame.
I can't defend any use of the stuff. If I can't take Barry's word for it, then I can't take Ankiel's, especially since he had so much more to gain, and even less to lose.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
