David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez Tested Positive for PEDs In 2003

The Boston Red Sox, after losing three straight games against the New York Yankees in the 2004 American League Championship Series, won the next four games against their hated rival.

Slugger David Ortiz was responsible for two of those wins, hitting a game-winning two-run home run in Game 4 and a game-winning single in Game 5.

He was unbelievable and one of my favorite players. He led the Red Sox to their first World Series title in 86 years.

But now, I don’t know what to think of him, nor his sidekick, Manny Ramirez.

Why?

Because it has become public knowledge that two of the best power-hitters of their era tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during the 2003 season.

No team had a better middle of the order than the Red Sox.

No team had two better hitters than Ortiz and Ramirez. They were deadly side-by-side and feared by every opponent.

Now, they are just two steroid users who couldn’t get by on natural talent.

According to an article written by Michael Schmidt of the New York Times, “the sluggers who propelled the Boston Red Sox to end an 86-year World Series championship drought and to capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.”

Once my father informed me of the news over the phone, I was shocked, but not entirely surprised. Ortiz and Ramirez both felt pressure to succeed, just like fellow alleged steroid users Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, who were responsible for the famed and tainted home-run race of 1997.

They felt as though they needed a leg-up. Alex Rodriguez, whose name was leaked from this same list last year, did too. Why did Ortiz and Ramirez, like Rodriguez, Sosa, and McGwire before them, feel this way?

Ortiz joined the Red Sox, coincidentally, in 2003 after being released by the Minnesota Twins. He had multiple holes in his swing and was strikeout prone in Minnesota, but once he came to the Red Sox,  his fortunes changed.

Ortiz hit 20 home runs in 125 games in 2002. In 2003, however, he hit 31 home runs and drove in 101 runs—compared to his 75 in 2002—while playing in just three more games.

The following season, during which he could have still been on drugs, his home run total increased by 10; in 2005, he hit 47 home runs, and in 2006, he hit 54 home runs.

Since the 2006 season, his numbers have dropped drastically. He hit 19 fewer home runs in 2007 while playing in two fewer games, and his total decreased to 23 home runs in 2008.

As much as it pains me to say this, his home run pattern is the classic pattern of someone juiced on steroids.

The best thing for him to do now is come clean. He can’t deny it, like Rodriguez, whose name was leaked from this same list last year, and admitted to his offense.

He has to apologize, and if it was a mistake, say so.

According to Schmidt, "In 2007, Ortiz said he used to buy a protein shake when he was younger in the Dominican Republic and did not know if it contained a performance-enhancing drug.”

Evidently, it did.

Ramirez’s usage during this alleged time period doesn’t shock me as much as Ortiz’s, but is still difficult to comprehend.

Earlier this year, Ramirez tested positive for a sexual-enhancer, HcG. As Yahoo! Sports Tim Brown reported at the time, “They [LN and HcG) also can be used to trigger testosterone production. Testosterone is depleted by steroid use, and low testosterone can cause erectile dysfunction. HCG is used to re-stimulate the testicles, primarily in men with a history of steroid use.”

So, now the public knows why he was taking this sexual enhancer. It wasn’t necessarily to please his wife after all.

Both players broke the number one rule in baseball and their statistics during the alleged time period should be tainted, but how did their supposedly anonymous tests get leaked?

Schmidt has the answer: “Baseball first tested for steroids in 2003, and the results from that season were supposed to remain anonymous. But for reasons that have never been made clear, the results were never destroyed and the first batch of positives has come to be known among fans and people in baseball as “the list.” The information was later seized by federal agents investigating the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes, and the test results remain the subject of litigation between the baseball players union and the government.”

Major League Baseball screwed up, but that doesn’t take away from what Ortiz and Ramirez did. Not only did they do steroids, just like Rodriguez, Sosa, and McGwire before them, but they broke the hearts of every Red Sox fan who admired them.

Deeply disappointing everyone, including myself, who thought they were clean and just plain talented.