Sports Illustrated journalist Selena Roberts claims to have “irrefutable” proof that Yankees Alex Rodriguez used anabolic steroids as a teenager baseball player at Westminster Christian High School in Miami. Roberts’ certainty is largely based on A-Rod’s self-reported weight gain and weight training progress during high school. The New York Daily News published excerpts from Roberts’ new book “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez“
suggesting Rodriguez “may have bulked up with steroids as early as high school.” Selena Roberts attempted to clarify those comments in an appearance on the Dan Patrick show (“SI’s Selena Roberts clarifies A-Rod steroids report,” April 30).
“He said as a sophomore he could barely bench press 100 pounds,” Roberts said. “Six months later he’s bulked up 20-25 pounds and he had increased his level from 100 pounds to 310 pounds. That’s a pretty shocking leap for six months. That, in conjuntion with the reporting that I did with [his high school] teammates would make it irrefutable to me, not a ‘may have.'”
Selena Roberts’ credibility has taken a major hit from these comments. Roberts inexplicably ignores the dramatic weight gain that normally occurs in boys during high school without the use of steroids. The CDC growth charts reveal teenage boys normally gain 35-45 lbs. during high school. Roberts also appears unfamiliar with the dramatic increases in strength and muscle mass that novice weightlifters experience when first engaging in a resistance training program particularly when accompanied by a bodybuilding-type diet. Any male that has started bodybuilding during puberty knows that a 20-25 weight gain is not unusual without the use of anabolic steroids.
Selena Roberts relies on two former Westminster Christian High School students to further support her “irrefutable” assertion that A-Rod used steroids as a teenager. One former teammate told Roberts that Rodriguez used steroids in high school with the coach’s knowledge. Another former student told Roberts that the coach’s son saw Rodriguez use steroids.
Another former teammate at Westminster Christian High School strongly refuted the allegations made by Selena Roberts in her book. Dodgers Doug Mientkiewicz told the Los Angeles Times that he never witnessed A-Rod using steroids in high school (“Doug Mientkiewicz never saw A-Rod use steroids in high school,” April 30).
“From my perspective, it would be 99.9% impossible for us not to know,” said Mientkiewicz, who was a year ahead of Rodriguez in school. […]
“You’re basically accusing every kid that’s gone through puberty that they’re on steroids, too, huh?” Mienkiewicz said. “He gained a couple of inches height-wise too, if I remember right. . . . I knew what he looked like in ninth grade. He was skinny. Who isn’t in ninth grade? He was very dedicated back then, he worked harder than anyone else.”
Selena Roberts and her colleague David Epstein revealed in February 2009 that Rodriguez tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan (methenolone) during “anonymous” and “confidential” doping tests adminstered by Major League Baseball. Alex Rodriguez subsequently admitted to using anabolic steroids during a short period in his career.
Selena Roberts apparently saved the best steroid stories for her book according to her editor at Harper David Hirshey (Who’s ‘This Lady’? Meet Selena Roberts, A-Rod’s Worst Nightmare, February 10, 2009).
I assure you she has more drug revelations as well as other news. Not everything that Selena has on A-Rod’s steroid participation has come out yet.
Roberts’ journalistic integrity could take a major hit if the standard of evidence used to support additional sensationalistic “steroid participation” stories is as “irrefutable” as the evidence of teen steroid use.
Sadly, most journalists have not bothered to scrutinize the so-called “irrefutable” evidence.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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