NEW YORK — Already the highest-paid player, Alex Rodriguez wanted to prove himself one of the greatest. Instead, he wound up atop another list: the highest-profile player to confess to using steroids.
The All-Star third baseman, responding to a weekend Sports Illustrated report that he had flunked a drug test, told ESPN on Monday he used banned substances while playing with the Texas Rangers from 2001 to 2003 to justify his 10-year, $252 million contract.
"Back then it was a different culture," Rodriguez, 33, said. "It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive, and I wanted to prove to everyone that, you know, I was worth, you know — and being one of the greatest players of all time."
He said he didn't do it before that and quit during spring training in 2003, before the first of three AL MVP seasons, because "I've proved to myself and to everyone that I don't need any of that." He was traded to the New York Yankees before the 2004 season and said he hasn't used since.
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The admission came two days after SI reported on its Web site that Rodriguez was among 104 names on a list of players who tested positive for steroids in 2003, when testing was intended to determine the extent of steroid use in baseball. The results weren't subject to discipline and were supposed to remain anonymous, but they were seized by the government in 2004 and remain under seal.
"When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure. I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day," Rodriguez said.
"And I did take a banned substance and, you know, for that I'm very sorry and deeply regretful. And although it was the culture back then and Major League Baseball overall was very — I just feel that — you know, I'm just sorry. I'm sorry for that time. I'm sorry to fans. I'm sorry for my fans in Texas. It wasn't until then that I ever thought about substance of any kind."
In his first prime-time news conference, President Obama called Rodriguez's admission "depressing" news.
"And if you're a fan of major-league baseball, I think it tarnishes an entire era, to some degree," Obama said. "And it's unfortunate, because I think there were a lot of ballplayers who played it straight."
Rodriguez said part of the reason he started using drugs was the heat in Texas.
"Can I have an edge just to get out there and play every day?" he said to himself. "You basically end up trusting the wrong people. You end up, you know, not being very careful about what you're ingesting."
SI reported Rodriguez tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone.
He said he stopped using during spring training 2003, when he sustained a neck injury. It was just as baseball started its drug-testing survey. It was only in 2004 that testing with penalties began.
Rangers owner Tom Hicks said the admission caught him by surprise.
"I feel personally betrayed. I feel deceived by Alex," Hicks said in a conference call. "He assured me that he had far too much respect for his own body to ever do that to himself."
During those three seasons, Rodriguez led the AL in homers each year and averaged 161.7 games, 52 homers, 131.7 RBIs and a .615 slugging percentage. In the other 10 full seasons of his career, he averaged 149.2 games, 39.2 homers, 119 RBIs, and a .574 slugging percentage, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
"This is three years I'm not proud of," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez ranks 12th on the career list with 553 homers, including 52, 57 and 47 in his three seasons in Texas. He is 209 behind Barry Bonds' record 762.
The Yankees said in a statement that "we urged Alex to be completely open, honest and forthcoming" and that "we take him at his word that he was."
