The Grimsley friend, who talked about the investigation on the condition he not be named, said investigators warned the pitcher that "if he didn't continue to cooperate, they would expose him as a rat."
Rich Levin, a spokesman for Major League Baseball, said the organization and players association were "doing everything we can to eliminate the use of performance-enhancing substances and amphetamines from the game."
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, December 21, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 3 inches; 111 words Type of Material: Correction
Baseball: A front-page article on Oct. 1, 2006 incorrectly reported that in a search warrant affidavit filed in May 2006 in federal court in Phoenix, an investigator alleged that pitcher Jason Grimsley named former teammates Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Brian Roberts and Jay Gibbons as players linked to performance-enhancing drugs. In the affidavit, which was unsealed Thursday, Grimsley did not name those players. The article also said Grimsley alleged that Miguel Tejada had used steroids. The only mention of Tejada in the affidavit was as part of a conversation with teammates about baseball's ban of amphetamines. The Times regrets the error, and a clarifying story appears on the front page today.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, December 23, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 3 inches; 101 words Type of Material: Correction
Baseball: A front-page article on Oct. 1, 2006, incorrectly reported that in a search warrant affidavit filed in May 2006 in federal court in Phoenix, an investigator alleged that pitcher Jason Grimsley named former teammates Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Brian Roberts and Jay Gibbons as players linked to performance-enhancing drugs. In the affidavit, which was unsealed Thursday, Grimsley did not name those players. The article also said Grimsley alleged that Miguel Tejada had used steroids. The only mention of Tejada in the affidavit was as part of a conversation with teammates about baseball's ban on amphetamines. The Times regrets the error.
Regarding the investigators' affidavit, Levin said baseball officials had "no information [about] how it was obtained or its accuracy."
Clemens has surprised many in the baseball world with his late-career success. Of his 348 career wins, 55 have come since the season he turned 40. In a controversial tell-all book released two winters ago, former major leaguer Jose Canseco speculated that Clemens' late-career surge showed "classic signs" of steroid use.
"Roger says it is all nonsense," Clemens' agent, Randy Hendricks, responded to Newsday at the time. He said the pitcher "takes vitamin B-12 shots ... and will pass every [drug] test."
On Saturday, the agent told the Associated Press: "I've grown weary of having to defend [Clemens] from innuendo and conjecture about every six months for the last several years when he's complied with all of the rules and regulations."
Speaking of another of his clients, Pettitte, Hendricks told AP: "Andy is just surprised and stunned, and has no knowledge of any such activity."
Pettitte, 34, pitched nine seasons and was a part of four World Series championships with the Yankees, then signed with the Astros after the 2003 season, helping Houston advance to the World Series in 2005. He has won 14 games this year for a career record of 186 wins, 104 losses.
Tejada, listed at 5-feet-9, 215 pounds, hit 30 home runs in 2000 for the Oakland A's and has established himself as one of the game's best middle-infield power hitters.
He was drawn into baseball's steroids scandal in August 2005, when then-teammate Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive for an anabolic steroid and was suspended for 10 games, told an appeals panel the test might have resulted from injectable vitamins given to him by Tejada. After investigating, the panel cleared Tejada.
Tejada's increasingly sullen demeanor has attracted hometown news media coverage in Baltimore, where he also has become a target of complaints from fans who accuse him of not hustling.
During the summer, he canceled an interview with The Times for this article. "I don't want to talk to you," he said. Later, Tejada referred a reporter to agent Diego Bentz, who did not return calls.
Outfielder Gibbons, a product of Mayfair High School in Lakewood and Cal State Los Angeles, spent late June on the disabled list with a knee injury in Scottsdale, Ariz. His father, Jim, acknowledged at his Lakewood home on July 5 that the player was aware of the affidavit.
"Is this about Grimsley?" the elder Gibbons asked a Times reporter. "I'm not saying anything about it. I'll let him know you stopped by."
Roberts, listed at 5-9, 175, hit 18 home runs in 561 at-bats last season, matching his combined total through the previous six years in the major and minor leagues.
After a victory over the Red Sox in Boston on Saturday, two of the Orioles told the Baltimore Sun that they denied the claims made in the affidavit.
"I don't pay any attention to what" Grimsley allegedly said about performance-enhancing drug use, Tejada said. "I know that I've never had a problem with that. I know that I've never used that, and I know I am clean. I don't worry about anybody who puts me in that stuff. I'll get checked out for anybody, any time, any moment -- whenever they want."
Gibbons said: "I have passed every test administered by Major League Baseball over all the years. And I am not going to dignify these claims and accusations with any further response."
Grimsley told investigators he had used anabolic steroids beginning in 2000, tested positive during 2003 trial testing, and switched to human growth hormone, undetectable in a urine test, after that. He admitted to using amphetamines until an agreement with the players association banned them several months ago, according to the affidavit.
In a major league career that began with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1989, Grimsley played for seven organizations.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
The players
Roger Clemens
Starting pitcher, Houston Astros
Career: 348 wins, 178 losses, 3.10 ERA.
The 11-time all-star and seven-time Cy Young winner has pitched for Boston, Toronto, the New York Yankees and the Astros in his 23-year career.
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Andy Pettitte
Starting pitcher, Houston Astros
Career: 186 wins 104 losses, 3.81 ERA.
A two-time all-star, he twice won 20 or more games while pitching for the New York Yankees from 1995 to 2003. He joined the Astros in 2004.
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Miguel Tejada
Shortstop, Baltimore Orioles
Career: 1,584 hits, 240 home runs, 952 RBI, .286 career batting average.
- He was the 2002 American League MVP with Oakland, for whom he played from 1997 to 2003.
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Brian Roberts
Second base, Baltimore Orioles
Career: .280 career batting average, 40 home runs, 250 RBI.
- Was an all-star in 2005, his fifth season in the major leagues, all with the Orioles.
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Jay Gibbons
Outfield, Baltimore Orioles
Career: .263 career batting average, 115 home runs, 377 RBI.
- This is his sixth season in the major leagues, all with the Orioles.
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Jason Grimsley
Former relief pitcher, Arizona Diamondbacks
Career: 42 wins, 58 losses, 4.77 ERA.
- Suspended in June after acknowledging use of a performance-enhancing drug. He retired.
Sources: www.mlb.com; Times reports
