Former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley accused baseball players Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Glenallen Hill and Geronimo Berroa of using steroids, according to a federal affidavit that was unsealed Thursday, 18 months after the document was first released with players' names blacked out.
Grimsley, a reliever who last pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks, also named Chuck Knoblauch as a human growth hormone user, and accused former teammates David Segui and Allen Watson of using performance-enhancing drugs.
The unsealed affidavit contradicts a story The Times published Oct. 1, 2006. Citing anonymous sources, including a Grimsley confidant and an individual "with authorized access to [the] unredacted affidavit," The Times' story said Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons, Miguel Tejada and Segui and strength coach Brian McNamee were named in the document. In fact, Clemens, Pettitte, Gibbons and Roberts were not named. Also, The Times' report said Grimsley alleged that Tejada used anabolic steroids. The only mention of Tejada in the affidavit was a conversation he had with teammates about baseball's ban on amphetamines.
The day after the story ran, Kevin Ryan, then the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, said it contained "significant inaccuracies."
The Times made repeated attempts, including earlier this week, to have the government clarify what the inaccuracies were, but spokespersons for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco declined to elaborate.
After the document was unsealed Thursday and the actual names revealed, Times spokesman Stephan Pechdimaldji said, "We regret our report was inaccurate and will run a correction."
In granting a government motion to unseal the document, U.S. District Court Judge Edward C. Voss in Phoenix referenced The Times' story from last year and said he was "compelled to point out what appears to be an example of abusive reporting.
"The [Times] article trumpets the success . . . in ending the 'months of speculation' surrounding which major league ballplayers Jason Grimsley named. . . . A review . . . proves that The Times never saw the unredacted affidavit. . . . At best, the article is an example of irresponsible reporting. At worst, the 'facts' reported were simply manufactured."
