A-Rod in 2009: “I stopped taking it in ’03 and haven’t taken it since”

Just a reminder, as the info from the Miami New Times report sinks in, what Alex Rodriguez had to say at his 2009 press conference after he was revealed to have tested positive for PEDs during baseball’s pilot testing program:

“Going back to 2001, my cousin started telling me about a substance that you could purchased over the counter in the DR [Dominican Republic]. In the streets, it’s known as ‘boli’ or ‘bole.’ It was his understanding that it would give me a dramatic energy boost and [was] otherwise harmless. My cousin and I, one more ignorant than the other, decided it was a good idea to start taking it ... I stopped taking it in ’03 and haven’t taken it since.”

The entire transcript of that press conference can be read here.

When we talk about Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, we’re talking about players who allegedly (but far from conclusively) lied about their PED use which, based on the best evidence available, took place prior to MLBs institution of testing and enforcement for banned substances.

With A-Rod, we have a player who, unless the records in this new report were fabricated, clearly lied about his drug use and continued to take banned drugs long after MLB’s testing and real enforcement of its drug policies began. To the extent judgments are to be passed on these respective players’ acts now and in the future, I think this distinction is pretty significant.