A-Rod reveals details of steroid use

BASEBALL star Alex Rodriguez yesterday admitted that a cousin injected him with Primobolan, or “Boli”, during his three seasons with the Texas Ranges from 2001-2003.

Addressing the media for the first time since acknowledging his use of a peformance-enhancing drug last week, Rodriguez for the first time named the substance involved, saying it was bought over the counter in the Dominican Republic.

“In 2001, my cousin told me about a substance you could purchase over the counter in the DR called ‘Boli’,” he said. “He told me that it could give me an energy boost and nothing more.”

Rodriguez, who was born in New York, grew up in the Dominican Republic before returning to the United States prior to attending high school.

Rodriguez told a media throng of 200 that he and his cousin were unaware of the implications.

“It was pretty evident that we didn’t know what we were doing,” he said. “My cousin did not provide any other players with it. I stopped taking it in 2003 and haven’t taken it since.”

During a news conference that lasted about 40 minutes, Rodriguez said he stopped taking the substance following his neck injury in 2003 and after Major League Baseball introduced a drug-testing program.

Rodriguez said he took the substance about twice a month. He would not reveal the name of his cousin, however, and suggested the two of them did not even know if they were properly administering the substance.

“I don’t even know if we did it right. I didn’t think they were steroids. That’s part of my being young and stupid. It was over the counter, it was pretty basic. It was really amateur hour.”

With several fellow New York Yankees players — including Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira — watching on, an emotional Rodriguez acknowledged he would need to win back the trust of his team-mates, fans and the American public.

“On the one hand it’s extremely tough to admit mistakes,” Rodriguez said. “But on the other hand it feels great to be moving forward.”

During his time with the Rangers, he hit 156 home runs. He has since passed the 500-mark, and at 533 is on track to break the all-time career record of 762 currently held by Barry Bonds.

He said, however, it was not for him to decide if his home runs and other statistics from his steroid-taking period should remain in the record books.