Yankees superstar A-Rod given 211-game drugs ban

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, the highest paid player in baseball, has been banned for 211 games, starting on Thursday and covering the remainder of this season and all of next, for violations of Major League Baseball’s joint drug prevention and treatment programme and its basic agreement.

In a statement last night, the league said the 38-year-old was being punished for “his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years” and for his attempts to cover up those violations and obstruct a league investigation.

Rodriguez, popularly known as A-Rod, who had been hoping to make his 2013 season debut last night after missing four months with injury, is expected to appeal the decision which would leave him eligible to play until that appeal process is complete.