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If El Sid wasn't 'roiding up, what the hell was he buying from Radomski?
From Today's New York Times
December 22, 2007
Fernandez and Rose Jr. Are Linked to Radomski
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and DUFF WILSON
A chubby left-handed pitcher with an awkward delivery and the son of a banned baseball legend became the last two players of note linked to Kirk Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse attendant who provided dozens of major league players with performance-enhancing drugs.
An unsealed version of an affidavit that was used to obtain a search warrant for Radomski’s home was revealed late Thursday, and it showed a $3,500 check from Sid Fernandez, a former major league pitcher, that Radomski had cashed. The check was from 2005, long after Fernandez had retired.
The affidavit also revealed that Pete Rose Jr., the son of baseball’s career leader in hits, had been in contact with Radomski.
Federal prosecutors asked for the search warrant to be unsealed because Radomski’s cooperation with the government was almost complete. United States District Court Judge Thomas E. Boyle unsealed the affidavit Thursday.
Radomski pleaded guilty in April to steroid distribution and agreed to cooperate with the government. As part of that cooperation, Radomski provided information to George J. Mitchell that tied dozens of major league players to purchases of performance-enhancing drugs. Mitchell, in turn, named players last week in his final report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
Radomski is to be sentenced Feb. 8 in San Francisco.
Fernandez and Rose were left out of Mitchell’s report, possibly because their connections to Radomski came while they were no longer active in the major leagues.
The affidavit also showed evidence of canceled checks from two minor leaguers, Ryan Schurman and Rick Holyfield, who were not named in the report.
A spokesman for Mitchell did not immediately respond to an e-mail message.
Fernandez, whose stomach often hung over his belt while he stood on the mound, proved to be an effective pitcher with a sneaky fastball.
He pitched for the Mets from 1984 to 1993, winning 98 games and playing on the team that won the World Series in 1986. He may be best remembered for the two-and-a-third innings of scoreless relief he pitched in Game 7 of that series against the Boston Red Sox.
Fernandez found little success after leaving the Mets. He played for three other teams, pitching his last game in the majors in 1997. He finished his career with a 114-96 record and a 3.36 earned run average.
Fernandez attempted a comeback in 2001. He went to spring training with the Yankees, a team with several players who were named for purchasing performance enhancers from Radomski, but he did not make the regular-season roster.
Attempts to reach Fernandez were unsuccessful.
In the affidavit, Jeff Novitzky, a special agent of the Internal Revenue Service, wrote that Radomski called Rose Jr. in 2001. Novitzky noted that Rose had recently pleaded guilty to federal charges of distributing gamma butyrolactone, or GBL, “a drug sometimes sold as a steroid adjunct,” to minor league players.
GBL, also known as a date-rape drug, was legally sold in health-food stores until 2000, when it was banned. Rose said he took it as a sleep aid and provided it to two injured teammates without making a profit. He pleaded guilty to steroid distribution and was sentenced last year in Nashville to one month in prison and five months’ home detention.
Novitzky wrote, “Although these calls were made to Pete Rose Jr.’s number several years ago, in 2001, this information is still relevant because it shows communication between Radomski and an individual associated with baseball, which occurred during the time frame where Rose Jr. plead guilty to distributing performance-enhancing drugs.”
The affidavit did not specify any transactions between Radomski and Rose.
Rose, 38, has played 19 seasons with 21 minor league and independent teams. He played 11 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1997. He is listed on the current roster of the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League.
A court filing shows he was recently hired to play winter baseball in Mexico, South America and the Caribbean.
Rose could not be located Friday, and his lawyers in Los Angeles and Nashville did not respond to phone and e-mail messages.
Meanwhile, Allen Watson, who was among nine players accused of using performance-enhancing drugs by Jason Grimsley in another affidavit revealed Thursday, said he did not use the substances.
In a statement released Friday by his agent, Tony Giordano, to The Associated Press, Watson said: “I at no time over my professional baseball career used steroids or any performance-enhancing drugs. Not then, not now, not ever.”
Along with the unsealing of the Radomski affidavit, a judge in Phoenix unsealed the 20-page affidavit signed by Novitzky in May 2006 that was used to obtain a search warrant on Grimsley’s home.
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