A-Rod Meets The Press

SI Staff | Feb 18, 2009

A-Rod Meets The Press

Alex Rodriguez

Chuck Solomon/SI

Upon reporting to New York Yankees camp on Tuesday, Feb. 17, Alex Rodriguez addressed his positiive steroids test in 2003 to about 200 members of the media.<br><br>"I'm a little nervous. Or a lot nervous, so bear with me."

Alex Rodriguez

Chuck Solomon/SI

"I'm confident that at the end of my career, people will see this for what it is: a stupid mistake and a lesson learned."

Alex Rodriguez Press Conference

AP

"My cousin and I -- one more ignorant than the other -- decided it was a good idea to start taking it. My cousin would administer it to me, but neither of us knew how to take it properly. We consulted no one and had no good reason to base that decision. It was pretty evident that we didn't know what we were doing. We did everything we could to keep it between us, and my cousin did not provide any other players with it."

Alex Rodriguez

AP

"Here's what I remember. In the year 2001, 2002, 2003, I experimented with a banned substance that triggered a positive test."

Alex Rodriguez Press Conference

AP

"I've realized that I don't need any of it. I've played the best baseball of my career since then, and had the best year of my career in '07."

Alex Rodriguez

AP

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. The only way I know to handle them is learn from them and move forward. One thing that's for sure is that baseball is a lot bigger than Alex Rodriguez."

Joe Girardi, Brian Cashman, and Alex Rodriguez

AP

"I didn't think they were steroids. It's part of being young and stupid. It was over the counter. It was pretty basic, and it was really amateur hour. We went outside team doctors and team trainers. It was two guys doing a very amateur and immature thing. We probably didn't even take it right."

Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, and Jorge Posada

AP

"I owe an apology not just to my teammates and the organization, but to every fan all over the world who's a fan of baseball."

Alex Rodriguez

AP

"I'm here to say that I'm sorry. I'm here to say that in some ways I wish I went to college and had an opportunity to grow up at my own pace. I guess when you're young and stupid, you're young and stupid, and I'm very guilty of both of those."

Alex Rodriguez

Chuck Solomon/SI

"The last 15 months have been very, very tough. I've been through divorce, I've been through tabloids, you name it. I miss playing baseball, and I miss simply being a baseball player."