'New York Times' Links Ramirez and Ortiz To Doping List

By: Joe Strupp The New York Times has revealed that two of the biggest stars, past and present, from winning Boston Red Sox teams -- Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz -- were among about 100 major league players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.

The Times Co., of course, is part owner of the Red Sox, although it is seeking to sell.

The Boston Globe, also owned by the Times Co., now leads with story at top of its site. It quickly put up a video with longtime Red Sox beat reporter/columnist Dan Shaughnessy discussing it, calling it "devastating to Red Sox fans." The Boston Herald did not feature it as prominently at the start, then gave it major play.

A Times Web story today cites "lawyers with knowledge of the results" as a source for the information."

"Some of baseball?s most cherished storylines of the past decade have been tainted by performance-enhancing drugs, including the accomplishments of record-setting home run hitters and dominating pitchers," the story by Michael S. Schmidt stated. "Now, players with Boston?s championship teams of 2004 and 2007 have also been linked to doping."

The revelations come just two months after Ramirez, now with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was suspended in May for 50 games for failing a more recent test.

The Times later expands on its sourcing somewhat, noting: "The information about Ramirez and Ortiz emerged through interviews with multiple lawyers and others connected to the pending litigation. The lawyers spoke anonymously because the testing information is under seal by a court order. The lawyers did not identify which drugs were detected."

But the newspaper story offered no further identities of the Times sources or how it obtained the information about Ramirez and Ortiz.

The 2003 list of positive results has been a subject of contention since the results were seized by federal agents investigating the performance-enhancing drugs and professional athletes and have sparked litigation between the baseball players union and federal officials.